Clarks Summit moves forward with plans to dismantle clock tower, move plaque

Clarks Summit officials are moving forward with plans to dismantle the clock tower downtown, despite calls to save it and a plaque honoring a victim of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

The borough council voted 6-1 last month to serve notice to Jack Decker — who owns the property on which the clock tower sits at State and Depot streets — that officials will remove the clock tower and restore the site to its original state. Councilman Robert Shiels voted no.

Council plans to vote this week on an interim plan for the clock tower and to move the plaque to the Finish Shop Pocket Park on Depot Street. The plaque is dedicated to Laura DeFazio Morabito, a Clarks Summit resident who was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11 that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Officials decided to remove the clock tower because the borough doesn’t have an easement for the private property it’s located on, Solicitor Andrew Krowiak said at a council meeting last week, a livestream of which was viewed by The Times-Tribune. He said the plaque will be moved separately from the clock tower.

Council President Gerrie Carey said Monday local contractor Ron Parasole is interested in taking down the clock tower and moving it to another location.

Krowiak advised council members they should vote on what to do with the clock tower before it is dismantled and where to place the plaque during the period between its removal from the current location and placement at the park. He suggested giving the plaque to members of the DeFazio family or keeping it the Municipal Building.

“There’s a multiple-step process with this that we have to go through legally,” Krowiak explained to council members at last week’s meeting. “We can’t just donate or assign the clock tower to a resident of the borough without there being some waiver of liability.”

Councilwoman Kathleen Simrell said at the meeting she wanted to know what the DeFazio family is comfortable with on the plans for the plaque.

“I just want to respect the DeFazio family and go by what they’re comfortable with,” she said.

Krowiak and Carey said council can follow the family’s wishes regarding the plaque. Carey said she and other officials met by Zoom with Jeff and Craig DeFazio, Morabito’s brothers, and they are in favor of having it placed at the park because the park is behind State Street Grill — formerly DeFazio’s Summit Inn, which was run by Morabito’s parents, Larry and Beverly DeFazio.

She said the Rotary Club of the Abingtons has offered to put a bench in the park, and the park would get new landscaping.

“As for council and all of the borough, they have a lot of respect for this DeFazio memorial and we definitely want to make sure it is a shining star in that pocket park,” Carey said at last week’s meeting. “We have a lot of respect for that family.”

She said officials would speak with Morabito’s brothers to see what direction they want to take with the plaque.

Newton Twp. resident Michael Parry, who was a friend of Morabito, proposed to the council moving both the plaque and clock tower to the park; refabricating the clock and repositioning the hands to mark the time the four planes hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field outside Shanksville; painting the frame black; and placing pavers around it that the community can sponsor.

He proposed using the clock tower at the park to display the plaque, celebrating and honoring the victims of the attacks. Parry pointed to a poll he conducted on Facebook showing people favored including the clock tower structure with the plaque in the park. He said many business owners he talked to liked the idea.

Multiple speakers at the meeting, including representatives from The Gathering Place, said the park is too small to accommodate the clock tower.

“It being in the middle of the park just doesn’t work,” Dori Waters, Gathering Place board president, told council. “It’s just not big enough and it will take up so much room that people wouldn’t be able to enjoy the park.”

Cadee Rockwell, the Gathering Place’s program and educational coordinator, suggested Parry talk to artists or engineers about ideas for the clock tower.

“I just think there are so many other ways than transferring a big, nonworking clock to a park that’s used for kids’ classes, lectures, group projects,” she said. “You need a green space there.”

The Rotary Club of the Abingtons erected the clock and donated it to the borough in 1986.