A Jim Thorpe resident is calling for the return of the east side fire whistle, arguing that it is needed to warn the public during emergencies.

“The residents in this community, with everything that’s going on in the world, need to have some sort of warning,” resident Donna Donati told council during a Thursday night workshop. “If there’s some kind of fire, a disaster … floods, whatever, we have no way of knowing on the east side.”

Council President Greg Strubinger said the siren stopped working five years ago.

“So at that time, the decision was made not to replace it,” Strubinger said. “There was no legal compulsion that it had to be replaced and the feeling was that we didn’t think there was a need to go through the expense.”

The siren, Councilman Mike Yeastedt said, requires a three-phase service, which he added is expensive to provide, for electricity.”

“There is no requirement in the state of Pennsylvania that you have a fire siren. We have one on the west side in town,” Yeastedt said.

Donati recalled being told it would cost “$17,000 to repair the east side whistle.”

“I look at $17,000 versus somebody’s life and somebody’s life is much more important, right?” she asked.

Strubinger said some Jim Thorpe residents lobbied against continuation of the siren use, arguing it goes off too often.

Donati’s discussion Thursday shifted to youth behavior at night. She described an incident at 11:30 p.m. when kids were trying to get into the home of a neighbor who lives by herself.

“These kids were using foul language saying, ‘None of your business, we can do whatever we want, we’re out of school.’ I’m sorry, but they need to have a curfew,” Donati said. “There’s nothing for the kids to do in this town so they’re ringing people’s doorbells and banging on people’s doors at late hours.”

The proper action upon seeing suspicious activity, Strubinger said, is to call the police.

“I don’t think it’s because the kids have nothing to do in this town,” he said. “Maybe they’re not getting supervision like they should be, but all you can do is call the police.”

Jim Thorpe, Police Chief Joe Schatz said, does have a curfew in place. It is in effect at 10 p.m. from Sundays through Thursdays, and 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

“If we see kids out, we take them home,” Schatz said. “We try our best to do what we can at night with our night shift guys. Our night shift officer walks the beat. You don’t see that too much anymore.”