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The Publisher's Page

BY HAROLD T. BECK

JANUARY 1 - JANUARY 8, 1999

JANUARY 8, 1999

Recipes, opinions and mail that make sense

Good morning. It is 10.2 degrees at 5:50 A.M. More snow is on the way! Good snow mobiling this weekend!

I made chicken soup yesterday. We had a package of breasts sitting in the refrigerator and had to use them. The grille was under snow and it was a little cold to start a charcoal fire. Instead, I started the broth yesterday morning. (Sue helped me out - she took the meat off the bones and got rid of the skin about noon.) When I got home at 4:30 I added a jar of our tomatoes that we did in August along with a pint of sweet peppers in olive oil - also done last August.

I chopped up a whole large onion - nearly taking off the tip of my left thumb using the new knife Jason got his mother and me for Christmas, added Brussels sprouts cut in quarters, three carrots, two stalks of celery, salt and pepper and then cooked it until about six. I turned off the heat at that time and added a half a bag of egg noodles ( I was using a ten quart sauce pan) and let it sit. We ate at seven. Sharyn made rolls in the oven and basted them with olive oil - no need for butter and better for you. I had two bowls and plan on having another for breakfast.

After lunch yesterday I had occasion to speak to Joe Martin, the founder of the citizen's group that opposed the siting of the low level nuclear waste dump in McKean County. We spoke about the timber issue.

Joe asked my opinion of the Bradford Area School District spending $18,000 to join in the suit against the zero cut people. He was not the first to ask my opinion yesterday, either. Several taxpayers had already phoned me at the court house to voice their opinions.

Keep in mind, the County has opted to stay out of direct financing of any lawsuit. Taxpayers on both sides of this issue live in McKean County and regardless of my support of the continuation of timbering in the National Forest, County funds have no place in the suit. Neither do I believe that School District funds belong in the suit also.

Even though the School District is directly affected in losses of revenue, the law suit is between the zero cut people and the timber industry, not the School District! The funds for schools and road originated when the Federal Government realized that by giving the local economies 25% of the gross revenues derived from timbering, they could slither out of paying a fair amount for the support services (fire protection, police protection, etc., etc., etc.) that they receive in and around Federal lands that remain exempt from local taxes. This payoff, as large as it may seem, is really a drop in the bucket to the Federal Government, and to avoid a large public outcry, will be replaced by something else. The School District and "Cheri" need not worry their little heads. They had better not waste any more money! They are missing the real issue.

The elimination of timbering in the National Forest is more than the money they receive from the Federal Government.

The elimination of timbering in the National Forest is the elimination of jobs and livelihoods for families.

The elimination of timbering in the National Forest will have long range devastating economic effects on the four counties affected by this movement and all the proposals to replace timbering with tourism remain nothing more than a big bag of wind that will blow away as the last log truck is repossessed and their owners put out on the street.

Our very way of life is being threatened by this law suit and the Bradford Area School District should not join in and pay a Washington, D.C. Law Firm one penny. Instead, they should be directly appealing to the McKean County Bar Association to take on their cause separately. They should be asking our local lawyers to accept this case Pro Bono on behalf of the people who live here.

Along similar lines, we received the following e-mail yesterday:

-Just a thought..... Of the land Forest Investment Associates has leased, approximately 500 acres are leased to the Donley Fork Gun Club (Bob Shields, St Marys). This is the same land Chem-Nuclear was drooling over across from the Bloomster Hollow strip mine .
FIA, on their web-site, state their commitment to their investors, to
make 7-10% profit. If they have to pay roll-back taxes, I fear there is a potential for them to sell that 500 acres to the state for a site. I know they claim they are pro-environment, but money speaks. And, the opposition by the Sergeant Township supervisors was late in coming, and luke-warm at best. Now that the gubernatorial elections are over, Ridge is free to ignore the please of last year. And his track record shows he is for sale. And, Barnwell, South Carolina has suspended the importation of low-level nuclear waste, putting the ball back into Pennsylvania's court. as host state of the Appalachian Compact. Can we expect the search to resurrect. I believe
Chem-Nuclear's contract with Pa has expired, but the ground work has been done and potential sites mapped. We have to remain vigilant; the fat lady hasn't sung yet.

Your thoughts are relative and of concern to all of us. Keep in mind the County still has a Nuclear Waste Ordinance on the books. While the state and Governor Ridge could exert priority rights under eminent domaign, it would still be quite a legal battle, probably going all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States as this involves Interstate Commerce. Any move in such a direction would make the Comfort Inn issue look like a parking ticket.

Your comments on this article and Darwin votes (Jan 6) are welcome at editor@www.mlrmag.com.

JANUARY 7, 1999

E-mail, laughs, and lies

Good morning. It is 11.1 degrees at 5:43 A.M. Ron is outside plowing right now. It seems that we got four more inches of snow overnight and there is more coming.

Yesterday's column drew some comments. Many of you voted already. Here are some of the preliminary results:

Nominee eleven, the boys who went frog giggling and blew off a testicle with a twenty-two caliber round when they used it as a fuse, received 28 votes.

Nominee three who answered the Smith and Wesson .38 instead of the phone, received 24 votes.

Nominee four, the bright lawyer who crashed against an outside window to demonstrate its strength and fell 24 floors to his death, received 21 votes.

Nominee five, the man who died from his own gas, received 3 votes.

Finally,  Nominees eight and nine each received two votes, with one voter noting that the dateline on eight was probably incorrect, claiming it should have been San Francisco. It that a sexually oriented comment about homosexuals?

In the meantime, keep your votes coming in. We will tally our readers next Wednesday and send the results off to Chris so we can be counted in the national selection. I was partial to number eleven, especially when the wife wanted to know how many frogs the boys got. Probably with a "passel of kids at home," the frogs were more important than the old man's testicle.

Our readers are outraged at the special treatment Robert Guzan is receiving. We are not the only people who have seen Guzan out and about and driving a vehicle. Our readers say:

-Bobby Guzan was in the ********* the other night bragging about how he beats the system. I wondered why he wasn't doing the time the paper said he was given (30 days) and I wondered why it was so light a sentence for a third offense. I thought he was to go to the State Pen for a third DUI. Now I know. Thank you for putting this out in the open as you usually do. You are performing a valuable service to all of us.

-You are right. Start turning in your friends and families and you will get a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD. Guzan was allowed to be at home Christmas. He was out drunk the entire time. He is laughing in all of our faces.

-I saw Bobby Guzan drinking in a bar with his boss. He is laughing at us. Nothing ever happens to him, just the people around him. I am glad he is out of jail walking around. Maybe someone will give him what he deserves.  Publishers Comment: And what might that be? Violence and threats are against the law. If you see him, shun him. Don't make threats. He will turn you in just like Sean Bacha did to Mike Comilla. We always thought that was a set up anyway. Since when did Sean ever go to BHS games?

-I thought that your license was suspended for one year when you got a third DUI.   Why is Bobby Guzan allowed to be driving?

-Michele Alfieri does have a problem with math! Bobby Guzan has four DUI's since 1989. He has three in McKean County and one in Allegheny County just as you reported. He laughs and says that the Allegheny County DUI was part of the deal he got to get off the hook on the cocaine deal. Mike Fisher got rid of that one and Alfieri knows it.

-Judge Cleland is a hypocrite in the way he has given Guzan special treatment.

-Guidelines my ass! They gave Guzan the same special deal he gets everytime he gets in trouble. I worked at the jail when he was in there on nights only. You are right. He gets special food and is kept away from the rest of the prisoners.

Finally, I issued a public response to the article in The Era regarding the landfill losing a $250,000 customer because of rumors of sale or bankruptcy. It was disseminated to all of the local media.                                      

The statement by McKean County Landfill manager that a potential client "....backed out after hearing rumors that we were either going bankrupt or being sold," is not only absurd, but a fair representation of the financial irresponsibility of the Authority and its management.

Casella Waste Management Systems, a division of SDS Waste Systems, was one of the original prospects when I explored outside interest in the land fill. At that time they had already purchase the landfill in Angelica and were looking to cut transportation distances by augmenting the operation with an acquisition closer to existing customers. Considering them as a potential customer and the in claiming the loss of revenue in the amount of $250,000 is not only ludicrous, but a bright and shining example of the way the Solid Waste Authority does business.

Historically, the Solid Waste Authority has underestimated the costs of projects and overestimated the projected revenues from operations. The net result has been a continuing and ever increasing debt that is guaranteed by the taxpayers of McKean County. Last May, the Authority and its manager, Mr. Ayers, guaranteed that the Authority could operate within its budget. It now comes to light that a budgetary shortfall of $824,643 does in fact exist.

Furthermore, Mr. Ayers, himself, told the commissioners and the people of McKean County that no waste was coming into the landfill from New York or any other state. Now, in his report to the Solid Waste Authority he states that some of the shortfall came from the fact that "virtually all New York garbage (was) going elsewhere." The inference here is that we were in fact at one time in the recent past receiving New York garbage and had budgeted in anticipation of continuing to receive it in 1998, the same year that Ayers stated we were receiving none.

The Authority, through its chairman, Robert Falk, claims to be in a "power struggle" with the County Commissioners. It has come about as a result of the question as to what to do with the potential savings that can be realized by refinancing the 95 Bond issue. In light of the report released by Mr. Ayers to the Authority and the obvious contradictions that in fact exist between what has been said and what actually exists, it appears that our concern is well founded.

Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.

JANUARY 6, 1999

HUMOR TO START THE YEAR is provided by Chris McGonnell. It will help to take the chill off of this morning that is currently 5.2 degrees at 5:24 A.M.

Darwin Award nominees 1998  BY: Chris McGonnell

It is again time to vote for the Darwin Award. Nominees for 1998 Darwins are awarded to the person who has best contributed to the survival of the human race by removing themselves from the gene pool in the most spectacularly stupid manner - this person is usually an American. You may recall last year's Darwin Award winner: The man who found out moments before making a 300 MPH dent in an Arizona cliff that the JATO (Jet Assist Take Off) rocket he'd strapped to his car could not be turned off once it was turned on.

The eleven 1998 nominees are:

NOMINEE #1 [San Jose Mercury News] An unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to break a former girlfriend's windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the gun discharged, blowing a hole in his gut.

NOMINEE #2 [Kalamazoo Gazette] James Burns, 34, of Alamo, Mich., was killed in March as he was trying to repair what police described as a "farm-type truck". Burns got a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hung underneath so that he could ascertain the source of a troubling noise. Burns' clothes caught on something, however, and the other man found Burns "wrapped in the drive shaft".

NOMINEE #3 [Hickory Daily Record] Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death in December in Newton, NC, when, awakening to the sound of a ringing telephone beside his bed, he reached for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith & Wesson 38 Special, which discharged when he drew it to his ear.

NOMINEE #4 [UPI, Toronto] Police said a lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a downtown Toronto skyscraper crashed through a pane with his shoulder and plunged 24 floors to his death. A police spokesman said Gary Hoy, 39, fell into the courtyard of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower early Friday evening as he was explaining the strength of the building's windows to visiting law students. Hoy previously had conducted demonstrations of
window strength according to police reports. Peter Lawyers, managing partner of the firm Holden Day Wilson, told the Toronto Sun newspaper that Hoy was "one of the best and brightest" members of the 200-person firm.

NOMINEE #5 [Bloomberg News Service, 25 March] A terrible diet and a room with no ventilation are being blamed for the death of a man who was killed by his own gas. There was no mark on his body but an autopsy showed large amounts of methane gas in his system. His diet had consisted primarily of beans and cabbage (and a couple of other things). It was just the right combination of foods. It appears that the man died in his sleep from breathing the poisonous cloud that was hanging over his bed. Had he been outside or had his windows been opened, it wouldn't have been fatal, but the man was shut up in his near airtight bedroom. According to the article, "He was a big man with a huge capacity for creating "this deadly gas". Three of the rescuers got sick and one was hospitalized.

NOMINEE #6 [The News of the weird] Michael Anderson Godwin had spent several years awaiting South Carolina's electric chair on a murder conviction before having his sentence reduced to life in prison. In March, sitting on a metal toilet in his cell and attempting to fix his
small TV set, he bit into a wire and was electrocuted.

NOMINEE #7["The Indianapolis Star"] A Jay County man using a cigarette lighter to check the barrel of a muzzle loader was killed Monday night when the weapon discharged in his face. Sheriff's investigators said Gregory David Pryor, 19, died in his parents' rural Dunkirk home about 11:30PM. Investigators said Pryor was cleaning a 54-caliber muzzle loader that had not been firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when the gunpowder ignited.

NOMINEE #8 [AP, St. Louis] Robert Puelo, 32, was apparently being disorderly in a St. Louis market. When the clerk threatened to call police, Puelo grabbed a hot dog, shoved it in his mouth, and walked out without paying for it. Police found him unconscious in front of the store: paramedics removed the six-inch wiener from his throat, where it had choked him to death.

NOMINEE #9 [Unknown] Marino Malerba shot a stag standing above him on an overhanging rock-and was killed instantly when it fell on him.

NOMINEE #10 [Associated Press, Kincaid, W VA] A man at a party popped a blasting cap into his mouth and bit down, triggering an explosion that blew off his lips, teeth and tongue. State police inspector Brian Payne said Wednesday Jerry Stromyer, 24, of Kincaid, bit the blasting cap as a prank during a party late Tuesday night. "Another man had the cap in an aquarium hooked to a battery and was trying to explode it," Payne said "It wouldn't go off and this guy said, 'I'll show you how to set it off".

NOMINEE #11!!! [Arkansas Democrat Gazette] Two local men were seriously injured when their pick-up truck left the road and struck a tree near Cotton Patch on State Highway 38 early Monday morning. Thurston Poole, 33, of Des Arc and Billy Ray Wallis, 38, of Little Rock are listed in serious condition at Baptist Medical Center. The accident occurred as the two men were returning to Des Arc after a frog gigging trip. On an overcast Sunday night, Poole's pick-up truck headlights malfunctioned. The two men concluded that the headlight fuse on the older model truck had burned out. As a replacement fuse was not available, Wallis noticed that the 22 caliber
bullet from his pistol fit perfectly into the fusebox next to the steering
wheel column. Upon inserting the bullet, the headlights again began to
operate properly and the two men proceeded on east-bound toward the White River bridge. After traveling approximately twenty miles and just before crossing the river, the bullet apparently overheated, discharged and struck Poole in the right testicle. The vehicle swerved sharply to the right exiting the pavement and striking a tree. Poole suffered only minor cuts and abrasions from the accident, but will require surgery to repair the other wound. Wallis sustained a broken clavicle and was treated and released. "Thank God we weren't on that bridge when Thurston shot his testicle off or we might both be dead" stated Wallis. Said State Trooper Ken Snyder, "I've been a trooper for ten years in this part of the world, but this is a first for me. I can't believe that those two would admit how this accident happened". Upon being notified of the wreck, Lavinia, Poole's wife, asked how many frogs the boys had caught and did anyone get
them from the truck?

JANUARY 5, 1999

Mirrors, lies, and other tales

Good morning. It is minus one degree at 7:40 A.M. in Marshburg. I am getting a late start today - the flu or something decided to commit suicide and enter my system. It doesn't take long generally for them to succumb to my natural defenses and die. It seems that in spite of a little warmness, the feeling of nausea is leaving. Anyway, on to the news at hand.

The Solid Waste Authority, headed by a school teacher, Robert Falk, seems to believe that they should be allowed to do as they please.

In May, Mr. Falk assured the people of this county that the garbage dump needed no new money to operate. Now, with bond rates at an all time low, they want to take a savings that can be generated by refinancing, and use it as they see fit. The only catch is the Commissioners have to approve the refinancing as the county has to guarantee their debt.

Falk doesn't seem to understand that the garbage dump is not a School District and can incur its own debt. No. The garbage dump is under the financial (borrowing) supervision of the County Commissioners and we do exert oversight. If he does not like that, perhaps he should do as Jay Chapman said, "Not refinance."

It seems that the two newest appointments, Merle Johnson and Bob Cummins, understand our stand on the refinancing. Johnson went as far as to say: "I don't think we're autonomous enough unless we want to guarantee the loan." Mr. Johnson understands that our position is a check and balance to insure that the taxpayers are not buried in further wasteful and inflationary debt. Falk does not. Instead, he calls it ".....a power struggle." If looking out for the interests of the taxpayers is a power struggle, so be it. All the blue sky projections put forth by Mr. Falk and his solicitor will never change my mind.

As for our crime fighting District Attorney, Michele Alfieri, her nose is definitely growing.

Claiming that Bob Guzan has only three DUI's in the past eight  years is stretching the truth a bit. He in fact has four, the only different is that three of them are in McKean County and one is in Allegheny County. That one was conveniently lost by the Attorney General and his office so Guzan could be treated as he had a second offense.

John Cleland and Alfieri were in on the deal that allowed Guzan to serve his sentence on weekends and drive and drink in bars. When are they going to learn that not everyone is stupid? When are they going to learn that people are finally paying attention to what is going on. As Alfieri attempts to overcome her attempts to cheat that taxpayers out of expense mileage to and from Pittsburgh; as she tries to run up a string of arrests to justify another term for herself, the taxpayers are in fact the real losers. As she spends and spends and runs her department at a loss and calls it justice, the taxpayers are forced to pay for her whims when the money could be used in a Senior Center or in a Family Center doing real good.

It's a shame. It's a damn shame. When will these people, all of them, understand that the taxpayers are tired? They are saying no more! When will they get the message?

Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.

JANUARY 4, 1999

The more things change

.....the more they stay the same. Good morning. It is 5:06 A.M. in lovely downtown Marshburg, PA high atop the Alleghenies, temporary summer residence of the Indiana Bat and the last bastion of Freedom in this nation.  This is the home of the True Free Press! It is 10.4 degrees.

January 4, 1905 was the day that Roselle Beck was born. She was born at home on Second Avenue in Manhattan to Mary Heider Beck and Julius Beck. She was the first of two children, the second, Harold, being my father. Her father worked on the Long Island Railroad. She has wonder recollections of her parents and her childhood. Rose remembers the Titanic Disaster and watching the movie reenactment of the sinking, will always say: Harold, it was horrible. There was great loss of life.

As World War One broke out, Rose changed her plans from taking Piano lessons to learning to take stenography. The Becks believed Julius might be called to fight once more (he was a veteran of the Spanish American War). That would soon prove to benefit her.

While attending night school at City College of New York working on a degree in Mathematics, Rose was hired by the State of New York. The year was 1923 and the State offices were down around Wall Street. Rose would later move to the Empire State Building and was on the fifth floor the day that the plane crashed into the floor housing Catholic Charities. I was thrown from my chair onto the floor.

In 1934 she married A. Lawrence Eschmann and moved into a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home in rural Scarsdale. Larry was an accountant at that time, but earlier had been a published song writer and friend of Cole Porter. They two men became friends when they fought together in France during the World War. She and Larry would travel the world together until his death in 1975. In 1973 Rose would retire from the service of the State of New York at the Governor's mansion in Albany with Nelson Rockefeller personally recognizing her. Rose had the distinction of working for every governor from Lehman to Rocky during her 50 years with the State. She reluctantly left.

In 1996 she came to McKean County to live with my wife and myself. She has adapted to life in the woods and in spite of set backs (a broken hip in May, 1998) is very healthy and happy. In good weather, Aunt Rose is a fixture at the Bradford Senior Center. She still enjoys an occasional cigarette, a glass of rye and soda, and a good old German meal. She loves the memory of her parents and enjoys her nephews and grand nieces and nephews. On this her 94th birthday, join with us and wish our Aunt Rose a Happy Birthday and many, many more.

Now, on to other things that still are the same...............

Pat Frantz Cercone, Era City Editor, wrote the top ten stories for Bradford on January 2, 1999 - you know, Saturday. Pat is a talented writer. She understands point of view. She does not mix tenses, nor does she end sentences with prepositions or adverbs - an offense equal to a mortal sin in Sister William Ann's English class back at St. Bernard's in Pittsburgh. While her choice of wording sometimes leave something to be desired, if I was grading the article she wrote, I would give her a B for style, a B- for content, and an F for giving the factual story. Unfortunately, Pat suffers from the same virus that other Era writers have contracted; that being the inability to tell the story that happens, only telling the story they want to have happened.

It is difficult for the staff to divorce themselves from the story. It is nearly impossible for them not to become part of the story. Instead of reporting the story as it unfolds, they participate and report it as they want it to be, thus doing the readers the greatest disservice possible. They assume that we are not smart enough to understand what is really going happening. Unfortunately, their assumption has proven them wrong time and time again. Their tabloid headlines leave the readers doubting them as professionals and as accurate tellers of what is truth and what is not. Living in their isolated make believe world, pretending they are The Algonquin Wits without alcohol, they congratulate themselves for work they applaud, while the rest of us suffer with their substandard insults to our intelligence.

With impact, importance and long-term effect being the key points to the voting for the top ten stories of the year, perhaps the "twister" that tore down off the hill in Marshburg to flatten the Oil Museum and rip up trees the evening of June 2nd, wasn't the only twisting that was going on in the story.

The inference that the countywide reassessment in 1997 had an impact on the 1998-1999 Bradford Area School District taxes is pure fantasy. Think about it!

The alleged "sticker shock" did not take place in the Kane School District. It did not take place in the Port Allegany School District. Neither did it take place in the Smethport School District, nor the Otto Eldred School District. It took place only in the Bradford Area School District. As the County Board of Assessments lowered County taxes in Bradford, the School District wasted no time in going out and taking ten percent, the legal amount they are allowed to increase taxes following a reassessment. Pat Frantz Cercone's license with the facts leads the reader to believe that the County was responsible for raising their school taxes. In fact it is the Emmy Eddys and the Cary Frigos and Cheri O'Mara and Kathy Kelly who are responsible for "sticker shock."   Instead, Mrs. Cercone once more changes the story just as she did when she wrote the headline: County takes aim at Collins Pine. The story does not resemble the facts.

Again, the number seven story, NO NUKES, was a feeble shot, at best, to represent what actually happened.

Mrs. Cercone should have re-read the headlines that she wrote herself before giving an account that failed tell the facts of what really happened. In the beginning I categorically opposed the siting of any low level nuke in this county or anywhere near it. Remember my question: What is low level nuclear waste? Does it mean you only glow from the waist down? When she wrote: Though all three county commissioners eventually officially opposed such an idea........ she makes the inference that I, at one time, actually entertained it. Nothing is farther from the truth and inspite of a smear by Chem Nuclear and its local stooges, I was never part of supporting such a dangerous and unnecessary idea.

In the number ten story: LANDFILL FOR SALE, nothing was ever mentioned about the $15.6 million dollar sword that hangs over the heads of the taxpayers should the Solid Waste Authority default on their obligations, just as they did ten years ago. That time the County had to come up with $500,000 to save them. The next time it will be a whole lot more. Instead, Mrs. Cercone erroneously pointed to the refinancing of the jail loan and compared it to the refinancing of the 95 Series Bond Issue. She claimed the Commissioners were ".....at year's end, they still weren't permitting the authority to refinance bonds authority members said could save about $250,000."

That is factually untrue and an out right lie!

The Commissioners are holding the authority to its own words. They claimed in May that they did not need additional monies to operate the landfill or to expand. We told the Authority that they could refinance the bonds if they applied the savings to the bond issue itself and took the saving at the end, thus eliminating some of the potential burden to the taxpayers should there be a failure or default. That was not acceptable to the authority. They want to use the savings to buy new equipment after they said that they would never need to do such a thing.

The Solid Waste Authority (the garbage dump) can refinance their bonds, Mrs. Cercone, if they eliminate some of the burden on the taxpayers, something they, and apparently you, do not understand nor care to convey to the taxpayers. This is a new year, Pat. Get with it and start telling the whole story, not the one you imagine.

Comment on this story at editor@www.mlrmag.com.  

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