Apr 9, 2007 By Christine Haines 3 min read

LUZERNE TWP. – The Brownsville chapter of the Izaak Walton League now has a permanent home at Patsy Hillman Park. The Brownsville IWL has completed renovations of a storage room at the Commissioners Pavilion at a cost of $11,900, with Terreta Construction doing the work. Chapter president Mike Defino said more work was required than was originally thought, including the replacement of floor joists, installation of a handicapped accessibility ramp and electrical upgrades to meet the current building code and to accommodate baseboard heating.

Defino said soffit needed to be installed around the entire pavilion, not just the section being used by the conservation group.

“When the pavilion was built, they didn’t put in any soffit, which meant a lot of animals got in – lots of birds, squirrels, and the largest raccoon Joey Terreta ever saw, using his own words,” Defino said.

The raccoon had an equally large nest above the meeting room, Defino said, which caused the ceiling tiles to fall, breaking two of the fluorescent light fixtures.

The park is jointly owned by Brownsville Borough and Luzerne Township and officials from both communities were on hand for the dedication of the new IWL office at the park.

“It’s a great shot in the arm for us to have another means of bettering the park for the community,” said Brownsville Council President Jack Lawver. “It will bring more people to the park to use it, which was the intent when this land was donated 50 years ago.”

“Whatever we can do for the youth, I’m all for. I’d like to see everyone use the park. If we can get them fishing, they aren’t getting into trouble,” said Luzerne Supervisor Greg Downer.

Now that the renovation project has been completed, the conservation group is turning its attention to other efforts at the park. Defino reported that only one more chemical treatment is needed at the lake to complete the algae control begun last fall. The final treatment will be done as soon as area fire departments remove debris from the lake.

Defino said a month after the final treatment, the lake can be stocked.

“We’re excited. We can really do a lot. In the past they had fishing rodeos at the park. If anyone here is interested in being on a fishing derby committee to get together after the weather breaks, it would be a nice thing to get involved with our first year here,” Defino said.

In other matters, the IWL members gave their support to Fish and Boat Commission officers doing surveillance patrols around the lake and the surrounding area. The park board has already approved the patrols.

“They can come in marked vehicles, undercover, or they can sit in the woods in camouflage,” Defino said. “Anything we can do to deter vandalism has to be done. They have full arrest powers. They’re armed, they’re aggressive and I think it will be good,” Defino said. “There’s no cost, they’ll do it as part of their state duties.”