Facebook reaction to treehouse story

One of the stories that has really captured the public’s attention this week is the story of a little girl her treehouse in Selinsgrove.

Here’s a synopsis:

John “J.C.” Carlson was preparing to finish building a tree house for his daughter, Samantha, last Saturday when he received a notice from the borough zoning office informing him the structure is illegal.

He began building the eight-foot, by six-foot wood structure on a tree stump in the front yard of his 701 W. Spruce St. home a few weeks ago for his daughter’s 11th birthday.

Carlson didn’t give zoning regulations a second thought when he began construction.

“A tree house is a tree house,” he said. “What possible harm can it do to build one for an 11-year-old.”

Carlson’s tree house violates the zoning ordinance because it is located on his front lawn on a lot that doesn’t accommodate its large size, said deputy zoning officer Janet Powers.

When that story hit social media, it really took off, with people overwhelmingly on the side of the family wanting to build the treehouse.

It appears the borough is going to be receiving some phone calls and letters now that this story has gotten out.

I understand both sides of the issue: You have to enforce laws uniformly, no matter what a person’s intentions are. You can’t make exceptions for one person then refuse to help another.

But it’s really hard to stand up against a little girl and her treehouse. It’s going to be unpopular, no matter what she wants – which is, after all, only a treehouse.

What do you think about this situation? Which side are you on?

Who won the Daily Item newsroom Super Bowl challenge?

Because we’re always up for a challenge, the Daily Item newsroom decided to get in on the Super Bowl fun and we all picked scores for the Super Bowl to see who could get closest.

Here are the results:

Only two of us picked Baltimore as the winner: editor Dave Hilliard and photographer Rob Inglis.

Here’s where the decision gets tough.

Both picked the three-point spread: Rob had 24-21, Dave had 27-24.

So who’s the winner?

I have to give the edge, in a squeaker, to Dave, who picked the slightly higher score.

So, congrats Dave – bragging rights are yours until next year!

Regional pages

A little note on some cool social media things happening at the Daily Item:

Make sure to check out the new regional pages on dailyitem.com!

Venturing into the hyperlocal content, we’ve added regional pages, which roughly follow school districts in the area. They’re a cool way to catch up on local and school news in your area.

Here’s the “Our Valley” page, which collects all of the stories:

Also note that the Daily Item’s twitter page is also becoming bigger and better, using the hashtag “#TheDailyItem” to expand conversation on social media.

I’m a huge Twitter fan, tweeting from my personal account every chance I can get. [Note: Let me know your username and I'll follow you! I'm always looking for new follows!]

That’s what we’re doing here - but what do you want to see? Let me know!