JUNE 19 - JUNE 25, 1999
JUNE 25, 1999
More election code violations?
Good morning. It is 5:35 A.M. and it is 64.4 degrees outside. At approximately 8:30
this morning I will personally deliver the following letter to the District Attorney of
McKean County. The letter speaks for itself.
It reads as follows:
The Honorable Michele D. Alfieri
District Attorney of McKean County
McKean County Court House
Smethport, PA. 16749
Dear Mrs. Alfieri:
It has come to my attention that Connie Cavallaro, while running for re-election as
Mayor of Bradford, PA appears to have accepted corporate contributions in association with
her campaign..
If this is true, the acceptance of a contribution from a Corporation that is registered
in this or any other state, or foreign country, constitutes a violation of Title 25,
Section P.S. 3253. (a). The section reads as follows:
Contributions or expenditures by National Banks, Corporations, or Unincorporated
Associations.
(a) It is unlawful for any National or State Bank, or any corporation incorporated
under the laws of this or any other state or any foreign country or any unincorporated
association, except those corporations formed primarily for political purposes or as a
political committee, to make a contribution or expenditure in connection with the election
of any candidate or for any political purpose whatever, except in connection with any
question to be voted on by the electors of this Commonwealth . Furthermore, it shall be
unlawful for any candidate, political committee or other person to knowingly accept or
receive any contribution prohibited by this section , or for any officer or any director
of any corporation, bank, or any unincorporated association to consent to any contribution
or expenditure by the corporation, bank or unincorporated association, as the case may be,
prohibited by this section.
The contribution in the amount of five hundred dollars ($500) was made on or about May
5, 1999 by Advanced Industrial Controls, 536 E. Main Street, Bradford, PA 16701. It was
contributed to the "Mayor Connie Cavallaro Re-Election," a committee
registered with the Board of Elections. The committee lists its address as P.O. Box 278,
Bradford, PA 16701. The contribution, reported in the name of "Advanced Industrial
Controls," was reported in a filing made by the committee on June 16, 1999
shortly after 11 A.M. in the court house. The notarized report was prepared by Ann E.
Keane and was signed and attested to by Connie Cavallaro.
A check with the Pennsylvania Department of State Corporations Bureau verifies that
Advanced Industrial Controls is indeed incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania and records show a Mr. Lloyd Swaine as the principal officer.
While it clearly states under P.S. 3253 (a) that it is unlawful to accept
such a contribution, it further states that is also unlawful to make a corporate
contribution, too.
In light of what my sister-in-law and I have been forced to endure for nearly four
years, I respectfully request that equal treatment be dispensed under the law. As chief
prosecuting officer in this county, and in light of the fact that there is no imaginable
way that any sort of conflict could exist, even though you are on the ballot as you were
four years ago; I would expect you to immediately and judiciously look into this matter.
As you are well aware, a recent Commonwealth Court ruling Commonwealth vs Beck, et
al, establishes authority for the District Attorney to investigate and prosecute
criminal violations of the election code without first receiving direction from the
Election Board or the Court. I am sure you will agree with me that it is in the best
interest of justice that any and all persons who break the election code be forced to
account for their actions and be brought to justice..
Sincerely,
Harold T. Beck
Comment at rdhedbud@penn.com.
JUNE 24, 1999
NEW AND EXCITING NEWS
BRADFORD REGIONAL AIRPORT BEGINS SERVICE FOR SEA PLANES!!!
WIRE NEWS RELEASE; JUNE 21, 1999
BRADFORD, PA - Thomas Frongillo, Manager of the Bradford Regional
Airport, today announced that The Authority for the Bradford Regional Airport has unveiled
plans to begin service for sea planes.
The news culminates a series of secret meetings that included The
Governor’s Action Task Force for Industrial Development, Senator William Slocum, Ray
McMahon of the Office of Economic and Community Development, City of Bradford Mayor Connie
Cavallaro, Industrial Development Authority Executive Director Penny Eddy, David Lunden of
Ray McMahon Realty, Linda Devlin, Executive Director of Tourism for the area, Dick Kessel,
President of Kessel Construction, and Stanley Pecora of the Bradford Sanitary Authority.
Frongillo stated that: "The Authority, long plagued with
problems of enormous amounts of water running back into the new T-Hanger and literally
flooding out the tenants, has decided to take a bold step forward and turn a problem into
an asset."
The news comes on the heels of heated exchanges between Authority
members regarding a long standing problem with the hanger, built by and from
specifications submitted by Dick Kessel, President of Kessel Construction, who, ironically
is one of the tenants. It was Kessel who brought the matter to a head when he, himself,
threatened the Authority several months ago, when appearing at a meeting armed with
photographs of the problem, said: "Fix it or I am moving out!"
"This is the best of all worlds," Ray McMahon said. "We
will build a new T-Hanger on higher ground and use the existing one to house aircraft with
the ability to land on water."
Frongillo pointed out that would mean the Authority would scrap plans
for the Parallel Taxiway, currently in the final design stage and immediately begin
digging a fifty foot wide, three thousand foot long, ten feet deep canal along the
secondary runway to accommodate the sea going aircraft." It will be a canal, concrete
in design, and water tight to hold the water. It will be heated in the winter making us
the only sea plane port in the northwest open year round. And," Frongillo stated,
"It will be efficient in the winter because it will require no snow plowing."
Senator William Slocum, just arriving from a free lunch in Ridgway, saw
incredible possibilities for the new water runway. "In times when there are problems,
we can dump excess sludge (human waste) in the runway, eliminating the need to further
pollute the Allegheny River."
Mayor Cavallaro, when asked what she thought about the new project,
acknowledging that Peggy Comilla was on vacation, deferred to Ray McMahon. He immediately
described how the Authority would sell the land on which the new runway would be located
to Ray McMahon Realty for $1 and he would in turn issue bonds to finance the project.
"That way the public interest can be served and I can get my
customary 37% or so in fees."
At the same time, Dick Kessel, President of Kessel Construction could
be seen running up and down the primary runway jumping for joy. At one point he was nearly
hit by the arriving four o’clock commuter flight from Pittsburgh. He could be heard
screaming: "I love new contracts and add ons! I just love them."
The engineer for the project, who asked not to be named, when asked why
Kessel was so happy, responded by saying: "It’s a Ray McMahon job. Who do you
think will be the low bidder? And, even if he isn’t on the first round, he will be on
the next. Ray sees to that. Besides, now Dick won’t have to fix the design and
construction problems with the first hanger. He can walk away, collect his money, and
build the new one and get the job to build the runway, too.. This is a windfall for him.
"
Stan Pecora, Chairman of the Bradford Sanitary Authority, saw it as a
positive move. "We can now divert the excess storm water runoff to the airport to
help control the water level for the runway. It’s a win win situation!" he
exclaimed.
Larry Stratton, Chairman of the Authority saw it as a positive move.
"The Authority can get its own dairy herd now that we will have abundant water. We
can build a barn over there and we will save on mowing grass in the summer."
Linda Devlin, executive director of Allegheny National Forest Vacation
Group, said this would give us the only active sea plane port this far inland and we could
become a jumping off point for Canadian fishing and hunting trips, thus bringing tourists
to our area, even if they are really going some where else.
Dave Lunden said that he was going to check and see where the old Pan
Am fleet of Flying Boats were being stored. He expressed hopes that the old China
Clipper could be brought out of mothballs and made operational. "In no time at
all we could begin service between Bradford and Toronto with the Clipper landing on Lake
Ontario. It would give people immediate access to down town." When asked about the
possibility of landing in Pittsburgh on the rivers, Lunden said that a problem existed
with the bridges. "The Clipper needs twenty-two hundred feet of unobstructed water to
land and take off. Unless we landed below the Point, we would have serious problems with
service to Downtown Pittsburgh."
Other member of the Authority were not available for comment.
Comment on this at rdhedbud@penn.com
END WIRE SERVICE RELEASE.
JUNE 23, 1999
News or lies?
Good morning. It is 54.3 degrees at 5:59 A.M.
Last night at the Bradford Hotel the conversation was pretty hot and heavy over the
headlines in The Era. I found myself sitting back and listening, rather than
taking an active part like I normally do. There were a mixture of ideas, and slurs -
most of them aimed at me, as a result of the two headlines that ran in yesterday's paper.
The headlines were:
1. No evident record of hiring firm to run Sena-Kean; and,
2. County bypasses tourist agency in doling out funds.
Before I get into what was said, let me point out the first headline is a LIE! You
should keep that in mind when you read what transpired.
"I don't understand what the problem is all about," the nurse from
Bradford Regional Medical Center said. "I just had to sign a confidentiality
agreement. Everyone from the janitor to the president had to. It is covered under state
and federal regulations the same way all those policies about not discriminating on the
basis of race and sex. If you don't have those policies in place, and that includes the
confidentiality agreement, then you don't get Medicare or Medicaid funding. If I refused
to sign the agreement, I would be fired."
Welfare Wes was outraged and he said so. "Freedom of Speech!" he blurted
out. "It's covered under the Constitution. It is one of our basic alienable
rights."
I couldn't help laughing about the twist of the word, and I guess I laughed a
little too loud. It drew his attention to me.
"It's Commie politicians like you who want my guns and want to search my house
without a search warrant. Now you are taking peoples' rights to speak their mind away from
them at the nursing home. I wouldn't work in a place like that. That's what's wrong with
this country. Carol. Give me another cold beer! All this political controversy gives me
one hell of a thirst."
I kept my thoughts to myself. Even though I know personally about the
authorities going on treasure hunts without a search warrant and I could have easily
agreed with old Welfare on that one, I kept quiet. It's in keeping with the new me. You
know - a kinder, gentler Bud. The thousand points of light and all that. Heck, I watched
HOLY MAN three times and Eddie Murphy is my new guru. He has given me a whole new
lease on life, especially if he can throw Kelly Preston my way, too. That is the true acid
test of his teachings.
Grant Nichols joined the conversation. He was a welcome addition after what I just
heard.
"Why do we need some outside firm to run Sena-Kean?" he asked.
Before I could answer, John Satterwhite, did for me.
Now John and I sit side by side on the Bradford Regional Airport Authority. We
don't always vote alike, but we both have the same interest at heart and we are not at
odds about the end we are trying to achieve. That is what is best for the Community
through the use of our airport. I have learned to respect John and what he says usually
carries some bearing on how I look at things.
"As I understand it, this firm does not run the Nursing Home for the County.
They are hired on a consulting basis and bring with them expertise in getting
reimbursements in an area that seems to change each time the sun comes up in the morning.
Obviously, to get those reimbursements and to keep them coming, the Federal and State
governments place requirements on the hospital and that includes certain administrative
requirements. They advise the administrators. They don't make the actual decisions."
He turned to me and posed the question. "It's my understanding that the people
making the decisions all are employees of the county and take orders up the chain of
command to the Administrator, another county employee, who answers directly to the
Commissioners. Is that correct?"
"Yes," I answered.
At that point, Dave Sheffer joined in. "If you understand that, John; and, you
are the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, why does your newspaper say something else?"
John pinched his lips together as he tightened his jaw. I
knew the feeling. It isn't fun having to defend people who work for you and you know they
are totally out of line and in the wrong.
I could have almost read his mind at that moment. It was obvious to me that
John knew what was going on. He knew that Jim Buck and Pat Cercone had their own agenda
and that was to discredit the current board of Commissioners at all costs. What was he
going to do? He couldn't go in and take over Marty's job and fire people or put them back
on the straight and narrow. If he did, then he would have to take over the daily
operations of the paper. That was the last thing he wanted to do. He was caught in a bad
situation and he especially did not want to be defending his newspaper or his employees in
a bar. He had come in to relax and it didn't seem like he was going to do that.
"It isn't much of an answer," he said. "I guess it is the best one
that I have, though. I have to depend on my people to be truthful and accurate in what
they write. They may have missed the mark here."
"They did," Grant said. "And it looks like they did it on purpose.
Why would they do that to the people who read them? What do you think when you read the
paper and know you can't depend on what's written?"
John shrugged his shoulders. "I don't read it," he said. "We print USA
Today and that's what I read. I seldom read The Era. Our writing staff
just doesn't do too much for me. They're too sensational for my tastes. In the past four
years they have gotten more like Bud and Bud has gotten more like the way we used to be.
It's kind of like the Russians and the Americans changing places."
He laughed, but he was the only one in the bar, besides me who laughed with
him. It was as if I was the only one who understood the position in which he was being put
by his staff.
"What do you think about all of this, Bud?" Grant asked.
"Off the record, Grant, I understand where John's coming from. I understand
the position he's in. He never wins. If the paper is great, the staff takes the credit. If
it is bad like now, he gets blamed. Really, Jim created the news instead of reporting it.
I won't put John on the spot, but I'm sure he knows that's what happened.
"The real story was the headline they had on Page Three. The fact that we
bypassed the alleged approved tourist promotion agency and gave tourism funds directly to
an event should have been the headline on the front page. In light of the fact that the
Bradford Area Alliance promised to match all funds for tourism, someone should have asked
them if they are going to give an equal amount for the Pow Wow in Ludlow? Their answer
would be interesting.
"Somehow, that got lost in the shuffle of trying to get some kind of
controversy going. I think yesterday's paper was a very poor attempt at any kind of
Journalism."
"Why did you by pass the tourist agency?" John asked.
"Because we didn't want to see the money to go for paying salaries that weren't
there last year. We wanted the money to go for the event. The only way we could be sure
was to do what we did."
Everyone kind of cooled after that. The conversation changed and one by one
everyone left. Before leaving, and very inconspicuously, John walked up to me, patted me
on the shoulder and quietly thanked me.
Oh well, I thought. What more is there to say except that Eddie Murphy gets all
the credit. I am also still waiting for Kelly Preston, too.
Comment on this at rdhedbud@penn.com.
JUNE 22, 1999
Don’t pay for The Bradford Era, Steal it!
I had just gotten back up the hill from town. I dropped off last minute changes to
the June issue of the MLR at Mark’s. He told me that we needed to fill two more pages
so I decided that I would come home and write something about Cheri O’Mara and
asbestos.
I had been listening to Live Line on WESB. She was a guest along with Kathy Kelly, the
business manager for the school district. While I was tempted to call about the tax
increase (3.95% as Kelly stated it), I behaved myself and stayed off the phone. Then the
subject of asbestos came up.
Responding to questions from Bob Hand she promptly made several disturbing claims.
Actually, she told some very large lies. They were:
1. It got more publicity than it deserved because I was looking for public attention.
2. The pictures and the movie showing the asbestos were "plants" and no asbestos
existed in those places; and, the workers who exposed the "fictitious" asbestos,
were not allowed in those areas to begin with.
3. Because of the publicity the job ran over budget by more than $100,000 and because
of me they could not afford to install all the windows they had hoped to install.
That bothered me. I came home prepared to write an article to rebut what she had
said. It was going to be the best article on the exposing of the kids, teachers, and
workers to asbestos that I had ever written. I drove up to my garage and opened the door
so I could drive in. What I saw stopped me cold. There, in the middle of the afternoon, in
the middle of my side of the garage, sitting cross legged in the middle of the floor,
smoking a huge home made pipe, were Chief Cornplanter and Chief Red Jacket. I stopped the
car, turned off the ignition and got out.
"Hello," Red Jacket said, greeting me.
"Hello," I said back. Cornplanter had taken a huge draw off the pipe and
slowly exhaled. He raised his hand to indicate a greeting. I raised my hand back to
acknowledge his and give him mine.
I did not think I would see them again so soon after the incident with the dead skunk
on the back deck. Sharyn still hadn’t gotten over it and blamed me for the two
Indians showing up at all hours like they did that night. I was secretly pleased that
Sharyn wasn’t at home and it was the middle of the day. Still, it was the first time
I had seen them in the daylight.
"What brings you by today?" I asked.
At that point Cornplanter passed the pipe to Red Jacket. He picked up a copy of The
Bradford Era and held it out in front of him so I could see that it was today’s
paper. "This!" he said.
"You came up here because of The Era?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Pray tell, why?" I asked.
"Because," he said. "There’s nothing in it."
"Heck," I said. "I could have told you that. There never is. The
only reliable column in the whole thing is the Horoscope."
"Funny you would say that," Red Jacket said, putting down the pipe.
"I’ve noticed that too. Mine has been dead on for the past couple of months.
What gives?"
"I don’t know," I said. "Personally, I’ve never seen anything
like it. By the way," I asked. "When did you start reading The Era?"
"Since you took office," he said.
"Yes," Cornplanter added in a disgusted voice. "Every day it’s the
same thing. We have to see what Bud is doing. Every day."
Red Jacket got a sheepish look on his face. "I like to read the real estate
listings, too. I wish the agents would put their pictures in the paper every now and then.
I like to put a face with a name."
"Oh," Cornplanter added again. "He had a crush on Liz Gomes for awhile,
and now its Kathy Obermeyer. He needs a squaw."
I laughed. "Aren’t you a little old?" I asked. "What are you? You
must be pushing 250 to 270 years old by now."
Red Jacket became mildly irritated. "What difference does it make to you? My age
has nothing to do with it. I think I could easily handle a woman."
Cornplanter poked me in the ribs. "That’s why he hunts skunks. He claims
skunk liver is an aphrodisiac."
"Is it?" I asked.
"Must be," he said. "He got lucky the other afternoon at the Senior
Center. The woman won’t leave him alone now. The cell phone in his truck keeps
ringing all day. It’s her asking when he’s coming back. He won’t give her a
straight answer. He’s like that. He’s always been like that."
I caught myself. I knew I had to be crazy. The other night Gateser was bugging me about
talking to and writing about dead Indians. I insisted they weren’t dead.
"They’re as alive as you and me," I insisted. At that point Sharyn threw in
her two cents worth calling them ghosts and saying she was going to call a priest to do an
Exorcism. At that point, I shut up and let them do all the talking. I have been married
long enough to know when to just agree and be quiet. Even at that, they did get me
wondering.
"Can I ask you two guys a question?" I said meekly.
"Sure," they both said.
"Are you guys alive or are you ghosts?"
"Ghosts!" Cornplanter exclaimed. "Are you crazy? You don’t believe
in ghosts, do you?"
"Not exactly," I answered..
"Not exactly!" Red Jacket shouted. "What are you? A Hertz Rent-a-Car
commercial?"
"So you both are alive," I said.
"Exactly," Red Jacket laughed.
"Well where have you been all these years?" I asked. "Why
hasn’t anyone heard of you until now?"
"Look," Cornplanter said. "When you reach 100 years old, you become an
embarrassment to the tribe. They appreciate everything you did for them but they feel you
have out grown your usefulness. It’s never easy being a senior citizen; and, it is
especially not easy being a senior who is an ex-Indian War Chief."
"So what did you do?" I asked.
"We went out west first. We offered our expertise to Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse,
Cochise, and even Geronimo. They all looked at us and decided we were too old. They made
us stay with the women. Red Jacket liked that, but we were bored. We were warriors. We
wanted to fight. No one would take us up on what we were offering and one by one they all
got beaten by the white soldiers. So we traveled. We saw parts of the world most people,
let alone Inidans of the 18th Century, never saw. After awhile we settled down
in Boston. We helped a few Harvard college professors with books on American History. They
paid us well for our knowledge. We have some pretty nice tax free bonds and a decent stock
portfolio. We aren’t as rich as some of those chiefs who own Casinos, but we get
by."
I stood there shaking my head.
"Now that we’ve answered your questions, how about mine?" Red Jacket
insisted. "What about this lousy paper?"
"What about it?" I asked. "It is a lousy paper. It always has
been. What am I supposed to do about it?"
"Fifty cents for this!" Red Jacket complained. As he did, Cornplanter
interrupted.
"You didn’t pay for it. You stole it."
"Of course I did. It isn’t worth fifty cents."
"There’s your answer," I said. "Don’t buy The Bradford Era,
steal it. Then you can’t complain."
A smile came over Cornplanter’s face. "You have something there, Bud. If he
steals it and it is as bad as he says, then he can’t complain. I don’t care what
they say about you. You do know what you are talking about."
Comment on this at rdhedbud@penn.com.
JUNE 21, 1999
Winners and losers
Good morning. It is 49.1 degrees outside at 5:56 A.M. At this hour Marshburg
rivals Alpena, Michigan for the low temperature. They are in at 47 degrees.
Summer begins this afternoon at 3:49 P.M. That's a winner!
The Buffalo Sabers lost in triple overtime to lose the Stanley Cup. However, in
losing a series of games after you defeat all comers to get to the finals would hardly
rank you as a loser. I would say that both of the finalists are winners in that respect.
But, the flap over Brett Hull being in the crease on the game winning goal, that's loser
talk. The officials called the game as they saw it. Bad calls, even on the final and
series winning play, are unfortunately part of the game.
Are there any winners or losers with the Rainbow Family outing this summer?
One of our readers has a few comments on the matter.
Hello,
My name is Dr. Steve Robar, and I currently live in Flagstaff, AZ. I am soon to be a
resident of Bradford, and could not help but notice in the articles (if there indeed was
more than one) covering the Rainbow event that no research was done (or at least not
reported) on their last event, which, by the way, was held here in Flagstaff. For those
who are really interested in knowing the dynamics of that event, let me say that there was
little to no impact to the local economy, and they were actually very respectful of the
forest and cleaned up after their event. While some individuals will be enriched by such
an event, it will not be financially. Peace.
Are there winners and losers in such an event. Let's see.
Winners might be categorized in any number of ways. How about the boys who were
flashed by the girls in the back of the pick up truck? They were winners.
A story came to me about a seventy-eight year old man driving his truck down a road
near the encampment and drives smack dab into five naked women walking up the road. At
the moment he was a winner!
Turning to get a complete view he forgot to stop the truck and while checking out
another side of the sight, he drove off the road and down over a hill, demolishing his
truck. At that moment he became a loser.
The naked women ran to his aid. One of them stole his wallet before she ran off to
summon help. They stayed with him until the rescue people came. Even though he was in
pain with a broken leg and collar bone, and unaware his wallet had been lifted, he felt he
was a winner being comforted by several naked women.
When he got to the hospital and realized that the women had stolen his wallet, he
decided he just might be a loser.
When the police asked him to describe the women - how tall they were, what color
hair they had, the color of their eyes, distinguishing marks, etc., he could only remember
that one had a butterfly tattoo around her belly button, another had a Christmas wreath
around hers, another had a bouquet of roses on her left buttock, and the other had a man's
name on her breast (he could not remember what the name was). He decided he was a
loser afterall, but he still had his memories.
We all know the stories about winners and losers. We know all about Vince
Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers and even the New York Yankees. Winning, winning,
winning.
We won the war in Yugoslavia, but what did we win? Did we win the right to
support them for the next ten years and export another industry to them and put 50,000
American workers out of jobs? Was that a win or was it a loss?
George Bush's New World Order and Bill Clinton's NAFTA Agreement sent
our jobs south of the border where goods could be produced for a fraction of what they
used to cost. We had to compete with Japan on an equal basis. The winners were the
Captains of Industry. The losers were the American laborers.
While the American economy soared to new heights, the Japanese economy had
problems. Killings were made in the real estate markets when we were able to buy back the
properties for pennies on the dollar the Japs had bought in this country only a few years
ago. The Yen down, the dollar up. Winner this year, loser next.
I guess it is all perception.
Comment on this at rdhedbud@penn.com.
JUNE 20, 1999
ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT, or BRAINWASHING THE PEOPLE?
Publisher's Note: This is the fourth of a ten part series to appear each
Sunday. It is an in depth look at the media in McKean County and an exploration of their
reporting practices. Do they tell the truth? Do they tell the whole story? Or, are
they presenting a side of the news that they want the people to accept as fact? We
will explore the people reporting the news. What do you know about them? How do the
events in their lives affect or parallel the way they spin the news to us?
Part Three: Take away her computer
The Bradford Era as well as wonder boy at the radio station have
always been quick to criticize me for articles written by others, they claim, I have
ghosted (Written myself). They say that I have an unfair advantage because I, if I
am really doing what they say, am really giving my opinions and making it sound like it is
someone else reinforcing what I believe. To that, I say bunk. You the reader are smarter
than that. I believe you are. Wonder boy and The Bradford Era do not.
The editorial, Voters' intent was obvious, is an example of how The
Era plays its own brand of reinforcing its own opinion at our expense. The
editorial appeared on Friday, June 18, 1999 and was written in opposition to the decision
by the Board of Elections to not allow Connie Cavallaro to appear on the November ballot
as a Democratic candidate for mayor.
Page four of The Bradford Era is the editorial page. On it we see
political cartoons; The Bradford Era mast head; Another Era; Other voices
(which requires all letters be signed); and any number of national editorials
(all of which are accompanied by a picture of the writer and the writer's name.).
Also, we find the column Comment & opinion; which is
the space the staff of The Era uses to write the columns that they submit
annually to their peers for recognition. Generally, the columns come with pictures and and
the writer's name; but on occasion, as was the case on Friday, it appears anonymously.
Why? Was the content of such a nature that the author was embarrassed or ashamed of
the content or by the quality of writing? What was in the mind of the editor who sent that
issue to bed when she chose to leave the writer's name off such a profound and insightful
piece that had no bearing on any semblance of reality? Was the article written
because of the fact that her friend and candidate had lost their bid to be on the ballot?
Or, was it an attempt to take one last shot at the Commissioners who recommended to the
judge who the three member panel would be?
Just as Wonder boy has stated time and time again, it is easy to see
someone's style of writing. I wonder if he agrees with me as to the author of the
piece? I wonder if he believes as I do that Pat Frantz Cercone, City Editor of The Era
is in fact the author?
Regardless of the identity of the author, the fact remains the piece was unsigned. The
Era, a publication I believe that would pride itself with quality and
excellence, owes us more than unsigned opinion columns. Even at that, if there are going
to be unsigned opinion columns, some internal control should be exerted to insure that the
opinion at least bears some semblance of appearing to be factual. In the case of: Voters'
intent was obvious, that indeed was not the case. Perhaps the author,
whoever she was, should have conferred with Chris Hauser before writing the nonsensical
whining about how "close should have counted."
If anyone has had a first hand lesson on Election Law anywhere in this
state, it is me. Close does not count. And, sometimes, the law doesn't count either. The
Supreme Court ruling on identical issues in one year, will refuse to uphold its own
decision in another. Why do you suppose that happens?
Politics! Pure and simple politics; and the people in power generally have
all the cards and call all the shots. Anyone who has followed what has happened to my
sister-in-law and me in the matter of a few hundred reported dollars, would not
need a skyscraper to fall on them to understand what I am saying is 1000% true and
accurate.
In the matter of Connie Cavallaro, where twelve people spelled her name Cavallero
instead of Cavallaro, the author of the story feels that the intent was extremely obvious.
She claims that "the McKean County Election Board (was) splitting
hairs." Maybe so, but as the attorney for the challenger to the petition to
allow Connie Cavallaro to use those twelve votes pointed out, The burden was on
her to prove those votes belonged to her.
She in fact did not.
She could have. She could have used competent council - even Chris Hauser - to
prove those votes belonged to her. Instead, she used Lee Ann Lyons Doynow to speak for
her. If there was ever a case of the blind leading the blind, this was it. Mrs.
Doynow did not have a clue as to what was required and did not put forth even the
beginning of a case to establish anything except that people commonly mis-spell the name
Cavallaro. That did not prove the votes belonged to Connie.
In the case cited by Mrs. Doynow on behalf of Connie, the same case Greg Henry used
to Connie's benefit four years ago, a blue print was laid out as to the procedure
necessary that a candidate should follow to prove votes belong to them beyond any
reasonable doubt. While Mrs. Doynow was quick to use the case, she failed in her capacity
as legal council when she failed to read it. Had she read the case she would have been
half way home on the issue. Unfortunately, she did not.
All in all we have one tremendous failure compounding another which was compounded by
another and even another.
Connie, if being on the ballot meant so much to her, should have hired a lawyer
instead of depending on the Doynows.
Doynow should have known what she was talking about instead of coming in and using
the idea that "everyone does it so it must be right."
Connie could have appealed the decision of the Board to Judge Cleland. She did not
and the time has now expired.
Pat Cercone should know something before she starts writing articles like Voters'
intent was obvious.
Marty, do us all a favor. Take her computer away from her and put her on
advertising where she can only mess up ads, not the facts according to law. In elections,
close never counts. It didn't count before and it doesn't count now.
Comment on this at rdhedbud@penn.com.
JUNE 19, 1999
Meet John Reetz
John Reetz, our newest self proclaimed candidate for County Commissioner, has a
whole lot to say. He says so much, he is more or less a guest columnist for The
Bradford Era. (Actually, anyone who wants instant notoriety can just sit down and
fire out a letter to The Era that degrades or libels me, and they are in print. John has
been doing that every fifteen days or so and Marty sees fit to suspend her own rule of one
letter every thirty days.)
John will talk to anyone. You don’t even have to want to listen. If you are within
a city block, you just can’t help it. Bernie Moore, aka THE JERK, has joined the
daily internet columnist group with his own web site. John has been the subject of one of
his feature stories. Bernie wrote:
Would you vote for this man?
There are people who will get MAD at me for displaying this picture above John's name (it
was one of Alfred E. Newman, not Al Smith), they will think that I am poking fun
at the kindly old gentleman. This is not the case, it is merely a visual reflection of
what I perceive in his plans once he (his words) takes office.
You see, John has some very novel ideas and he shared some of them with me the very day
he decided to file as a candidate. He is convinced that the public will support him
because of his supposedly successful singular one man campaign to oust Bud Beck as a
viable Republican candidate. He proudly and publicly takes full credit for the results of
the recent primary.
Before I tell you what his plans are I should first explain that my hearing them was
purely accidental, I just happened to be in earshot of his loud boasting to his friend,
Bob, who is also a good friend of Bill Nannon who is not a friend of John.
We were in the Riddell House. I had just met with Grant Nichols to give him my latest
letter because he does not have a fax machine nor is he online. I use Grant (and he uses
me) to get my word out to the public in the interim times I do not qualify to be published
in the Era (the thirty day thing). Grant was already gone but my beer was not, I am not a
wasteful person. I was eyeballing the inside bottom of my glass when John and Bob walked
in, there was an empty stool to the right of me and Bob claimed it, John stood to the
right of him. They were already in a discussion about John's plans.
"Forty grand aint bad for a part time job, with the Blue Cross coverage and all
the other benefits that go along with it, you can be sitting on easy street," Bob
said.
"I'm not in it for the money, I have all the money I'll ever need, I want to clean
up this county, get it growing again Now that I got Beck out of the way it's gunna make it
a lot easier. Hell, the first thing I am going to do is take 20 grand of my pay and form a
Banker's committee," John responded.
My ears perked up, John had no idea who I was (not that he should really care) so I
decided to order another beer, this could get interesting and I did not want to miss a
word.
Bob reached in his pocket, pulled out two bar chips and tossed them on the bar.
"Hey Carol, give us a couple over here, please."
Bob is very brave, I stopped carrying around Riddell House bar chips as soon as word
got out that Cleland considers them physical evidence for DUI cases.
"Who is going to be on the committee?" Bob asked.
"I have lots of people in mind, a banker here a lawyer there and there are lots of
big business people in the area I could tap into, this place is just full of talent."
Bob wrinkled his forehead, "Why are you calling it a Banker's committee when you
are looking for such a diverse membership?"
"Well, I guess we could call it anything we want, Banker's, Investment, whatever,
the whole idea is to get a bunch of private money together to loan to the little guy for
business start-ups, the committee will decide who are the better risks and sort of control
what type businesses will get the nod."
Bob looked even more puzzled than before. "OECD already does that, what makes you
think you can do better?"
"It's not me, it would be the community and without tax dollars, everything OECD
does is at a cost to the taxpayers, the operating budget of the organization itself is
astronomical."
That got me thinking, the old guy was making what appeared to be good sense but I
couldn't help wonder where all these private dollars would be coming from so I ended my
silence, "Who besides you will be so noble and donate their hard earned money to such
a worthy cause?" I asked.
John glanced at me through Bob's thinning hair, "Lots of folks will be willing to
give in order to save on their tax bill, it's really that simple." he shot back.
Bob must have known what was on my mind because he tactfully changed the subject,
"What other ideas do you have, John?", he asked.
"Well, I'll tell you, my mind has been going a million miles a minute since I left
the courthouse a while ago, I went in there just to get the job description and list of
responsibilities of a county commissioner. I have been so down on Beck in the paper I
figured I'd better be familiar with all that he is supposed to be doing, hate being a
loose cannon, you know, some people just talk endlessly about all kinds of things they
know nothing about, just keep rambling on and on, hinting about things but never really
addressing real problems, just talk, always just talk, you know what I
mean, well anyway I don't want to be seen as one of those kind, you know, you know what
I mean, the type of person that is just all talk?"
YIKES!
I was pretty sure at this point that he was never going to catch up with his mind.
Bernie is an excellent writer and has captured the essence of the man and the
mouth. It is the same man I have known since 1988, and, since then, not a whole lot has
changed about him. He still has the same stories and still says the same things. Every now
and then he throws in something new, like yesterday, June 18, in The Era, when he
claimed to be a Civil Engineer. I noticed that and the fact that John did not place the
letters of such designation behind his name. As he so well put it, the 64 thousand dollar
question is whether he is a Civil Engineer, CE; or, a civil engineer, meaning he calls
himself one. If that is the case, John should explain.
But explanations from John vary depending on the time of the day and how much he has
had to drink and how many bars he’s visited, as well as how full of himself he is at
that moment.
For example, once at The Rainbow Inn ( he lives or lived in a house in Marshburg
owned by his son) John claimed to have been a member of the American Workers Party back in
New York in the thirties, before the war. That of course was a fringe element of the
American Communist Party and John subsequently claimed to have been investigated and black
listed by Senator McCarthy. Frankly, I don’t know, nor do I care. However, at another
sitting he spoke of being a refugee from Russia who escaped as a small boy with his
parents escaping the oppression of the Russian Communists. Something just didn’t fit
there. I wrote it off as the babbling of an old man who had too much to drink.
I have done the same with the letters he has written to The Era. They are
the babblings of an old man who is drinking too much and really doesn’t have a clue.
That is evidenced when he personally takes credit for my defeat in the Republican Primary
on May 18th.
Really, unless he is a good buddy of C. Russell Johnson’s, John had nothing to do
with my defeat. C. Russell gets all the credit. I have to take my hat off to the man and
give credit where credit is due. That is not with John Reetz.
No, the fact that home boys, all hand picked by C. Russell in strategic locations which
once was the heartland of my support, drew votes away from me. All of them believed
that they had the total support of the party and the chairman, when in fact it was 1988
all over again when Larry Stratton, believing he had the support of the party, was used to
siphon votes away from Pat Costello and elect Hannon and Kallenborn. The plan here was to
elect Pingie and that nearly back fired when Martin Causer came within 26 votes of the
real party choice. Fortunately for C. Russell, and unfortunately for me, John Reetz had
absolutely nothing with what happened.
John is better suited for bragging in bars than planning for electing anyone. While
John talks a good game, he hasn’t voted too often in Primaries in McKean County. John
is an Independent and claims no affiliation to the Democrats or Republicans. John knows
better than the rest of us. His diatribes to Other Voices at The Era clearly
indicate that to anyone who takes the time to read.
Whether it is the Solid Waste Authority, or the School Board, or re-financing existing
debt, or just plain old industrial development in the county John has the answer. He also
knows all about the criminal justice system in this county, too. John has been found
guilty and has served time in our jail for not one, but two DUI’s, one of which
involved another vehicle with a family in it that he fortunately only side swiped and did
not hit head on. When John said he didn’t appear at the Solid Waste Authority meeting
with papers of portfolio, nothing could be farther from the truth. John has papers and
portfolio in the form of his own criminal record.
So much more could be said to give you the feel for the man, who as an expert in
just about everything, who is our self proclaimed savior. That really isn’t
necessary. I think you get the idea. For a lot of years he has had a lot of time on his
hands and instead of using it as a volunteer at the hospital as so many of our elderly do,
or serving in any one of the many service organizations that do good for the community,
this man has been entertaining himself and anyone who will listen to him with his talk in
bars and lounges across the county. Meet the real John Reetz. He talks a good game, but
talk is cheap. If he was so good, he would have done something long before now.
Comment on this at rdhedbud@penn.com.
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