MONROE UNFILTERED: THE DAILY BUZZ | July 27
Stroudsburg Drama, More Pain at the Pump, Justice is Served, Cock-a-Doodle-Duh
Monday, July 27, 2026
THE WEEK'S WEATHER
Lena Horne sang about this week: “Stormy Weather.” Don’t know why, there’s no sun up in the sky… For you rain lovers, this week is for you! Today brings a 51 percent chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms and a high of 82°F and a low of 65°F. Tuesday gets wetter still, with thunderstorm chances climbing as high as 89 percent with a high of just 72°F. Wednesday holds the line with more thunderstorms, a high of 75°F and a low of 62°F. Thursday eases to showers, with a high of 76°F and a low of 62°F. By Friday we are back to partly cloudy and a more comfortable 83°F. Keep an umbrella within arm's reach all week.
MORE STROUDSBURG BOROUGH DRAMA: A COUNCIL SEAT OPENS
Stroudsburg Borough Council is down a member, and nobody involved is saying why. On July 21, council voted unanimously, in his absence, to accept the resignation of Councilman Joseph Shay. Shay declined to tell the Pocono Record why he stepped down. Council President Matt Abell did not respond to the paper's attempts to reach him by phone or text as of late afternoon July 23.
Shay's seat has a history of its own. He was first appointed to the Council in a 4-1 vote in December 2023, filling the vacancy left by former member Tobias Sabatine. He ran for both a four-year and a two-year term on council in 2025 and lost both races, then was reappointed to the two-year term at council's January 5 reorganization meeting. Shay was an active voice on the Council. At the January 5 meeting, he and J. Zac Christman were the two “no” votes on accepting then-Mayor Michael Moreno’s resignation. Shay was also one of three “no” votes on hiring Moreno as Downtown Manager. And at the Council's June 16 meeting, Shay cast the lone dissenting vote against appointing Peters Consultants as the borough's new zoning officer and against appointing an alternate building codes official, over concerns about the borough hiring its own engineering firm to also police its own work.
The borough is not waiting long to fill the seat. Residents interested in serving through December 2027 have until Friday, July 31, to email a letter of interest to Borough Manager Larry Kopp outlining their background and why they want the job, or drop it off in person at the Borough Building on Sarah Street. To qualify, an applicant must have lived in the borough continuously for the past year and be a registered Stroudsburg voter. We will follow the appointment process as it develops.
THE DAILY RUNDOWN
More Pain at the Pump. The average price of regular gas for East Stroudsburg is $4.24 per gallon. That is up 2.17% vs. $4.15 per gallon this time last week. That is just slightly higher than the Pennsylvania state average of $4.23 per gallon.
Justice Served. A New Jersey jury has found Victor Peters, 46, of Parsippany-Troy Hills, guilty of first-degree aggravated manslaughter and second-degree vehicular homicide in the February 2025 wrong-way crash that killed Destinn McKnight, 31, of East Stroudsburg. McKnight, a physician assistant at LVH-Pocono, was struck head-on by Peters' SUV as Peters drove the wrong way on Interstate 80. Peters is due to be sentenced September 11.
Third Time’s Not the Charm. Leonard Gearhart, 60, of Jackson Township, pleaded no contest July 24 to strangulation and simple assault stemming from a dispute over a family estate. According to the Pocono Record, Gearhart tried to strangle a family member three times (fortunately, none of them were fatal). Monroe County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jonathan Mark, filling in for Judge Jennifer Sibum, accepted the plea. Gearhart had initially faced a felony strangulation charge.
WHAT WERE YA THINKIN'?
Cock-a-Doodle-Duh: A Scotrun man is facing an aggravated cruelty to animals charge, a felony, after Pocono Township Police say he shot and killed a neighbor's rooster on Beaver Trail on July 21 because it kept waking him up every morning. There are quieter ways to get a rooster to sleep in.