SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - The baby Jesus is not in his manager at a Nativity scene in the borough, but, this year, it isn't because he was stolen.
"We're still anticipating the birth here," Lori Michael, owner of Lori's Angels, a home health care agency at 25 W. Main St., said Tuesday.
In January, someone stole the Christ child from the Nativity scene, which had been on display since Thanksgiving. Prior to the theft, vandals had broken the ears off a sheep. Police never found those responsible.
It was the first year for the Nativity scene, which cost $3,000, and included a wooden stable and statues of Mary, Joseph, a shepherd, three sheep, a donkey and the manger with baby Jesus.
Michael said last year's crime did not deter her from putting up the display on Dec. 2 at Lori's Angels along the sidewalk again this season. However, she did take precautions.
A four-foot wire fence now protects the display "just to keep anyone from taking him (Jesus) again," she said.
She doesn't know who stole the baby Jesus, but suspects children might have taken the statue and thrown it in the Schuylkill River.
"I think it was just kids, and they happened to be walking by," she said.
If Jesus disappears again, Michael said he will be back.
"I'll buy another baby Jesus, and we'll put it somewhere else next year," she said.
The infant, which cost $500 to replace, will be placed in the manager on Christmas Eve.
"The week after New Year's, we'll take it down," she said.
Michael said she wants people to know the true meaning of Christmas, which is why she is determined to continue her tradition of displaying the Nativity scene outside.
"Because this is the real reason for the Christmas season. Not just the lights and the presents and Santa Claus. It's the birth of Christ, and that's what we want to bring back into people's minds," she said.
