Car slams into LaRose’s wall; rink allowed to open after structural engineer gives OK

A popular skating rink in Franklin Township is damaged but was able to open after a vehicle crashed into its concrete wall early Friday morning.

The crash occurred at 1:30 a.m. as a woman was driving south on Route 209, failed to negotiate a curve and went off the road and crashed into LaRose’s Skating Rink at 2800 Interchange Road.

Firefighters from the township fire company extricated the woman, who was treated at the scene by Lehighton paramedics and transported to a trauma center.

Township police have not released the victim’s identity because the crash remains under investigation.

Roy and Brenda Artz have owned the skating rink for 26 years. They live in a house behind the rink.

Roy Artz said the noise woke him around 1 a.m.

“I heard a large thud and then I started hearing other noises,” Artz said. “I woke up and got to the window, looked outside, and I saw all the fire engines outside, the firemen were throwing out cinder blocks, they were trying to extricate the victim out of the car.”

Artz said he was told the business could not open until a structural engineer gave them the OK that it was safe.

After a structural inspection was completed, they were given the go-ahead to open.

“The part of the building that was struck is not the main building. It is a separate addition with its own roof,” said Brenda Artz. “We have running water and a good floor, and that is what we need. So we are up and running.”

Roy Artz said the business was expecting 100 people Friday night, and had two birthday parties scheduled for today with between 90 to 100 more people.

Amanda Zellers who had scheduled one of the birthday parties for Saturday was concerned about the change of plans, and said she hoped the building could be fixed quickly so that the business wouldn’t have to worry about canceling a ton of events.

Brenda Artz had called everyone to cancel when they were told they could not be open until after the inspection, but then called everybody Friday afternoon to let them know that the parties were back on.

“We knew this was eventually going to happen, but we thought it was going to be a huge tractor-trailer instead of a car,” Roy Artz said. “They drive too fast.”

The speed limit in the turns is 30 mph.

“We are concerned that they need to change the speed limit, or put up signage,” Brenda Artz said. “We’re just lucky that we weren’t open.”

Over a five-year period from 2012-2016, there have been four crashes reported along that stretch of 209, including one with two deaths, according to Sean Brown, PennDOT spokesman.

A double fatal occurred in May 2016, when a work van crossed over the line and struck a Carbon County Transit Authority bus. A passenger on the bus, Herbert Farenkoff, 60, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the van, William M. Pomrink, 32, died a short time later.

And a New Jersey man died in a two-vehicle collision in that area in April 2011.

Zoltan Czikora, 51, of Trenton, was traveling north of LaRose’s, when a box truck he was operating collided head-on with a tractor trailer.