East Penn Township has seen more than its fair share of complaints about "junk" on owners' properties and, as has been the case for the past several months, over a dozen residents again gathered at its board of supervisors meeting Monday to, for the most part, discuss that issue.

In regard to Clair Troxell's property at 2105 East Lizard Creek Road, which has gained recent media attention, it was announced that a hearing regarding a petition for confirmation of contempt has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 18 in courtroom 2 of the Carbon County Courthouse.As for Municipal Road property owned by Vice Chairman Jacob Nothstein, Jason Rapa, whose brother lives on land adjacent to it, said he was at last month's meeting and voiced concerns about the property. He said the board had stated it was going to look into it and that he "just wanted to see what the status of that was."He said that another trailer has been added to the property since the last meeting and that he also questions whether or not all the required permitting steps were adhered to in regard to a driveway there.Chairman Dean Kercsmar said, "What we did was we made a motion (at the Oct. 28 budget meeting) directing the zoning officer to review the property files, verify the permits were obtained for the issues (included on the complaint forms filed) regarding that property and provide us with a written report by Nov. 26."He said they are currently in that process and added that "It's not fair not to be fair to everybody, no matter who (it is) ... we've said that since day one."Nothstein had previously noted that the trailers are used in conjunction with his farm.In addition, Lana Darling-Meixsell, of West Lizard Creek Road, reported a trailer in view from her property that she finds a nuisance."When I pull on my lot, that's what I get to see. When I step in my backyard, that's what I get to see," she said. "My question is: 'When will East Penn decide to go up on the hill and look at this?'""We're going to send a building code official up," Kercsmar said. He then publicly asked the official, Carl Faust, to "please check it out and let us know."In other news, a bright spot of the evening was when several residents discussed the township's most recent, and first ever, "Trunks for Treats" event held Oct. 29 in the parking lot of the East Penn Social Hall. The event had encouraged interested residents to bring their vehicles and treats so that trick-or-treaters could have fun there instead of having to walk door to door along the township's more heavily traveled roads."It was a great success. The children really, really enjoyed it," said Loretta Smith, of the East Penn Township Recreation Committee, noting that about 60 children showed up and that it even received local TV news coverage. She did note, however, that she wished some of the supervisors would have attended.Also, resident Lisa Kercsmar said it should be better conveyed in the future that this event does not preclude children from also going door to door on Trick-or-Treat night within the township and that residents are still welcomed to distribute candy at their doorsteps.It was also announced that the recreation board will sponsor a breakfast at the social hall on Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon.In addition, East Penn Township Parks Commission representative Joe Hauser, among other requests, once again asked if the draft of an ordinance the commission submitted to the board has been authorized for review by Solicitor James Nanovic to see if it would be "a viable option."The ordinance would help re-create the commission as a more autonomous entity, separate from the township board of supervisors, to "help take the burden away from the township," he said."I come to these meetings. I see you have a lot of negative issues to take care of," Hauser said. "This is a positive issue."