SEPTEMBER 5 - 11, 1998
SEPTEMBER 11, 1998
BS about bats!
Now, that was a story worthy of Jim Buck's talent as a writer and a teacher.
"Holy endangered species!" I could just see the ladies in the newsroom coming up
with that headline.
Give me a break! Who cares about bats? Dracula is a bat. Vampires are
an endangered species, too. That still didn't keep smiling Vince Gaeto from putting
campaign signs in cemeteries and scarring the creatures of the night have way back to
life. Worrying about an Indiana Bat is like worrying about dandelions or crab grass. So
they eat bugs. So what!
Have you ever been to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. These are deep caves and bats
live in them. I guess New Mexico bats aren't endangered because they have better housing
accommodations than Indiana bats. Maybe Indiana bats should go back to school and find out
where good places to live are located. Is it our fault that they come from the same state
as Dan Quail? What a putz! Obviously so are they!
Anyway, you stand up on top of this mountain and look around in all directions. The
closest tree is 271 miles away in Colorado! How does the discovery of this little winged
wonder equate to saying that we need to stop timbering in the Allegheny National Forest?
How did we know that the Indiana bat was endangered in the first place? Mr. Buck tells
us, and I have no reason whatsoever to doubt the accuracy or authenticity of his
reporting, that "the country's total population of Indiana bats dropped 34 percent
between 1983 and 1998, according to a study published by the Arkansas Game and Fish
Commission." Now that is a source that we should consider credible! Give me a break!
Arkansas!!!
Bill Clinton comes from Arkansas! They are lying, plain and simple. How can we ever
believe anything that comes from Arkansas? Where do they get off checking out bats from
Indiana? Who gave them that power, anyway?
I can tell you why 34% of the Indiana bats moved. Have you ever heard the story about
the Country Mouse? This is the story about the Country bat. Have you ever been to Indiana?
They got tired of living in corn fields. Think about being a bat and having to hang by
your feet, upside down, on a corn stalk It might be okay after the Fourth of July
when the corn is knee high; but what about when it is first planted? How about when it is
corn chopping season and those big combine machines come along and turn everything into
little pieces? How many Indiana bats do you think got chopped up with the corn? They were
asleep and probably never even heard the farmers coming. Is it any wonder they are moving
to our cherry trees?
I fail to see the logic of stopping timber harvesting because of bats from Indiana. We
have 49 other states. Even if they all get chopped up or crushed by falling trees, that's
only 2% and that is far from the number required for endangered species consideration.
I am always scared when Dale Dunshie's name is mentioned. Linking him to this Indiana
bat is down right frightening. Dale, the number two man in the Allegheny National Forest,
is an expert pine cone counter. That is his area of expertise. Now he will be in charge of
counting bats, too. Think about it! Dale will have to stay up all night and do a random
sampling of the bats. "Excuse me, Mr. Bat. Are you a Pennsylvania bat or and Indiana
bat?" What is he going to do with all the tourist bats? How do we know that this
Indiana bat wasn't just that?
It could have been a tourist. It could have been a traveler going from Indiana to New
York City to visit its city cousin. It might have been on its way back home. Did the bat
have a camping permit?
I am of a mind that the bat just got tired of flying with that heavy radio transmitter
on its back and stopped over in the ANF for a rest. That is when the biologists got their
grubby little hands on them. They were on a rest stop and were not in residence. They have
a lot of damn nerve delaying the bats like they have. I think this is outrageous. What
about bat rights! What about our rights?
This is all crap! Lawyers will make a ton of money fighting over bats and that
is BS. Where is common sense? It is probably nearly extinct and should be placed on the
endangered species list with the Indiana bat.
SEPTEMBER 10, 1998
A whole lot of trash
It seems to be everywhere these days. Turn on the television and look at the
President of the United States. Trash! Tom Ridge wants a three year freeze on new landfill
permits. Trash! Ridge says there will be no low -level nuclear waste dump in Pennsylvania.
Trash! And Charles Jeffery Duke tells the truth. Trash!
I have always said that the only way we can change things in Washington is to start
here at home. That is true. It has more truth than most will care to admit. Think about
it.
Bill Clinton didn't start chasing skirts and lying when he became the President of the
United States. No. He had years of practice. It started long ago. How many lies did he
tell in law school? Did he cheat on exams like John Kennedy? What about when he became
Attorney General of Arkansas? Was he truthful or did he twist cases so he could win
and make a name for himself? Then as Governor, did he tell the truth then? How many women
did this man have during those years. Are we to believe that he was only with Hillary,
Jennifer, and Monica? How many other Paulas were there?
A man like Clinton got his start somewhere. It was a small start and people knew then
that this man was less than what he appeared to be. But to be in politics, a whole lot of
sins are forgiven if you will go along and do the bidding of the people behind the scenes.
If you front for the Shadow Government, regardless of the level of politics, you can have
your ticket punched and you can then go on to the next level.
Clinton was, and continues to be, one of those front men for the Shadow
Government.
I guess its called having all the right stuff. I guess it is knowing who to do things
for and how to put the interests of the people aside for your own personal gain. It starts
so early in political careers that by the time you reach a level of "real
importance" you actually believe that the interests of the backers are really the
interests of the people.
What about real live trash? What about nuclear waste and municipal waste?
Tom Ridge has imposed a freeze on new landfill permits. That includes opening new cells
in existing landfills. Keep in mind, landfill is the politically correct name for a filthy
dirty smelly garbage dump. Why would he do such a thing?
Jim Weaver, my Democratic counterpart in the Court House, pointed out something very
relevant yesterday. "I've been a Democrat all my life," he said.
"Republicans don't do things that hurt businessmen. They won't think twice about
hurting the little guy; but they don't hurt business." In the same conversation it
was noted that the Ridge for Governor Campaign received $150,000 from waste haulers. I
would guess the freeze on new permits will quietly disappear right after the election.
The same goes for the statements about Pennsylvania not needing a Low Level Nuclear
Waste Dump. If that was true, why was Chem Nuclear present at the County Commissioners'
Convention in Pittsburgh? Why is Pennsylvania still pursuing the permitting process with
the Department of Energy? Why? Again, was this an election year ploy by the Governor to
not only win re-election, but to win by such an impressive margin that he would be
considered as a Vice Presidential Candidate in 2000?
If that is what it is all about, Tom is really missing the boat! Vice President to who?
Why not just run for President? There isn't anyone in either party that I would vote for
right now. Forget the trash about the trash, Tom. You don't need to mislead us. This is
all unnecessary. Run for President and win!
As for Charlie the Tuna, former District Attorney of McKean County, now the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has the opportunity to know what a liar he is. They
will also see how he had no compunction about lying to investigators for the Attorney
General and even lying on the witness stand. Is that perjury?
On September 8, 1998 a Petition for Allowance of Appeal in the case Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania v. Harold T. Beck, et al, was filed with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
It was prepared by Attorney Gregory A. Henry of Bradford, PA. In it, Mr.
Henry outlines the political genesis of the prosecution.
"Most troubling of all, however, such an interpretation would permit the type of
abuse which the record reveals to have occurred in this case. Although McKean County
District Attorney Charles J. Duke told Special Agents Surma and Rice, on August 29, 1996,
that he received an October 1995 complaint about alleged Election Code violations through
the McKean County Voter Registration Office, the undisputed
testimony of record made on October 20, 1997 demonstrates that Mr. Duke did not tell the
truth to the Special Agents.
"Prior to the evidence present on October 20, 1997, the Commonwealth also believed
that the McKean County Voter Registration Office first contacted Mr. Duke and reported
possible Election Code violations to his office. In its October 20, 1997 Memorandum to the
trial court, the Commonwealth stated:
Judy Ordiway, Director of Elections for the McKean County
Board of Elections, became aware of the failure of Beck and Smith to comply with the
Election code and reported the apparent violations to Charles J. Duke, then District
Attorney of McKean County.
"The foregoing statement is completely untrue. Mr. Duke, who dislikes Petitioner
Beck because of the latter's written attacks on him, unilaterally contacted the McKean
County Voter Registration Office on the basis of an alleged rumor he heard from a
courthouse employee --- whose name Mr. Duke could, conveniently, no longer recall.
"The McKean County Voter Registration Office never reported any alleged violations
to Mr. Duke nor published Petitioner Beck's name. Although McKean County Voter
Registration did correspond with Petitioner Beck by return receipt requested concerning
the possible need to register a campaign committee, Mr. Duke's office did not receive a
carbon copy of this correspondence and Mr. Duke unilaterally contact McKean County Voter
Registration before Mr. Beck's return receipt card was returned to the McKean County Voter
Registration Office.
"Although the record reveals that copies of The Mountain Laurel Review
were among the materials in the possession of Mr. Duke at the time of the investigation,
clearly, Mr. Duke did not commence any investigation pursuant to information reported to
him pursuant to Title 25 P.S. 3259 (7). On the contrary, his above recited actions
eloquently explain why the requirement of judicial certification is required."
What did he say?
He said Jeff Duke lied.
Jeff Duke made these statements regarding how the investigation began on the witness
stand under oath. Judy Ordiway was called to the witness stand and stated the exact
opposite.
Therefore, what do Jeff Duke and Bill Clinton have in common
besides just a whole lot of trash?
The key here is The Mountain Laurel Review revealed the fact that Charles
Jeffrey Duke was a liar time and time again. That was why he began a political prosecution
of me. We drove him from office. He was out to get me. Now he has caught himself. The
record shows it.
What if a Mountain Laurel Review would have caught Bill Clinton early
on in his career? What if? No doubt, just a whole lot of trash!
SEPTEMBER 9, 1998
They are only numbers and it's only money
Record Stock Market single day gain and a new home run record on the same day!
Amazing! What does it all mean?
It means little to the everyday person who gets up every day and goes to work. If a
stock portfolio started out in 1996 at $150,000 and then in July of 1998 was worth
$550,000, what would that have meant to most of us? Nothing unless it was ours! If it was
and suddenly three weeks ago we saw that portfolio drop to $285,000, what would that have
meant? Would it have meant that we lost $275,000 in a month; or, would it have meant we
made $135,000 in two years? I guess it is how you would look at it, isn't it?
What does Mark McGwire hitting 62 or 69 home runs mean to any of us? Really, it means
nothing. It does not affect our every day lives. It didn't help us get a better job. It
didn't make us happy at home or make someone love us. The record for hitting home runs
means nothing to any of us whether we played baseball or not. It is nice to see someone
succeed; but really, it has done nothing for any of us. Life will go on and it would have
even if there had never been a 1998 home run race. It was just something else to talk
about.
The same holds true with the Stock Market unless our life savings are invested and we
are watching it daily and adding up our losses and our gains. Even at that, even if your
life savings are invested and that portfolio was yours, how would you have gauged the past
two years? Did you lose $275,000; or did you make $135,000?
Many would call my comments about Mark McGwire cynical. Americans live vicariously. We
love heroes. The sight of his son dressed up in a Cardinals uniform and wearing his
father's number, a miniature Mark McGwire, had to warm even the hardest of cynics. I have
to admit that it did! I also have to admit that the faces of the children who have
followed Sosa and McGwire this year, remind me of mine in 1961 when it was Mickey Mantle
and Roger Maris. Remembering those days takes away my cynicism. They were my heroes! I
guess they still are.
John Kennedy was a hero back then. The Stock Market was rebounding from a languishing
recession and the nation was going back to work. We were starting a space race and we
nearly blew up the world over missiles in Cuba. There were cynics then, too. They said
Maris' 61 Home Runs didn't mean anything because Babe Ruth hit 60 in 154 games and it took
Maris 163 games to break the mark. That really meant little to me. Sixty-one home
runs were sixty-one home runs! Roger Maris had the record in my book. That was it.
John Kennedy got killed. The Stock Market went down and we didn't blow up the world. We
found out that John Kennedy was only a man. He cheated on his wife. He cheated on his
exams in college. He wasn't King Arthur and the United States was not Camelot. The world
does not love us. We do not have all the answers. So what!
Bill Clinton lied to the American People. He lied to his wife. He lied to his daughter.
He probably even lied to Monica! The Stock Market went up. It went down. Now it is back
up. Does anyone even have an answer? So what if they do or they don't! What does it matter
just as long as we don't blow up the world and there is a tomorrow?
Twenty-five years from now only history teachers will care about Bill Clinton just like
they are the only ones who care about Richard Nixon. The Stock Market will be at 18,985
instead of 8,650. Someone whose name that we cannot imagine will be in another home run
race and our grandchildren will be waiting for that woman to hit her 72nd homer. Some
other cynic will make a statement like: They are only numbers and its only money. The only
catch is, even though that cynic may be right, the cynic fails to catch the real juice of
the fruit. It is life, too. It is life and it is the only one we have. That makes it
precious.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1998
The middle of the night in the forest
I used to think that I was the only one who couldn't sleep. I used to
dream a whole lot and rather than do the same experience over and over, I learned how to
wake myself. It proved to be a blessing and a curse. Now, when I wake, I am up. People
will say the rest of the day that I look tired and I usually am. Even being tired and
listening to everyone say you look it, I have grown to enjoy the peace and the quiet of
the middle of the night.
Actually, the middle of the night is midnight. I am usually still asleep then. It is
generally from 1:30 a.m. on, until dawn, that I would call the middle of the night. A
misnomer for sure, but at least I have defined the terms.
It isn't the time that I get my ideas. It is, however, a time that I
can reflect on myself and the events that have already taken place. I am more creative
once I get to work. Then the creative juices flow. That is where I get my brainstorms and
begin to cause some of the trouble that I do. My middle of the night is reserved for
peaceful thought and reflection. I enjoy the night.
Living in the woods I find that I have many frequent visitors during these
peaceful hours. Generally, they are quiet. There was a lumbering black bear this
morning just before three. Willy, our 15 year old Golden Retriever, stood up and sniffed
the air before laying back down, deciding that it was not worth the effort to tell the
bear that she was there, too, and this was her territory. At that moment, Willy was
willing to share as long as the bear kept his distance.
A huge buck stood proudly at the edge of the trees just after the bear passed through.
The moonlight silhouetted him as his majestic head sported a rack in excess of ten points.
He, no doubt, is a descendant of the big old guy I used to hunt every year. No one ever
did get him. He was a fourteen pointer and if he was bagged, the stories would have spread
through every bar in a five county area. They never did. I assume he died laughing at me
and at Butch DuBois as we gave up wanting any other deer except for him. It was a game for
him, an obsession for us.
I expect that in another hour, just at dawn, the three doe and two small buck will come
across the front yard as is their usual practice. The turkey will begin about that time
and a hen will lead her growing brood of ten chicks to a place where they will eat.
Meanwhile, the heavy trucks will move along the highway every now and then, breaking the
natural silence of the night in the forest.
Somewhere out there is a lone six foot panther, silently prowling for its food.
New tracks were seen just the other day. Occasionally some one will report its scream and
believe it is a woman. It is better that its presence remains denied by the authorities.
Still, I know and believe that it is out there in that natural silence that is really not
all that silent.
At night the forest is alive. At night the deer graze and that bear moves from dumpster
to apple tree to berry patch to creek bed. That bear will cover thirty miles during the
dark hours. It will follow a path that it has determined for itself and will seldom
deviate unless it senses danger. It will cross highways at the same place and at at the
same time night after night. It will, as its ancestors did, eat, live and survive inspite
of man, not because of him.
While we worry about a week long loss of 400 points on the New York Stock
exchange, count Mark McGwire's home runs, and wait to find out why 229 people
died in a place crash, the forest goes on. It was there for hundreds of years. When white
men came to these mountains hemlock trees, four hundred years old stood two hundred feet
high. Within a hundred years of that time, all the hemlock trees were gone.
They were cut and made into lumber to build Chicago and St. Louis and Columbus and
Cincinnati. The bark was used for tanning and the seedlings for charcoal to make steel.
That forest was ultimately devastated but nature gave us a hardwood forest in its place
made up of cherry and maple. Much of that forest is sixty to seventy years old. It will
continue to go on. If we cut it and move on, it will grow back in spite of us and our
worst best efforts.
Even the great Chief Cornplanter knew that while his time was only a momentary speck,
the forest was a place that was almost eternal. It gave and it took life. It
protected and it harmed. It was safe and it was dangerous. It was dark like the night. It
could come and it could go in natural cycles and it would live, with or without man. It
certainly did not need the U.S. Department of Agriculture to manage it. Somehow it made it
this far. We have to believe that it will make it farther.
As a new day begins our lives will go on. We will believe that what we do is
important. We will believe that who we are makes a difference. We will believe that,
but the believing does not make it true. Look to the trees and imagine the forest and then
tell me what is and is not important.
SEPTEMBER 7, 1998
The Cost of Government
Over 800 tax appeals were filed before the deadline in McKean County. The
school taxes brought the matter to a critical stage. The reassessment was necessary. The
people understood that. Only 16% of the 35,000 parcels of property (5,600) saw an actual
increase in their assessment. Many would argue that because what was assessed at $10,000
suddenly rose to a higher amount. True. However, the $10,000 was a 1978 value. To keep it
equal, that is 1978 up to 1998 values, it could have increased up to $23,300 and your
taxes would have stayed the same. For many people it did. For some it actually went down a
bit, as long as all things remained the same. They didn't!
The Bradford Area School District raised their taxes ten percent (10%)
immediately following the reassessment. Thirty-six percent (36%) of the population
of McKean County and more than one half the total parcels of land (18,420) were affected
by the actions of the School Board. That is a tax increase! It is a real tax increase!
The leveling of values actually helped the people living in the Bradford Area
School District. City or Township, and County taxes actually dropped for
the first time in twenty years. That was a welcome relief for the elderly citizens living
on fixed incomes. Taxes are not supposed to be a burden on the weakest
and most vulnerable in the system. They are supposed to be spread across the population
and the population contributes, according to its ability, to pay for the cost of
government.
Somewhere, that got out of wack. Government became big. Government became so big
that out of those who work, nearly one out of every 2.4 people work for some form of
government. True, they pay taxes. Still, it does not compensate when you factor in
the people who own no property and pay no property taxes. The burden rests solely on the
people who have saved to own something for themselves. That burden has continually
increased each and every year lately. Why?
With the change in County Administration three years ago and the county 1.6 million in
the hole, raising taxes would have made sense. It wasn't done. Taxes were never raised and
we completed an expensive reassessment at the same time. In two years the budget deficit,
the debt, disappeared. How?
While the Bradford Area School District irresponsibly spent money it did not
have, McKean County was responsible and did not do the same thing. People got pay
raises. No services were cut. We are under state and federal mandates, just like the
school district. What was different? Why was it that we could do it and they could not?
Was it because the furniture at the Court House doesn't match and the furniture in the
School District does? Our employees, just like the teachers, have unions. We negotiate
union contracts. Explain the difference to me!
Government was set up to serve and protect people. School Districts were set up to
educate our children. We recognize reasonable costs associated with government and with
education. The functional word is reasonable. What reasonable taxes are to an $80,000 a
year school superintendent, a $60,000 a year fiscal manager for that school district, and
a newly created $44,000 public relations director, are much different for the widow who
receives a $580 a month Social Security check and eats one hot meal a day, five days a
week, at the Bradford Area Senior Center. They are not only different, they are worlds
apart!
The widow does not begrudge the superintendent her $80,000 a year salary, or the car.
Why then, does the superintendent place such a heavy burden on the widow with $36,000,000
in new debt, furniture that matches, and some of the highest paid school teachers in the
state?
The widow was counting on the projected decrease in her taxes. So were a whole lot of
other people. Most of us are not in the superintendent's wage range. Most of us really do
work, and work darn hard for every penny. That little decrease was gong to come in handy.
She took that away from us. She not only took it away from us this year; she has done
worse. As she looks at the future of her $36,000,000 debt and her new school teacher's
contract, she has also robbed us of it for years to come.
What does the widow, or the elderly couple who survive together, do? How will
they live? Where will they live? Why has this happened? Is it so their grandchildren can
have new computers? Was it for the high school so it could have a shiny new kitchen when
all the old one needed was cleaned? Why have we spent all of this money when the
superintendent and her equally overpaid administrators can't even keep the middle and
senior high students in school? Why? We are doing our part, when will they do theirs?
It is sad when an uncaring school board can force people from their homes just because
of taxes. It is equally sad that if the elderly and the working poor who now feel the
economic pinch of the shopping mall mentality could live in Smethport and pay less
in County, Borough, and School taxes than what they will pay this year for school taxes
alone in Bradford. We need a change and a very radical one. We need the system turned
over, a new school board elected, and a new superintendent. We need to start from scratch
and we need to live within our means.
SEPTEMBER 5-6, 1998
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