JANUARY 16 - JANUARY 22, 1999
JANUARY 22, 1999
Cheri, The School Board, and the truth
It is 37.6 degrees at 5 A.M. on the dot. A warming wind is blowing up from the
southwest and the ice has been falling from my roof most of the night. The January thaw is
on.
First of all; Barbara, this is not a lonesome hearts column nor do I give
advice on marriage, sex, or love. There is enough smut being sent across cyber space
without that type of stuff coming this way and expecting it to come back. Find another
column. I am not Ann Landers!
Second; thank you to all the people who heard the radio ad and said how much they liked
it. I wrote it myself and to my surprise, it took only one take when I recorded it. The ad
is exactly 59.5 seconds long. For those of you who haven't heard it, we will be running
the text of that ad and all future campaign ads on this site. For those of you who want to
hear it, it currently runs on WLMI in Kane and WESB in Bradford during the week.
Finally, a little bit about asbestos.
One single fiber of asbestos absorbed into the lungs of a human being has the
possibility of causing asbestosis in a human being. The more fibers that are ingested into
the lungs, the more of a chance that anyone who is exposed will contract the disease. For
that reason, school districts involved in any type of renovation or construction generally
do that work in the summer time when students are not present. Or, if it is necessary that
the work be done when students are present, then that part of the area under construction
is placed in CONTAINMENT.
With these FACTS in mind, and with the knowledge that asbestos was present,
why then was construction at the Senior High being done;
First - When school was in session?
Second - When students were present?
Third - No containment was in place?
Furthermore, when questioned about it, why did Cheri O'Mara play the threat down?
As soon as the walls were opened and the pipes in the walls were exposed, asbestos
permeated the air. As long as it was inside the walls, the asbestos was benign and no
threat to anyone. Once the walls were opened and the asbestos disturbed, then a definite
threat to the health of everyone in the school existed. To minimize that threat, as Cheri
O'Mara did, is inexcusable.
Workers on the job, in an effort to avoid the same threats that Clinton McLaughlin
received, have spoken to us under the provision that they remain anonymous. To a man they
told us that the asbestos has been present for quite some time. This just didn't
happen, they told us. As soon as the first wall was opened, asbestos was in the
air. Everyone was being exposed. No containment was set up. It was being kept secret.
The School Board and the administration and the architects of the job should
have known about the asbestos. Saying that they were ignorant of its existence is no
excuse for what has happened. Could it be that the job was so far over budget that they
were taking shortcuts? Could it be that they felt they could not afford to stop the job
and place proper containment in place and remove the asbestos before work could continue?
Was their schedule and a few extra dollars more important than the health and well being
of children?
Now work is being done at night when students are not present. Now there is containment
in place. Why hasn't that been reported in The Bradford Era or on radio station WESB?
Don't the people deserve to know that the allegations that were made were in fact true?
Shouldn't they be told that the threat to the health of their children that did exist is
now being handled properly, finally? Why the silence on this matter? Why the cover up?
This concerns me. I believe that it should concern you, too. Comment on this article at
editor@www.mlrmag.com.
JANUARY 21, 1999
In defense of Bill Gates.....
no, not John Gates of The Mountain Laurel Review, Bill Gates - the
billionaire who is CEO of Microsoft.
It is 5:32 A.M. and 32 degrees outside. The January thaw is on! Look out
lowlands and residents of Marshburg.
Even though we are atop the mountains, a heavy layer of clay keeps us marshy, hence the
name. We used to be called Eden until about 1878 when some genius in the oil patch started
calling it Marshville which eventually became Marshburg on an official county map. The
Marshburg Hotel was erected in 1883 and the Pennsylvania Railroad built a train station
and hung the name Marshburg on it.
With train service up the mountain from Bradford, the travel time was
more than cut in half from five hours to two hours. The modern Marshburg Hotel had
twenty-five rooms, a dining room, and a tap room. It catered to the oil field bosses and
the timber owners who were moving in on the rich oil and timber lands. Across the tracks
was the Breese Boarding House where many of the oil workers rented rooms by the week. Next
door was Sara's Place - the local brothel - owned and operated by Sara Parker, a woman who
arrived one day from Pittsburgh and just stayed.
While no one knew Sara's past, it was rumored that she had been a school teacher and
was married to a dairy farmer. Many stories circulated; some saying her husband drank and
beat her, to others saying she drank and beat him. Ironically, Sara Parker would be the
moving force to see that the Marshburg School was built. It was erected on land that she
had questionable ownership to only 100 yards west of her "social house." The
residents of the top of the hill ignored her main source of revenue. They were grateful
for her benevolence and made her the first Superintendent of the school.
Under her guidance The Marshburg School was one of the finest in the county. It
had four rooms, a water well with pump inside, and modern outdoor toilets. Sara
personally had oversight in the hiring of the young women who taught the children. She
demanded the highest standards in morality and personally supplemented their pay out of
her own pocket to insure that they would stay. While she was a frequent visitor to the
hotel, it was forbidden territory for the staff of the school.
Sara Parker died in 1895. Some said it was from consumption while others insisted it
was syphilis. Nevertheless, it was Sara who brought civilization to the hill. With her
passing the brothel was closed and it became the town's only church.
Prior to that, the school was used for religious services.
During her time as unofficial grand dame of the hill, oil men and
timber men made millions. The great Chicago fire created a demand for timber. The hemlock
forest was a perfect source for materials. The loggers worked six days a week and the
lumber mills ran night and day. The railroad ran train after train loaded with cut lumber
with a destination of Chicago, Illinois. It was a time when you earned a million dollars
it was a real million dollars. It was a time when a visionary was appreciated and revered.
What happened? What changed us? How was it that the government got so involved with our
lives that it felt it had the right to take what we earned?
Bill Gates was a bright young man with a great idea. He saw giants like IBM and UNIVAC
constructing machines that could out think man. He saw Apple make those machines
affordable. He saw how difficult it was for people to learn the language to program those
machines, so he decided to make it easy. Bill Gates wrote user friendly programs for those
machines. In writing those programs and creating "software", Bill Gates brought
the world of computers into every home and made the information highway a veritable
information universe.
In the process, Bill Gates earned a cool sixty billion dollars.
It seems that some people in the Justice Department didn't like that very much. They
decided to bring him and his company, Microsoft, up on anti-trust charges. They claim that
he has an unbreakable hold on the industry. That may be so, but what are they really
saying?
Have they called him a modern day anti-christ?
It seems that they just might be doing that because as they attack one of the most
wealthy, if not the wealthiest men in the world, they just might be saying that it is not
right for one man to control so much wealth. They may be saying that what made this
country great, will be the very thing that can destroy it.
I don't know, but like many people in this nation, I do not trust the
government. I especially do not trust the neo-fascist police mentality that seems to be
infecting our daily lives. With each prosecution of a man like Bill Gates, it makes it
that much easier for them to take away our rights. It happens every day and it goes
unnoticed.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, with the support of and legislation from
Congress, is funding "seat belt check points" across the nation. We will be
stopped by police in road blocks to check and see if we are wearing our seat belts. What
else are they checking for? Are we going to have to show our papers and state our reason
for traveling, too? You had better believe it! Does that sound like Nazi Germany to you?
It does to me. Oh well, what do I know?
The letter of the day concerns Pennsylvania Government spending,
Dear sir :As you are a champion of saving tax dollars, I am interested in letting you
champion this cause. I see that Pendot lets certain persons take company vehicles home
every night. Being conservative if that one vehicle uses $25.00 a week for gas traveling
back and forth to these Pendot workers homes, and there are at least 4 of these in McKean
county, how much does it cost tax payers for gasoline state wide to fill these trucks so
that Pendot workers can ride back and forth to work for free. We have company vehicles
were I work and foreman don't take them home at night. In fact not very many places let
foreman take vehicles home. Maybe if you are a CEO or
a top executive then you can have a vehicle. Yes I understand that the person that drives
one of these vehicles home stops and picks up other workers so that not a lot of Pendot
workers have to drive to work. It does save on gas for all of them but I as a tax payer
wonder how much money the state could save if these vehicles were not driven home every
night? I'm sure state wide it would be in the hundred of thousands of dollars. I was
wondering if you would be interested in pursuing this matter? Who knows maybe we could get
taxes cut further. It's bad when they tax your pay check, then you pay
local tax, county tax ,school tax, privilege tax to work in McKean county, property tax,
go to store and pay clothing tax, gas tax, if your in another state food tax, interest
rates, etc. If a person gets 1/2 of what they earn they are lucky. When is it going to
stop? When we have another Boston tea party? You seem to be the only person in the
county that wants to challenge anyone. This seems to be a gross waste of tax payers money.
I would appreciate if you looked into it Thank you very much.
Comment on this letter or article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
JANUARY 20, 1999
Being a good neighbor
Good morning. It is 25.5 degrees at 6:15 A.M. I am getting started a little
later today - I was outside plowing out the entrance to my driveway. More about that
later.
Many of us sat through the 77 minute ordeal known as The State of the Union Address
that tied up major networks for the entire prime time period last night. I am not as sharp
as the TV commentators. I could not see the tightness in Clinton's jaw. I also did not
notice the twitch in his left eye. I did see the big bags under his eyes and I did notice
the makeup job they did on him. Other than that, it was 77 minutes of something that was
less than impressive. I was not inspired by the words of the President.
Ironically, only the night before, I watched an A&E report on the life of Monica.
That was fresh in my mind as Clinton mouthed the words I love you to Hillary
after paying her a barrage of compliments. It is hard not to be cynical under the
circumstances. And really, if he ever should love his wife, I would suppose it would be
now, if she were the traditional wife - not a power hungry lawyer who has always looked
the other way as long as he produced and kept taking her higher and higher.
Then there is Monica. A young girl who was involved with the President of the United
States in the oval office at the same age as my niece who sometimes, in spite of her skill
at getting grades, does not know enough to come in from the rain. It is difficult to call
a young woman who is 21 an adult when she is thrown to the wolves in Washington, D.C.,
especially when one of those wolves is a man as powerful as the President. It isn't just
sex. It is debauchery.
Another young woman who is just graduating from college this year wrote to me and asked
about opportunities in the field of Human Services in McKean County. She is 21. She is the
same age as my niece and Monica when she began her affair with the President. I've known
her since she was a pre-teen and it is hard to imagine her looking to enter the work force
after college. I wrote back and gave her some ideas. At the same time, I gave her letter
of inquiry to the director of CYS along with a recommendation. It made me feel good to
hear from her. It made me feel like a good neighbor being able to be of some help to her.
Then, after a full day of meetings and a good report in a late afternoon doctor's
appointment, I stopped in The Rainbow Inn to say hello to some people who wanted
to talk to me. They had a complaint - a big one - and wanted some advice.
It seemed that an elderly lady hired some one to plow her driveway. She is on the front
end of a private road with house beyond her. The man she hired plowed her out
properly, except he left a pile of snow across the road eliminating access to the houses
beyond her. When one person called the man who did the plowing, he was told to go to hell.
Private roads are a real problem. It seems there is always someone who believes that he
is king of the road and takes it upon himself to patrol and repair the property. They
believe, in their minds, that they have the right to limit access to the road. Some even
take up firearms and attempt to intimidate any person who might stray on the road. I
listened and attempted to explain that I had no power to enforce anything. I suggested
that they consult a lawyer. It seemed to me the only sensible solution. Then I left to go
home.
It snowed on Monday afternoon and most of the night. On Tuesday morning the man who
plows for me was here at 6:30 and opened up the driveway and the distance out to the
highway so Sharyn and I could get to work. At the same time, the people beyond me benefit
by this part of the road being plowed. That is being a good neighbor. Imagine my surprise
when I came home and found a three foot high bank of snow across the entrance to my
driveway and had to ram through just to get in.
It is easy to get angry under those circumstances, but in light of recently being
called the engineer on the train, I did maintain my control. I phoned the man who plowed
for my neighbors beyond me. I told him that I did not appreciate what had happened
and asked that it not happen again. A simple I am sorry would have been fine. I did not
get that. Then I called the King of the Road who pays him to plow. He informed me that the
road had a 50 foot right of way and they were in their rights to put snow where they
did even if I did own the land.
Oh well. The temperature has risen to 27 outside. It is just after seven now and I
guess I might have to take my own advice - as much as I hate lawyers. Sometimes it is
tough being a good neighbor. By the way, the young woman I helped earlier in the day is
the daughter of the man who plowed me in.
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
JANUARY 19, 1999
Big cats survive!
Good morning. It is 30.6 degrees at 6 A.M. The wind is blowing and it makes the
air much like zero so bundle up and don't let the temperature deceive you.
The Mountain Laurel Review has long contended that the descendants of
the Pennsylvania panther have survived. Granted, we recognize that less than a dozen or so
probably still roam our forests, shunning man and depending on the game that also makes
the forests home. In Missouri, the following story is presently unfolding.
On January 14, 1999, the Missouri Department of Conservation issued the following news
release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jan. 14, 1998
For additional information, call Jim Low at 573/751-4115, ext. 243
Conservation officials confirm wild mountain lion sighting The cat is *doing what it's
supposed to,* preying on deer and not bothering people or livestock. Officials with the
Missouri Department of Conservation have confirmed a sighting of a free-ranging mountain
lion in the central Ozarks. They say they will continue to investigate in hopes of
learning more about its habits and origins.
Jim Hurst of Success reported the sighting to Conservation Agent Jim
Pokorny Jan. 10 after returning from an afternoon rabbit hunt. Hurst
was hunting with his son Matt and a friend, Mike Turner, on private
property when their two beagles stopped out of sight of the trio.
They were baying like they had something treed, said Hurst, so I
sent Matt down the hill to see what they were up to. I thought maybe a rabbit had gone
inside a hollow tree or something. Hurst's 20 year old son found the dogs beneath a large
black oak tree. He heard something overhead and when he looked up he saw the mountain lion
on a horizontal limb about 15 feet above him.
The first thing he noticed was its tail, said the elder Hurst. He said it kind of
growled at the dogs. He hollered 'Dad, you won't believe what this is!'
At the sound of the shout, the lion jumped to a higher limb, then
jumped out of the tree and fled downhill with the beagles in hot
pursuit, leaving the hunters stunned. Hurst said his son's close-range
encounter with the cat scared him to death. He didn't know what to think, said the elder
Hurst. I was about 30 yards away. I didn't see it, but I sure heard it. Limbs were popping
and snapping when it came out of that tree and there was a loud thud when it hit the
ground. It sounded like the top of the tree had fallen.
Looking around the area, the hunters found a deer that the mountain
lion apparently had killed and dragged under a cedar tree. It was
within sight of the tree where the cat was seen. By then it was late afternoon. The men
had been finishing their hunt when they encountered the mountain lion, so they went home
and reported
the incident. The next morning, Pokorny visited the area, accompanied by Conservation
Agent Roy Hoggatt and Wildlife Damage Biologist Scott McWilliams. McWilliams has followed
up dozens of reports of mountain lion sightings, none of which panned out. But what he
found that morning was unmistakable.
When we got up there, we met the guys who had seen it, and they had found another deer
carcass, said McWilliams. When I saw the deer kills, I knew we had the real thing. One
deer was a yearling doe. The other was an adult buck weighing about 140 pounds. Both
carcasses bore typical signs of mountain lion kills, the abdomens had been opened and the
paunches dragged out and away from the carcasses. The hearts, lungs and livers had been
consumed, and
the hide had been pulled away from the hindquarters to expose the meat.
McWilliams said the cat's tracks indicate it was a good-sized animal.
When I go on calls like this one, I take along a plaster cast of a paw
print made by a 96-pound mountain lion. The tracks from this cat were bigger than the
cast. Adult mountain lions weigh 80 to 160 pounds. Dave Hamilton, Conservation Department
furbearer biologist and a member of the agency's Mountain Lion Response Team, was excited
about the find.
We've been looking for this for 15 years, he said. For a couple of years we have had
evidence that there were mountain lions out there, but we have always had questions about
whether they were tame animals. This one is clearly capable of taking game and living
wild. Conservation Department workers will visit the area periodically over
the next few weeks in hopes of learning more about the mountain lion or lions that are
living in the area. The trick is to do so without
disrupting its behavior. Asked if the Conservation Department is considering trapping the
mountain lion to run tests on it or fit it with a radio collar, Hamilton said, We
discussed that, but there doesn't seem to be a good enough reason to do it. This animal is
doing what mountain lions are supposed to preying on deer. It's not bothering people or
livestock, so there doesn't seem to be a reason for disturbing it, other than satisfying
our desire for information.
Hamilton said the Conservation Department may get information about the mountain lion's
origin from the carcasses of the deer it killed. Swabs of bite wounds could yield DNA
samples from the cat's saliva, making it possible to determine if it is genetically
similar to mountain lions from other states. This is the very reason we put the Mountain
Lion Response Team together, said Hamilton. We need to be able to respond quickly when we
get reports of sightings so we can get there before the evidence disappears. We were able
to do that in this case and document this lion's existence. Hopefully it is just the first
of many cases that will help us determine how many mountain lions are in Missouri, where
they come from and how to approach their management.
Conservation officials did not disclose the location of the sighting
due to concern for the animal's safety. They say the chance of
encountering a mountain lion in Missouri is very small. Mountain lions
are protected under The Wildlife Code of Missouri. Hamilton said the Conservation
Department appreciates the hunters' timely report of the mountain lion sighting and
encourages others who see mountain lions to report the incidents.
Does that sound familiar? Your comments on this story are welcome at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
JANUARY 18, 1999
Outraged people
Good morning. It is 39.6 degrees at 6 A.M.
Nothing makes people more angry than when those in authority either fail to act
in a situation or attempt to hand them a line of bull a mile long and it is easy to
follow. This is the case of Cheri O'Mara and two issues that came into focus last week.
I am available to people many ways. They can call me at the Court House. They can visit
me at The Rainbow Inn on Friday and Saturday nights. They can also call me at The
Mountain Laurel Review; or, e-mail me. During the past week all of those avenues were
used along with several quiet conversations while I was having lunch, too.
The phone calls started Tuesday when the story about asbestos in the Senior High School
broke. Clinton McLaughlin, a worker on the job, became the whistle blower and we all are
indebted to him. There is asbestos in the air! The students know it. The
workers on the job know it. The school administrators know it. And Cheri O'Mara knows it,
too! The stance that everyone has taken on this dangerous issue is unpardonable.
There is no safe amount of asbestos. If it is in the air, then it is dangerous
and potentially life threatening. Once it enters your body, it stays there. Your body
cannot break asbestos down. To either indirectly, or deliberately expose our children is
an action that verges on behavior that could be called criminal in some circles. For Cheri
O'Mara to insinuate that what is present is safe, is totally irresponsible and stupid on
her part. Furthermore, where is Jim Buck and The Bradford Era? Why aren't they
into this story?
The little cheerleader I spoke to last week was more concerned about the asbestos
getting in her hair than in her lungs. At least she recognized that it was present. That
is more than Cheri did. We don't need a three week study of air quality. If any asbestos
is present - and it is - then the school should be closed until the job can be completed
or shut down. Asbestos should not be being removed while students are present.
Then came Thursday! Where was Cheri? She claimed that she consulted with other
superintendents regarding the possible closing of school that day as we were inundated
with snow, ice, and freezing rain. Yes. Cheri said she talked to them. If she did, was she
listening? The Bradford Area School District was the only school district open in the
county. In fact, it was the only school district open in a 50 mile radius. Why?
Is it possible that Cheri didn't consult with the other superintendents as she said?
Is it possible that Cheri was unaware of the seriousness of the situation?
Is it possible that Cheri was not even in the City, or the County for that matter, and
no one could get in touch with her so the schools could be shut down?
School administrators were at a total loss as to why school was open that day.
We can take our hats off and thank the bus drivers who got the children to school safely
and then home again, safe once more, in spite of the carelessness and lack of judgement on
the part of the person who is in charge - Cheri O'Mara.
Meanwhile, try this one on for size. At the annual awards dinner given by the American
Association for Forensic Science, AAFS president Don Harper Mills related the following
TRUE story from San Diego:
On March 23rd, 1994, the medical examiner in San Diego viewed the Body of Roland Opus
and concluded that he had died from a shotgun wound to the head. The decedent had jumped
from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide -- he left a note
indicating his despondency.
As he fell past the ninth floor, however, he was hit in the head by a shotgun blast
through the window, which killed him instantly. Neither the decedent nor the shooter was
aware that a safety net had been erected at the eighth-floor level to protect a
window-washing crew, and that Opus would not have been successful in his suicide because
of it.
The fact that Opus was shot on the way to certain death would not ordinarily have
changed the cause of death from suicide to homicide. But because the net was present, and
would have prevented Opus' suicide attempt from being successful, the medical examiner
felt he had a homicide on his hands, and an investigation was launched.
The room on the ninth floor from whence the shotgun blast originated was occupied by an
elderly man and his wife. At the time of Opus' suicide attempt, they were arguing, and the
husband threatened his wife with the shotgun. During the argument he pulled the trigger,
missing his wife and discharging the weapon out of the window, striking Opus in the head.
Thus, the elderly man seemed guilty of murder, since by law, when a person intends to
kill subject A, but kills subject B in the attempt, that person is guilty of murder.
When confronted with the murder charge, both the elderly man and his wife insisted that
neither knew the shotgun was loaded. Further, the old man said it was his long-standing
habit to threaten his wife
with the unloaded shotgun when they argued, and he had no intention of murdering her.
Since the old man had not loaded the shotgun, the murder of Opus appeared to be an
accident.
The investigation continued. A witness was discovered who claimed to have seen the
elderly couple's son loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to the shooting. It
was subsequently learned that the son's mother had cut off his financial support and the
son, knowing it was his father's habit to threaten his mother with the shotgun, loaded it
without their knowledge with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother,
granting him his revenge. Thus, the son was charged with the murder of Ronald Opus.
Upon further investigation, however, it was discovered that the
son -- one Ronald Opus -- had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his
attempt to engineer his mother's murder...so
despondent that, on March 23, 1994, he jumped off the 10-story building where his parents
lived, only to be killed by a shotgun blast to the head as he passed the ninth floor.The
medical examiner ruled the case a suicide.
Word is that Michele Alfieri is seeking to take over jurisdiction, dig up Roland, and
try him. LOL!
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
JANUARY 16 & 17, 1999
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