The successful end to a seven-week manhunt for a suspected police killer means some northeast Pennsylvania children will get to celebrate Halloween in the traditional fashion after all. 
 
 Barrett Township supervisors immediately started getting the word out that the hundreds of children in town can go trick-or-treating Friday since fugitive Eric Frein was taken into custody Thursday. 
 
 Chairman Ralph Megliola said everyone in the Pocono Mountain community of some 4,100 was relieved, and Helen Blackmore said residents are eager to get back to normal. 
 
 "It's been a long 48 days," Megliola said shortly after police announced Frein's capture. 
 
 As if by proclamation, he announced: "Trick-or-treating is on tomorrow night from 6 to 8 in Barrett Township. We as a town think the kids have gone through enough." 
 
 Frein faces charges of ambushing state police barracks Sept. 12, killing one trooper and wounding another. 
 
 Throughout it all, residents in and around the five-mile search area endured road blockades, school closings, and the whir of helicopters overhead. There were times when they weren't allowed home. And there were always the unsettling thoughts that a criminal suspect was somewhere in their woods. 
 
 As Friday neared and Frein hadn't been caught, trick-or-treating and what would have been the 50th anniversary celebration of their Halloween parade were canceled. 
 
 Kids still managed to celebrate by "trunk-or-treating" at a tailgate party held Sunday at a school parking lot, and organizers said that was a success. Children turned out for activities including face painting and a costume contest, and to see dozens of car trunks decorated for the spooky holiday. Oh, and to get lots of candy. 
 
 "It really was a great day," said Cheryl Jones, a member of the township's Halloween parade committee. 
 
 The committee had originally planned to hold the 50th anniversary of the town's Halloween parade on Sunday, but authorities said the logistics would have presented problems during the manhunt. The event draws participants from all over the region, and includes marching bands, floats, costumed revelers throwing candy and thousands of spectators gathered along a main road, committee chairwoman Betty Oppelt said Thursday. 
 
 "The Halloween parade is a big, big, big deal," Oppelt said. "This is not a rinky-dink parade." 
 
 They planned to celebrate the 50th in 2015. 
 
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 Follow Kathy Matheson at www.twitter.com/kmatheson 

 Law officials and residents of Barrett Township are relieved that the man accused of killing a Pa. state trooper has been caught after a 48 day manhunt. NBC10's George Spencer has more. (Published Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014) 
 
 'Thank God this is Over': Twp. Supervisor 
 
 Halloween in the Poconos is back on following the capture of accused trooper shooter Eric Frein, according to Barrett Twp. Police. 
 
 Authorities made the announcement to reinstate Halloween shortly after 31-year-old Eric Frein was captured Thursday night in a defunct airplane hanger at Old Birchwood Airport in Tannersville, Pa. 
 
 Township officials made the decision to cancel all Halloween festivities nearly three weeks ago, much to the dismay of children in Barrett Township. 
 
 Instead of trick-or-treating, the township planned "Trunk R Treat" which was to be held on the grounds of Monsignor McHugh School in Paradise Township. 
 
 Now, kids in the area can dress up in their costumes and trick-or-treat house to house instead of car to car. 
 
 No word on whether the township's Halloween parade or Scarecrow Race will be held Friday. 
 
 Frein was captured on Day 48 of a multi-million dollar manhunt. He was wanted for ambushing two state troopers outside the Blooming Grove barracks on Sept. 12. Cpl. Bryon Dickson was killed and another trooper was seriously hurt. 
 

– With the capture of Eric Frein, US marshals haven't just taken a dangerous suspected cop-killer out of action, they've saved Halloween for hundreds of children. Authorities in Barrett Township in rural Pennsylvania, which canceled Halloween festivities when Frein was believed to be holed up in the area, say Halloween is now reinstated and kids are free to go trick-or-treating, reports NBC. "It's been a long 48 days," the township's chairman told the AP after the survivalist's capture, announcing that trick-or-treating was back on. "We as a town think the kids have gone through enough."