Reader Comments

As a five year resident of first the Campmeeting and now the Chatauqua, I am disturbed and offended by what I see written here. Yes, our town has it’s issues - whose doesn’t! But what remains consistently true and keeps people coming back is the spirit of community found here that I challenge those above to replicate somewhere else. We moved here to raise our daughter in a safe and friendly environment, and we have never regretted it.  Even when our jobs took us in different directions,and moving would have simplified our lives, we refused to give up what we have found here.  Petty commentaries on noise and traffic aside, Mount Gretna is a unique and magical place to live and visit. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

That’s 1000 to 2000 vehicles A DAY!

I wish people would stop writing about this area as if it was bucolic. Those days are long gone. Any real reading of police logs, traffic reports, governing body metting minutes, and the real story is revealed. While I appreciate the nostalgic peacefulness of the past, the author is deceiving her audience. The reality is that the community has been inundanted with excessive noise—so much so that they have had to cancel all their traditional outdoor music programs and that many, many complain each season that the traffic noise is drowning out the theater dialogue. Even our vintage air siren—a redundancy now that they have pagers and telephones for their emergency system, blasts at ear-damaging levels at all hours of the day.
The surrounding park and forest has become completely unsafe to walk in, as hunting is allowed in Governor Dick even though the park’s founding donor absolutley prohibited it, shooters take random shots at humans and their dogs, and the recent clearcut left so much large debris that one is at serious risk of being tripped by felled and abandoned trees that are now hidden by low vegetation. And for the Borough of Mount Gretna homeowner, the Gretna Art Show has turned into a 6 week long event that impinges on the homeowner’s access to his own home and cuts him off completely from the small park that he pays for with his homeowners association fees. MOre importantly, with 1000 to 2000 cars and tractor trailers driving through there at excessive speeds that are from 10 to 20 miles an hour above the posted speed limit, and with the local police service refusing to issue more than about 16 traffic tickets A YEAR, its a tragedy waiting to happen. Just watch the local intersection for about the time it takes to eat your pizza and you will witness about four near accidents, that, but for a split-second’s good luck, would have resulted in serious or fatal injuries.

You know, I would love it if any of my visits to the Jiggershop were like what you describe. But instead they have been borderline scary. I’ll spare everyone the sordid details, but let’s just say my interactions with the Allwein males was a little CREEPY. well, no, SLEAZY. The son, Andrew, or Drew, seems to have a very serious problem being truthful—he was quite dysfunctionally dishonest to several people that I noticed him dealing with. It just isn’t worth going back there.

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