NOVEMBER 7 - NOVEMBER 13, 1998
NOVEMBER 13, 1998
It seems to never stop, or, Pete's Dragon!
It is 37.9 degrees in Marshburg. For once we are higher than Buffalo who is
reporting 33 degrees at 5:55 AM.
You always know when you write a good article. The next day you are flooded
with e-mail on the subject. Once more, we have many people in total agreement with us.
Everyone believes that the McKean Theater should be torn down, and everyone believes that
the City, in particular Mayor Cavallaro, to be the main stumbling block.
Several of our readers refer to Mayor Connie as "Ray McMahon's puppet mayor."
Others accused her of "the early stages of senility" and point out that
"she doesn't go anywhere without Peggy Comilla there to speak for her."
This was all a shock to me. I was under the impression that Mayor Connie was one of the
more popular mayors in the history of Bradford, PA. It appears that, at least with the
computer reading constituents, that is not the case.
Having another wonderful lunch at The Downbeat Restaurant, and still highly
recommending the Caesar Salad and the Mixed Grille (forget the vegetables and the potato
or pasta as it is too much for lunch), the lovely and always pleasant Mary Jo brought out
a copy of the statement Pete made before City Council. Debbie, another of Pete's friendly
and wonderful staff, dropped by to ask my impression.
Pete did a wonderful job. Everything he said was the truth. Again, The Era missed
the key points of Pete's message to City Council. It seems they only print the bad side
where I am involved. Probably, if they knew that I had signed the petition, they could
have pulled something from that. However, they failed to mention Pete's direct criticism
of them and their inaction. Pete said:
"The City has, for years, made empty promises concerning the McKean Theater.
For example, on April 25, 1996, Mr. Bob Kreiner asked City Council why the McKean Theater
had not yet been demolished. Mayor Cavallaro told Mr. Kreiner that plans concerning the
McKean Theater, which she could not disclose, were developing. The Mayor told Mr. Kreiner
that the McKean Theater should be demolished by the end of 1996. Over 2 and 1/2 years
later, the McKean Theater still stands - a monument to the indifference and inefficiency
of this administration."
Inefficiency is a good word! That does accurately describe the administration on this
issue. Even now, when only five or six thousand dollars is standing between making a deal
to have the City take the place over, the mayor seems powerless to act until someone tells
her what to do.
One insider told me yesterday: "If I were mayor, I'd get on the phone to
McMahon and tell him to make the deal, stop quibbling over six thousand dollars and get
this damn issue off the front page and out of the news."
I pointed out that maybe Peggy hasn't told her to do that yet.
Oh well! Really, for the past two days I've been wanting to write about the
horrendously high salaries paid to administrators of the Bradford Area School District.
While a 1.36 percent pay increase does not sound like very much, in the case of Cheri
O'Mara, that converts to over $3,000 a year. Kathy Kelly goes up $2,000 a year and where
do you suppose the increase in pay is coming from? Do you think they have economized and
have save money justifying the raise? Do you think they are getting a new Federal Grant to
cover the extra money? Of course none of those things are going to happen. What is going
to happen is they will raise our school taxes by that amount plus an additional amount to
cover increases to to the teachers, and even more to cover their runaway spending on
construction projects and new furniture.
People! We are going to pay more school taxes than ever before!
Did the public get to comment on this new Administrator's contract? Did we have
anything to say about it? The Bradford Era thinks it is just ducky! In
yesterday's paper they ran the editorial "Taxpayers were served well." That is
their opinion of the teacher's contract and the administrator's contract. I don't think we
were served well. I think we were ripped off! I think we were ripped off once more and
because The Era blesses the rip off, that makes it okay. Bunk!
And in blessing the rip off, they say:
"And, perhaps of most significance, is School Superintendent Cheri O'Mara, who
set the standard more than a year ago by forgoing a salary increase during the last
school year. Looking at salaries paid to superintendents in other school districts, many
much smaller than Bradford, one could argue she's the most underpaid employee in the
school district."
More bunk! Show me one school superintendent who is not called
"Doctor" instead of "Cheri" who makes more than our overpaid shopper
of the year. If she is underpaid by judging her against her peers, it is because she lacks
the necessary qualifications (being a Doctor of Education) to be the school
superintendent.
We all know how it came to pass that Cheri was elevated to her position on the ladder
commonly known as her own level of incompetence. Heck, I'm a husband. I understand. When
your wife wants something, it gets awfully cold sleeping alone on the couch in the winter
time around here.
All that aside, lets not spread this garbage about what a great deal we are getting by
taking her pay of $80,830 and increasing it to $86,526 in two years. My God! Where is
common sense? Don't these people understand that we have a limited base from which to draw
and they are literally forcing people out of their homes because they can't afford to pay
the school taxes? What is wrong with these people? Isn't there one brain between the
entire bunch that is on the School Board or are they just like Connie, unable to act
unless Cheri, or Peggy, says so?
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
NOVEMBER 12, 1998
Shearing sheep
Good morning. It is 31.6 degrees in chilly Marshburg. The winds have died down
and there are more dead branches on the ground than there were two days ago. I should get
an anemometer next so I can have an accurate measurement on the wind speed. God knows,
between this column and the air flowing up the mountain off the reservoir, it gets pretty
windy up here on the hill.
There's never a dull moment in Bradford.
It gets scary when one of my favorite chefs quotes the law better than most lawyers
around here. It is scary because he did something that most of the McKean County lawyers
don't do, look up the law and find out what it actually says.
Pete Kervin, owner of The Downbeat Restaurant, (I recommend their Caesar
Salads and the Mixed Grille) in his quest to have the McKean Theater torn down, points out
properly that: "According to Chapter 82 of the Third Class City Code, the theater is
50% or more damaged, decayed, or deteriorated. In that event, the city can demolish the
building and (attempt to) collect the cost plus 10% penalty from the owner."
That is all well and good. However, this situation was not of the owner's making. While
the code does allow for such action, negligence and a pattern of on going disregard must
be proven to collect penalties and costs. (See, I can read the code, too.)
The owner, Bob Cummins, has attempted to deal with the city in good faith. It was the
city through the man with the lifetime contract, Ray McMahon, who have not dealt
in good faith. Their premature and immature announcement last March that a deal had been
made was a bunch of hot air. Bob Cummins learned about the deal when he read the morning
paper. The Bradford Era incorrectly reported that Cummins and the city had
come to terms without ever checking with Cummins as to the accuracy of Mr. McMahon's
statements.
The approval of a non existent deal with Bob Cummins that saddled him with the cost of
demolition and removal was anything than a good faith transaction. In this instance, The
City of Bradford and their golden director for life, Ray McMahon, have not dealt
in good faith. With Mr. McMahon adding fuel to the fire by feeding Pete the information
about Chapter 82, all the petitions in the world, a petition I signed myself, cannot
prove what is necessary to collect the costs plus 10% from Bob Cummings. Even City
Solicitor, Mark Hollenbeck, no great legal mind by any stretch of the imagination, will be
able to identify that one. In this case the bad faith is solely on the part of the city
and OECD.
There are other ways. They can condemn it and take it in the interest of Public Domain.
That has its draw backs but it will get the job done. Also, Mr. McMahon could make the
property attractive and place it in the Keystone Opportunity Zone which would give it a
tax exempt status for eleven years. Perhaps if that was offered to Mr. Cummins, he just
might tear it down and develop the property. Why hasn't McMahon offered that?
Bob Cummins is currently paying County, City, and Bradford Area School Taxes on the
McKean Theater. He is paying on an assessed value of $48,000. I found that interesting
after Randy Hall, who is still the owner of Carnegies, now Beefeaters,
contrary to reports in The Era claiming it was sold, made a pitch for an assessed
value of the former library that underwent a $300,000 plus renovation, in the area of
$77,000. He even had a local licensed real estate appraiser put that figure in writing,
too. Needless to say, that did not fly very far.
I agree with Pete about tearing it down. I have had my eye on it as a new world
headquarters for Mountain Laurel Publications. I think it is a fine location,
only a stones throw from The Era, and could easily launch Bradford as a center
for literary excellence.
Pete is right about the City's promise to tear it down before the Zippo/Case Swap meet.
Is that why the next swap meet is in two years? Actually, the city should not make
promises that they cannot keep and Ray McMahon should not announce deals that no one other
than he, himself, have heard of.
Chapter 82 sounds really good. I have to point out that The Comfort Inn is not yet a
reality. Before they begin anything stupid, they should take a lesson from that
foolishness and understand that no one would sit back and write a check for the demolition
plus 10% without putting the city through gymnastics that would make the Comfort Inn Case
look like shearing sheep. Oh well, I do get my best material just reading the comics.
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
NOVEMBER 11, 1998
The hoax
Good morning and Happy Veterans' Day. It is 43 degrees at 5:45 AM in Marshburg.
Actually, right now it is 42.6 degrees. I picked up an Indoor-Outdoor Thermometer at
Radio Shack yesterday. I stopped in to buy some cable connectors and as I was paying for
them there was a unit on the counter. I liked it immediately and for the price of $17.95
plus tax it was mine. It is:
"Easy to read jumbo LCD display (that) tells you the indoor and outdoor
temperatures simultaneously. constantly samples temperatures for accurate, up to the
minute readings. Easily switched between Fahrenheit and Celsius scales. You'll know the
temperature before you step out the door!"
That was exactly what I needed! It came with ten feet of wire and I ran it out the
front window and I was in business. Right now it is 42.1 degrees - 41.9 now -back to 42.3
- oh well, you get the idea.
In the November printed issue of The Mountain Laurel Review on Page 19
we printed a half page message "To all Veterans and families of Veterans." It
began:
If you are a veteran, or if any of your relatives fall under that category, you may
be interested in the following information. A bill was recently passed by Congress
entitling veterans to a dividend on the GI Insurance they had while in the service. Both
current and former military personnel are entitled to this dividend regardless of whether
or not they still carry the insurance."
The information piece arrived by e-mail and a day later, a printed copy arrived with a
check for $50, the price of a half page interior ad in the MLR. Faced with a
print deadline, we ran the paid information piece. It was a hoax. No such bill has been
passed by the Congress or signed by the President making it law. However, there have been
discussions and the idea has been considered in committee. It appears that the group that
is promoting this plan of reimbursement to veterans got tired of waiting and felt it was a
good idea to flood the Veterans Administration with requests for payment.
The payment schedule is attractive. For two years of service there was a payment of
$261. Three years gave a payment of $391; and four or more years gave $528.
Now these figures are not made up. They are actuarially sound in the respect that they
closely follow an average dividend schedule for an insurance product known as Life
Paid up at 20 using the age of a 19 year old male and ten thousand dollars of life
insurance. It is a Whole Life Policy that pays dividends (earnings) in the first year and
is used by some as a combination Life Insurance Policy and savings account. Premiums on
this type of policy are paid for 20 years and then the policy remains in force and the
premiums accumulate at interest with the face amount of insurance remaining in force.
Every man and woman who entered the military was covered by such a policy. The
Department of Defense paid annual premiums on the lives of each of their people in uniform
world wide. Dividends on those policies similar to what is identified in the false
information piece did exist. We were all told when we were discharged to convert our GI
Insurance. I did as I was told and wound up with a $10,000 Term Insurance Policy that paid
no dividends from Allstate. There were no dividends to convert over to the new policy.
There was no nest egg. All I had was a guarantee from the government that I could buy Life
Insurance and would not and could not be refused as long as I did it within ninety days of
separation.
What happened to the cash value that accumulated on my policy? That is a very
good question.
It seems for a very long time, long before I ever enlisted, the government was taking
the dividends from policies of servicemen who were discharged and rolled them over into
new policies on newly enlisted servicemen. My policy that remained in force for six years
was being paid for by dividends earned by policies on men who served in Korea, or during
the Cuban Missile Crisis, or at any time prior to my enlistment in 1966. My dividends
maybe were later used to pay for Gulf War Veterans and so on and so on.
The big question here is to whom did those dividends really belong?
Many would say that they belonged to the soldier that was covered by the policy. I
would be inclined to agree with that twist because every single time they hounded us to
keep our beneficiaries straight on our GI Life Insurance, they always called it our
life insurance. If it was ours, why then did they feel entitled to our dividends.
This hoax that helped support the November issue is a thought provoking hoax. It is a
hoax that tells us that we all were victims of a hoax even larger than the one that was
put over on me. As I consider this on Veterans' Day, and as I consider the President and
the Judges who never served, and as I think of the brave young men and women who gave up
parts of their lives to perform military service, I wonder just a bit if the hoax isn't
larger than any of us ever imagined.
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
NOVEMBER 10, 1998
The Ground Game and Wind Warnings
It is 39 degrees at 5:45 AM in Marshburg. Good morning.
I stayed up to watch the Steelers trounce the Packers for one half and then hold on and
win in the second half. That is football. I remembered watching the Steelers go to Miami
on Monday night in 1972. They ran up a 21-0 lead in the first half and then the Dolphins
came back. The final score was 24-21, Miami. In light of the stupid loss at the hands of
Neil O'Donnell and the Bengals, I had visions of the same thing last night. It didn't
happen.
It didn't happen because for some reason the genius the Steelers call the offensive
coordinator did something different. He let Jerome Bettis run the ball. He let him run the
ball in the first two quarters, and he let Bettis run the ball in the third and fourth
quarter, too. He let Bettis run the ball 34 times and Bettis gained exactly 100 yards on
the final game winning carry. While Bettis was less than spectacular on most of his
carries averaging 2.9 yards a carry, he did the job. He didn't score any touchdowns, but
his head bashing definitely did wear down the Green Bay defense. It's tiring trying to
stop The Bus!
Tony and Bob of WESB-AM (1490) had the Bradford Area School District represented on
their show, Live Line. The main focus was Cheri O'Mara answering questions about
the three incidents of violence in the schools. Emmy Eddy, the president of the school
board, and speaking as a grandmother with grandchildren in the schools, spoke
intelligently about the problem. Cheri did her usual little girl dance and told
the people exactly what they wanted to hear, nothing.
The violence issue in the schools did not originate here. The violence issue in the
schools did not originate in Edinboro with a student killing a teacher at a high school
dance. The violence issue in the schools originated with the State Legislature and the
Governor of Pennsylvania. It originated there in response to the caged animals who were
beating and harming teachers in Philadelphia. Like New York State and New York City, it is
unfortunate for the rest of the state that Philadelphia exists.
When I speak about teachers doing their jobs and the way things have changed,
Philadelphia defies any semblance of logic. Philadelphia, and other major cities like
Philadelphia, take the damage that government interference in the family to limits never
before imagined. If we are reaping the whirlwind here in McKean County with children out
of control, then places like Philadelphia that accounts for $.19 of ever welfare dollar
spent in the state, are facing the end of the world!
There was no answer to the Philadelphia Problem. The only thing the Governor could come
up with was to make the end result so distasteful to the perpetrators that they would
think twice before they assaulted a teacher. He made any attack on a teacher a
felony. Thus we have that viscous laser pointer attack, the wrestling hold, and assault
with a deadly push of a chair. That give Bradford Area High School a real crime wave!
Where is common sense? It certainly does not reign in the Office of the District
Attorney! Michele Alfieri has not, after four years as a full time assistant flunky to
Jeff, Charlie the Tuna, Duke, and now three years as District Attorney with her own
flunkies, ever gotten the message. I saw the message on television. Maybe Michele should
watch more television instead of going to college and studying knitting. Adam Schiff, the
District Attorney in Law and Order, told his Assistant DA the other day:
"I have a budget and I have to live within it. I can't try every case that
comes along. I have to pick the cases that are important to the people and expend my
resources on them. This is not a perfect world and I do not have unlimited funding."
Now where was Michele when he was saying that? Was she practicing a new knitting
stroke? She does not have to try every single case. She has the option to refuse to take
cases forward. If she would use her head and that option, then the District Attorney's
office would not be destroying the budget every year and be run like some bumbling idiot
who cannot balance a checkbook is at the helm.
Those three cases could be dropped and the school could meet out the punishment. We
would not have to tie up our court system, spending taxpayer dollars on incidents that
involve school discipline. Just because the law is there, degrees do exist and this does
not have to be such a large issue.
Actually, I am sure Cheri was happy that these incidents became the center of attention
on the half hour program. What wasn't asked was:
WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO STOP RAISING OUR TAXES? WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO START
ACTING RESPONSIBLY WITH OUR MONEY? WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH?
We have a whole lot of people; Cheri, Kathy, and Michele, all earning a whole lot of
money and not acting like they give a damn about what they do and how it affects our lives
and our pocketbooks. That is the high wind warning in our future, not someone shining a
laser pointer at a teacher.
Comment on this article editor@www.mlrmag.com.
NOVEMBER 9, 1998
Out around town
Good morning. It is 40 degrees in Marshburg at 5:35 AM.
I don't get out as much as I used to. When I go to town it is usually for a
definite purpose - meeting a lawyer to discuss a case, or get to the bank, etc., etc.,
etc. Friday, the November issue of The Mountain Laurel Review was ready to be
delivered and I took the opportunity to get out with the new issue.
While I believe that I am working for the best interests of the people, it is
encouraging to hear that people actually believe that you are. That is what I
heard on Friday.
One thing is very obvious to me. The people believe that The Bradford Era is
out to get me no matter what I do. "They won't even let you have a letter to the
editor in the paper without them having to put their two cents in at the end," I
heard. Also, "To listen to them you are the only one doing anything over there and
everything you do is bad." I heard it over and over. I also heard, "Keep up the
good work. It is about time we had someone like you over there. You are doing great!"
Evidently, it isn't working ladies. As a man told me Friday night: "Fifty percent
of the people hate you and the other fifty percent love you. When it comes time for voting
again, half of the fifty percent that hates you will vote for you anyway because they are
tired of people getting into office and doing nothing. Even they admit that you are in
there trying all of the time."
Now that was a leap of logic! The assumption is that I will
run for a second term. Many days when I come home I ask myself why I am doing this. As you
all know, I have many things I do besides being a County Commissioner. I am trying to get
the Kathy Wilson Murder Story, Ripe for the Picking, printed and available for
sale by December 1, 1998. I have several other projects and books in the works. I have not
given the Search for Marjorie West the attention I wanted to by this time, and I
do have a life with my wonderful family.
There is no question that I have made myself a target. The bull over the $370 in
reported campaign contributions is a pure and plain example of it. We all know who is
behind it. That is why I wrote to the Attorney General on Friday and asked him,
respectfully of course, if he intended to try Michele Alfieri on charges of attempting to
steal $72.72 from the taxpayers of McKean County using her expense account.
We all know that he will never answer me. We all know that he will not differentiate
for me, as I asked him to do, between my case and what Michele attempted to do to the
taxpayers. No, it will remain as is and I will have to continue to fight them just to
prove a point. It does get tiring, though.
As tiring as it gets, just being out with people who believe in you, gives you a shot
of energy that is unimaginable. You have no idea how good it makes you feel when people
who are just like me, tell me that I am doing a good job. Being around the people in the
Senior Centers and the kids and parents in the Family Centers makes all the snide remarks
and the quotes taken completely out of context worth it. To know that those people are
seeing through people like the men who write about me and portray me as something other
than what I am is encouraging. All the editorials in the world and all the evening phone
calls don't seem to be doing the job. That is what I heard when I was out around town.
So will I run again? Who is to say? It is only November and I would guess that
petitions will begin circulating around Valentine's Day. We still have Christmas and maybe
one of my "buddies" will get a picture of Santa in a compromising
situation. And even at that, if he can't get the genuine article, I am sure he will make
it up as he continues his quest for his Pulitzer Prize and all the attention he feels he
is being denied.
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