Carbon County officials want to clarify the home delivered meals program.

On Thursday, the commissioners talked about the Options program and its expansion of the home/Non-Congregate Meals program into Lehighton, Jim Thorpe and Palmerton areas.Commissioner William O'Gurek said a letter to the editor in the Times News last week said the county was ignoring the Panther Valley area with the expansion of the meal program.He said that is not the case."We have the home delivered meal program for seniors and have about 120 clients," he said, noting that of that amount, 40 percent or 48 clients are from the Summit Hill, Lansford, Nesquehoning areas.The reason for the expansion in the Lehighton, Jim Thorpe and Palmerton areas was because they had previously been served by Meals on Wheels, but now the county will be taking on those areas.He said that the Carbon County Area Agency on Aging is taking applications from all communities, and seniors who qualify won't be turned away."If a senior qualifies, who is hungry and needs the meals, we would be glad to deliver them regardless of the area," O'Gurek said.Commissioners Thomas J. Gerhard and Wayne Nothstein, chairman, agreed, saying that the county is not leaving one community out.The expansion of the meals program comes out of $225,000 in state lottery funding that the county received earlier this year to address growing waiting lists in the senior programs, provide additional services to area senior citizens and expand services to qualified residents.For more information on senior services available in Carbon County, call the Area Agency on Aging office, located on Delaware Avenue in Palmerton, at 610-824-7830.In other matters, the commissioners wanted to clarify that they are not killing the bats in the courthouse.Some people misconstrued the county's plan to rid the courthouse of the bats. The plan calls for inserting a cone in the chimney. The cone will act as a one-way street. Bats can fly out of the cone, but cannot re-enter through the same hole.The county has also screened in the bell tower as a way to stop the bats from coming inside.