5 Cars Towed During Weekend Snowstorm, Chief Says

Just five cars had to be towed from snow emergency routes during Saturday's snowstorm, when a snow emergency was in effect for 24 hours, borough council was told by Police Chief Robert Shupp Monday.

But councilman Tom Rieger said the low number was because the borough police department "went above and beyond" in trying to locate the owners of cars left parked along snow emergency routes, before resorting to towing them.

A photo posted by Patch reader Yahshavah Breedlove on Hellertown Patch's Facebook page late Saturday showed police knocking on doors in the 600 block of Main Street in a last-minute effort to locate the owner of a car left parked on the street there during the snow emergency.

Still, borough council president Phil Weber questioned why any cars needed to be towed at all.

"If you live on a snow emergency route and you know it’s going to snow, how do you not know [to move your car]?” he asked.

Borough council vice president John Bate commented that he thought the borough's declaration of a snow emergency—at 10 a.m. Saturday—was relatively "late" compared to some other local municipalities which declared snow emergencies as early as Friday evening. But he was quick to imply that the later notification should not have affected residents' ability to remove their cars promptly.

"I heard of people calling in their neighbors. People didn't move their car. It was very childish," he added.

Council members discussed and endorsed the idea of a press release and a "robo-call" to help remind residents of the rules regarding snow emergency routes, sidewalk cleaning and snow removal.

Additional information about the rules for winter—including a list of all the snow emergency routes in the borough—is posted on the Snow Removal page of the Hellertown borough website.

Photo: Hellertown police officers knock on doors in the 600 block of Main Street Saturday evening as heavy sleet falls. Officers were attempting to locate the owners of cars left parked along snow emergency routes, before having them towed (photo credit: Yahshavah Breedlove).