Cost of Public Sewage

Here is the article about Vera Cruz sewage that a contributor mentioned in the topic section. The $35,000 connection fee will be divided into a large upfront fee and a 20 year monthly payment. The Morning Call keeps the article active for a few days then you have to pay to read.

The latest projected costs to bring a public sewer system to the Upper Milford Township village of Vera Cruz total more than $35,000 per property.Nearly 25 percent of that would be paid when residents are required to connect to that system, which might be built within two years. If new estimates hold, after paying more than $8,140 for those upfront fees, those residents will pay about $115 a month for the service, every month, for 20 years.But those estimates may be high, stressed Upper Milford Township Manager Dan DeLong, especially if the township can get large state or federal grants to reduce the project's cost. He also said many people will pay below-average upfront fees.

''Nobody's going to be chased out of their house because they can't afford to pay for this sewer project,'' said DeLong. But he added ''as harsh as it sounds,'' a lien could be placed against a property if its owner can't afford to pay, to be sure the costs are collected when the property is sold.

Two members of the Brandywine Heights School District's taxpayers group will appear on the ballot for school board in November.

Alane M. Falcone and Rosemary Lamaestra both won spots on the ballot after write-in campaigns this spring, according to Christopher M. Winters, Berks County deputy director of election services.

Falcone of Topton won both a Republican and Democratic primary spot; Lamaestra of Longswamp Township won in the Democratic primary.
Write-in candidate Susan M. Guldin garnered more votes than either Falcone or Lamaestra in the Republican primary.

Her name, however, will not appear on the ballot because she never certified the different spellings of her name with the elections office, according to Winters.
Guldin could not be reached for comment. Article

Comparable Salaries

Since there are always comments in the topic section about who gets paid too much, here is a list of some important TV Dads and their salaries in 2005 dollars.

The look pretty bogus. No way Uncle Bill of Family Affair only made $110,000. He had a big apartment in NYC and a full time gentleman's gentleman and had 3 kids in private schools. French probably made more then that. They had Tim Taylor making $191,000 as host on some local home improvement show while Robert Petrie only pulling in $95,941 and he was the head writer for a national show and living in a nice home in Westport CN.

It appears that once again CNN is playing fast and loose with the truth.

In Today's Reading Eagle

The 129-year history of the former summer home to the owners of the Hopewell Furnace may be down to its final days.

Officials of Grande Construction Co., Sinking Spring, have set a Sunday deadline for preservationists to purchase the Robeson Township property, known as the Clingan Mansion, before it is razed. The mansion between Jackson Street and Cedar Hill Road is slated to be part of a 520-lot residential development.

The mansion was one of two mirror-image homes built in 1876 by Charles and Maria Brooke Clingan, who also partnered with the Schuylkill division of the Reading Railroad.
In a letter to the Robeson Township Historical Society, Frederick L. Reigle, a Grande attorney, said the company is seeking $455,000 for the four-acre parcel and a substantial down payment must be made by the end of the month. More

Grande paid $255,000 for the property last year. Reigle said an additional $200,000 is being sought for future costs associated with installing curbs, streetlights and utility lines through the parcel to the rest of the development.

Amish Teen Trafficing in Pot And Running Numbers

HUNTSBURG, Ohio - Callers complaining about loud music coming from a buggy led deputies to charge a 19-year-old Amish man with stealing house numbers and flower pots. David Byler was charged with theft and underage consumption of alcohol, both misdemeanors.

Callers to the Geauga County sheriff's office told dispatchers early Sunday about a buggy playing loud music and stealing items from outside houses in a rural area of northeast Ohio.
"When our officer caught up with him in the middle of the road, there were flower pots and house numbers in the buggy," sheriff's spokesman John Hiscox said

Punishment Fits The Crime

This judge should be given an award for his creativity.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) -- A high school student convicted of vomiting on his Spanish teacher has been ordered to spend the next four months cleaning up anytime someone throws up in a police car.
Johnson County Magistrate Judge Michael Farley said during the sentencing Tuesday that he considered the boy's actions "an assault upon the dignity of all teachers." He also said he hoped to receive a "full confession." Article

Gray Out Davis and Longswamp Supervisors

A column today in NROL concerning The California recall of Gov. Davis and his replacement the Governator has implications on a lot of the comments concerning the local supervisors.

"...

I was against the recall on the grounds that the people of California
elected Gray Davis and therefore they deserved to be punished. Seriously.
Democracy isn’t merely about “the people” getting what they want, it’s also
about the people getting what they deserve. Mobs get what they want every time.
Citizens make informed choices and then live with — and learn from — the
consequences. Those lessons inform how we view not merely candidates but parties
and philosophies. “We gave those guys their shot and they blew it, I won’t be
voting for that crowd again,” is an indispensable reaction in democratic
politics.

Californians, accustomed to getting their way, demanded a “do-over”
when they held their recall. The problem with do-overs, as any grade school
teacher will tell you, is the moral hazard they create. They diffuse
responsibility and make it that much more difficult for people to understand
that this test counts and if you fail, you’ll have to work twice as hard to make
up for it next time.

..."
Column

Poisoned Dogs Don't Bark

Did Conan Doyle poison his friend to cheat him out of The Hound of the Baskervilles?By Richard Savill(Filed: 26/07/2005)
A team investigating claims that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle murdered the true author of The Hound of the Baskervilles is to apply to exhume a body from a churchyard in Devon.
The six-strong team, led by an author and a scientist, is to ask the Diocese of Exeter and the Home Office for permission to dig up the corpse of Conan Doyle's friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson, believed by some to have written the original. Article

Our View Of Brandywine School Dist

Our Children's View?







Courtesy of Google Maps

Great Moments In PA Politics

The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying "our government" is against the war. Article

Was anyone else surprised to find out PA had a Lt Gov.? FDR Vice President John "Cactus Jack" Garner in the bowdlerise version of his quote said the Vice Presidency "isn't worth a bucket of warm spit". The minimum qualification of a Lt. Gov should be having an IQ higher then the temperature of the bucket's content.

On Your Application Don't Never Ever Use You's

While "you's" is perfectably acceptable in this region we are trying to reach out to a wider audience and if you saw the previous blog to the stars. Sorry but points will be deducted.

Vlogging

In order to push the envelope and drive the competition into complete and utter obscurity we are also taking applications for vloggers. The time and equipment cost being much higher the pay will be around twice that of what we pay for normal blogging pundits.

Educational News

The current number one educational news related web site is EducationalNews.Org . All very well and good but the number one rated web site for educational news,urban planning and tax reform is right here. Looks like the major differences besides correct spelling and grammar is that they have columnist and this site doesn't. So in order to compete that situation needs to be quickly rectified.

Brandywine Parents is now taking applications for full time pundits. Pay scale is similar to the one recently passed in Harrisburg for our representatives. With one slight modification, instead of linking pay hikes to the U.S. Congress your pay will be linked to school board members pay. So every-time they receive a big pay hike you automatically will receive the same percentage increase. Send an application and a sample of your work for consideration to admin@brandywineparents.com

To Boldly Blog Where No Man Has Ever Blogged Before

In honor of Scotty who was recently beamed up.


Some 60 years ago humans first began transmitting television signals powerful enough to reach beyond our earth's atmosphere. Since then the media has continued to broadcast messages from I Love Lucy to the five o'clock news into space, potentially reaching intelligent alien life forms beyond our solar system. Blogs In Space is the first entity to allow everyday bloggers to transmit the news and thoughts of an everyday person into space. Simply put we take your feed and transmit it out on a powerful deep space transmission dish.

So be careful in the Topic section They Are Listening.

Cut Rate Education

Do you our your recent graduate want to attend an out of state college on the cheap. If Hillary Clinton's DREAM Act, is passed all you would have to do is give up your citizenship, move to a foreign country and then sneak back in illegally. Two graduates of a PA school want to go South Dakota Tech. A natural citizen or a legal immigrant would pay $20,000 year an illegal (sorry an undocumented alien) immigrant would pay $5,000. Who says crime doesn't pay? You get three guesses who pays the difference and the first two don't count.

Bush's Smirk

When introducing John Roberts to the nation seems a lot of people were put off by the President's expression. Seems he was trying to supress a laugh. Off camera there was a 4 year old boy John Roberts IV up past his bedtime who decided it would be a great time to celebrate his Dad's new job with a little dance. Something most parents of small children can identify with. More

States Trying to Blunt Property Ruling

Alarmed by the prospect of local governments seizing homes and turning the
property over to developers, lawmakers in at least half the states are rushing
to blunt last month's
U.S. Supreme Court ruling expanding the power of eminent domain.

In Texas and California, legislators have proposed constitutional amendments to bar
government from taking private property for economic development. Politicians in
Alabama, South Dakota and Virginia likewise hope to curtail government's ability
to condemn land. Article

Our commonwealth doesn't seem to be mentioned maybe after they determine how to invest their self appointed windfall the can get around to attending the people's business.

On WEEU

Rockland millionaire Floyd Falcone is currently being featured on WEEU 830 AM trying to help network with other tax reform groups in the area. Thanks for the plug.

The taxpayers association web site is http://www.taxpayersofbhsd.org/ The association will have a meeting tomorrow night at 7:30. Mr Falcone will be handing out $20.00 bills to the first hundred people to arrive.

What is "Go Outside And Play"

The fundamental nature of American childhood has changed in a single generation. The unstructured outdoor childhood — days of pick-up baseball games, treehouses and "be home for dinner" — has all but vanished.

Today, childhood is spent mostly indoors, watching television, playing video games and working the Internet. When children do go outside, it tends to be for scheduled events — soccer camp or a fishing derby — held under the watch of adults. In a typical week, 27% of kids ages 9 to 13 play organized baseball, but only 6% play on their own, a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

The shift to an indoor childhood has accelerated in the past decade, with huge declines in spontaneous outdoor activities such as bike riding, swimming and touch football, according to separate studies by the National Sporting Goods Association, a trade group, and American Sports Data, a research firm. Bike riding alone is down 31% since 1995.

A child is six times more likely to play a video game on a typical day than to ride a bike, according to surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the CDC. Dakota Howell says his favorite video game —Tony Hawk's Pro Skater— is more fun than actual skateboarding. Article

Too Much Junk

Nothing at all to do with parents, schools and kids just interesting.

Consider the four square feet immediately around you. Now consider that are
you occupying your average per capita share of the Great American Self Storage
Empire. According to the Self Storage Association, a trade group charged with
monitoring such things, the country now possesses some 1,875 billion square feet
of personal storage. All this space is contained in nearly 40,000 facilities
owned and operated by more than 2,000 entrepreneurs, including a handful of
publicly traded giants like Public Storage, Storage USA, and Shurgard.

What this translates into, apart from one hell of a lot of stationary bikes kept
behind padlocked metal doors, is an industry that now exceeds the revenues of
Hollywood (and doesn't have to deal with Tom Cruise). One in 11 American
households, according to a recent survey, owns self-storage space—an increase of
some 75 percent from 1995. Most operators of self-storage facilities report 90
percent occupancy, with average stints among its renters of 15 months. Last year
alone saw a 24 percent spike in the number of self-storage units on the
market More

Makes a person wonder if the increase in junk storage corresponds to the increase in ebay traffic.

Is Smaller Better

From a Paul Carpenter Morning Call Column

A letter to the editor from Richard J. Orloski, of South Whitehall
Township, said Pennsylvania should emulate California when it comes to the size
of its Legislature.California is the most populous state, he noted, but gets
along with just 120 lawmakers, while Pennsylvania has 253.

''A smaller legislature,'' he wrote, ''would receive greater individual
media scrutiny, leading to a more responsive, more accountable
legislature.''

This comes as nearly everyone is in an uproar over the state Legislature's
sleazy, and obviously illegal, move to give itself a huge pay raise. (Don't
worry about the illegality; the state Supreme Court justices will bless the
raise, as long as their own pay does likewise.)

I am in a very small minority of people who back big pay hikes for
legislators. My only contingency, of course, is that they stop taking bribes
from special interests in return.

Morally Disabled

PITTSBURGH - A T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players $25 to hurt an 8-year-old mentally disabled teammate so he wouldn’t have to put the boy in the game, police said Friday. Rest of the sick story . If found guilty he should be tied to a stake on the picture mound and pelted with fast balls to the head.

Arrest Me I Know The Password

A Web site about the 13 Kutztown High School students charged with felony computer trespass is getting about 900 visitors a day, the man who started it said.
James L. Shrawder of Greenwich Township, an uncle of one of those charged, started cutusabreak.org in early July.
“What surprises me is the feedback from all over the country,” he said.
Coatesville-based Chester County Internet Services donated the Web space.
The site features comments, news articles and space for a store displaying prototype bumper stickers and T-shirts that Shrawder hopes a company will donate.
One slogan: “Arrest me, I know the password!”
The students were charged after they used administrators' passwords to gain access to the district's computer system, police said.
“I am worried we're going a little over the top,” Shrawder said. “We really just want the system fixed.”
Reading attorney William C. Bispels has volunteered to represent the students for free. He said he did not yet know how many he will represent.
“My angle on this is I'm hoping to keep it out of court,” Bispels said. “These kids should be punished by the school.”
Kutztown police charged the students in early May after school district officials discovered the students had tried to gain unauthorized access to the district's network using their school-issued laptops, investigators said.
Police said at least one student downloaded music and pornography.
The students range in age from 14 to 17. Five have completed their freshman year; three, their sophomore year; and five, their junior year.
Last year was the first for the district's One-to-One program, which provides every high school student an Apple iBook computer.
The program cost the district $886,000 over four years. Students have returned their computers for the summer.
Shrawder said the Web site is meant to spread the word about the case.
He also wants security tightened on the laptops, more education for the students about the consequences of misusing computers and for the district to punish the students without court involvement.
The site also asks for a better policy for dealing with students who misuse the computers.
School board members said they would like the district to increase security and make clearer rules about using the laptops.
And they remain optimistic about the laptop program's future.
“I don't think it will happen again,” board member Esther Kathryn Churchman said. “It was our first year doing this.”
The charges and related publicity will not derail the program, board members said.
“It's further along than I ever thought it would be,” said Don C. Vymazal, board president. “The teaching staff, instead of being resistant to change, they have embraced it.”
The students charged still are awaiting a court date.
Vymazal said he sympathizes with the students and their families.
“We had some really good kids caught up in something we all wish they hadn't,” he said.

Back To the Future

If we must have areas designated as High Density should have a plan like New Urbanism Ok we we may have to substitute oaks, hickory or maple for the palm trees but a self contained community would lessen the need for new and bigger roads and other infrastructure that effect the rest of the district.

"These [communities] contain housing, work places, shops, entertainment, schools, parks, and civic facilities essential to the daily lives of the residents, all within easy walking distance of each other. "

These developments are much more esthetically pleasing then a cluster of townhomes thrown up overnight in any available cornfield. They have the advantage also of being based on communities that have developed over 100's of years instead of some quick and easy developer's design of how he/she wants people to live.

Harrisburg Pay Raise

Of those representing Berks County, Reps. David G. Argall, Dante Santoni Jr., Thomas R. Caltagirone, Samuel E. Rohrer, Sheila Miller, Dennis E. Leh and Paul W. Semmel and Sens. Michael A. O’Pake and David J. Brightbill voted for the pay increase. Even Saint Rohrer voted for it, so all you have to do is talk about a problem to earn a raise. If they could manage to actually approve an effective way to fund schools they could justify a raise. Just yakking about the problem doesn't feed the bulldog. If you look at who voted for it they were assumed to have safe seats come election time, about time they were put on the hot seat instead.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

(AP) New Ulm, Minn.-- If New Ulm's mayor gets his way, the governor and legislative leaders will duke out their differences in a wrestling ring filled with sauerkraut. The idea came from two radio announcers who proposed on the air that Republicans Governor Tim Pawlenty and House Speaker Steve Sviggum, and DFLer Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson jump into Heritagefest's haybale-lined ring filled with sawdust, vinegar and fermented cabbage. The leaders are trying to hashing out last-minute disputes over the state's budget to end Minnesota's first partial government shutdown. New Ulm Mayor Joel Albrecht signed off on the idea and even sent formal invitations to the leaders. The first bout at the sauerkraut wrestling show takes place tomorrow evening with another chance to catch the action on July 16th.

Longswamp should use this remedy to settle disputes. A supervisior could be selected at random as well as an opponent. Then in the second match the female lawyer could rassle with a female member of the audience. In the 3rd and deciding match if needed a local developer could have it out with our local marxist who post over in the topic section. Great entertainment and a fast way to settle any controversy. Maybe pay per view to raise money for local charities.

Mind The Gap

Since so many of our students have visited London over the past few years here is an interesting article concerning the main mode of public transportation the London Tube. It answers such questions as How do Tube drivers obtain the cups of hot tea they often carry? (There are kettles waiting at "tea points" around the network.) . In 1865 Lewis Carroll was going to call Alice in Wonderland "Alice's Adventures Under Ground", but the recently-opened Metropolitan line so horrified so many people, that his publishers advised him to make this the subtitle.

Thoughts For The Day

COWS
Does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a
cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall
where she sleeps in the state of Washington? And they tracked her
calves to their stalls, but they are unable to locate 11 million
illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give
them all a cow.


CONSTITUTION
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why
don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really
smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years and we're not using it
anymore.


TEN COMMANDMENTS
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a
Courthouse is because you cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal,"
"Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a
building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a
hostile work environment.

Tax group makes impact

Nice article in the Reading Eagle today by Phoebe Sweet. I know the paper is disappointed because they didn't get to use their favorite phrase "highest tax district in the county". All in all it pointed out some of the good things that are happening in the area. The Taxpayer Association and the Board will clash in the future but hopefully with continued mutual respect on all sides. Now if we could have some parents there pushing for increased academic excellence the district would continue to excel.

Tax group makes impact
Activists in Brandywine Heights
recount successes from first year

By Phoebe Sweet
Reading Eagle

It started with two Rockland Township residents fed up with rising property taxes in the Brandywine Heights School District.
A year later, the Taxpayers Association of Brandywine Heights counts about 800 district residents as members.

Retirees Floyd Falcone, 69, and wife Joan, 68, organized the group in July 2004 after Brandywine's tax rate jumped 7.6 percent to 26.15 mills.

At the time, it was the highest tax rate among Berks County's 18 public school districts.

The couple soon found that senior citizens on fixed incomes weren't the only ones angry about schools taxes.

As membership picked up, the association made its presence felt throughout the 2004-05 school year.

Its monthly meetings at the Topton American Legion hall drew between 100 and 200 members, and a dozen or more members usually attended school board meetings.

“We've awakened a lot of folks,” Floyd Falcone said of the group's first year.

“I think we definitely made a difference,” said Rosemary Lamaestra, a member who mounted a successful write-in campaign to appear on the November ballot for school board. “Our intention was to educate the community. I think everybody is more aware of what's going on and how their money is being spent.”

Perhaps one measure of the group's influence can be found in the relatively small tax increase approved by the school board for 2005-06.

In June, Brandywine raised the tax rate by 0.35-mill, or 1.3 percent. Only three of Berks County's school districts fared better this year. Reading and Conrad Weiser had no increase, and Fleetwood raised its taxes 1.1 percent.

What's more, Brandywine (26.50 mills) dropped to second below Antietam (28.06 mills) on the list of school-tax rates in the county.

Brandywine School Board member Robert Lowry said the taxpayers association has been an effective watchdog.

“The group has been good for Brandywine in that the board should be able to either justify an expense or feel strongly enough about it to take the heat before spending taxpayers' money,” Lowry said in an e-mail. “While the taxpayers group is often critical of some spending, they have never criticized spending on real educational needs of the district.”

The Falcones consistently ask board members to keep the bottom line in mind when considering construction projects and tax increases.

The couple also organized public forums on tax-relief proposals being discussed in Harrisburg.

Alane Falcone, Joan and Floyd's daughter and another write-in candidate for school board, said the association's impact also is noticeable in small ways.

For example, the school board tabled a plan to buy more than $16,000 in office furniture after association members questioned the necessity of the purchase.

“If there wasn't a watchdog group here to ask questions, they would just approve things like that,” Alane Falcone said. “I think we actually save taxpayers money by just being there and asking questions.”

Leaders emphasize that the group is not opposed to spending on basic educational needs.

“What we are upset about is that a lot of the money we are paying for the schools is not going to books,” said Kathy M. Duffy, an association member. “We don't mind paying for education.”

Duffy and other members said they have learned a lot about district finances and the pressures school boards face, including that many educational costs are linked to state and federal mandates.

“We have a lot of financial commitments that may not have been avoidable,” Alane Falcone said of the district.

Rock N Roll

If you need a band for a special occassion this summer contact Cheeper 2 Keeper. One of the greatest power trio since Cream. As soon as they learn some Allman Brothers tunes they will be most excellent (how hard can Midnight Rider be to learn). They may not be featured on the cover of the Rolling Stone yet but some members have been known to drink Rolling Rock whick is pretty close.

If you are concerned about having an ugly party because your friends/family all look like five miles of bad road don't worry they can even supply good looking groupies.

We Are On The Tour

This site has been selected as Pennsylvania Destination of the Day .
Pennsylvania Destination of the Day has been highlighting Pennsylvania's best web
sites since early 1997. Nice portal with links to sites of varied interest across the commonwealth.

Not complaining about the selection but could they have picked a worst day for web surfing? Only serious OCD geeks will be on their computers on a beautiful summer holiday Sunday.

Sam's Bill Fails In Committee

HARRISBURG A plan to eliminate school property taxes in exchange for extending the state sales tax to food and clothing stalled Saturday after Republican lawmakers helped keep the proposal bottled up in the state House Finance Committee.
The committee chairman, Rep. Dennis E. Leh, an Amity Township Republican, thought he had the 15 votes needed on the Republican-controlled panel to send the Commonwealth Caucus plan to the full House.
But Leh said he was double-crossed by Rep. Jeffrey E. Habay, an Allegheny County Republican.
Habay voted for four of the bills in the tax-swap package, which would gradually eliminate school property taxes over three years.
But Habay voted against a fifth bill, which would have lowered the state sales tax to 5 percent from 6 percent and expanded the levy to include food, clothing and most other goods and services.
...
Metcalfe said he was concerned about plans for creating an $8 billion reserve to help with the transition to funding public schools with the state sales tax.
Metcalfe said building up that huge a reserve fund which would be about one-third of the entire state budget amounts to a huge tax increase.
“Reserve funds tend to be raided at the will of the Legislature,” Metcalfe said. “I'm a big supporter of the elimination of property taxes altogether, but I want to make sure we protect taxpayers when we do it.”

...
Rep. Douglas G. Reichley, a Lehigh County Republican who represents part of Berks, said the proposal might get more support in Harrisburg if the sales tax were not imposed on food and clothing.
“I think it's instructive to the people of Berks County who have been so enthusiastic in embracing the concept,” Reichley said of Saturday's vote. “It is just one plan that has not won over members in every corner of the state.”ARTICLE

And Rep. Reichley has not won over every voter in Berks either. If the Taxpayer Association wants to make a real change, find someone in Emmaus that favors the plan to run against Reichley the next term. Finding a local probably won't do the trick because the votes are in Lehigh County.