Pennsylvania and Colon Cancer Screening Law

Pennsylvania Law currently does not have any mandate with insurance companies on colon cancer screening doing business in the Commonwealth. In the last two year session of the General Assembly, Senate Bill 635 expired. Senator Robert Tomlinson reintroduced the bill as Senate Bill 146 as of yet the web site has not caught up to view. This blogger obtained a copy of the new bill. It is the exact same as SB635 with the exception of sponsors. In the last session the bill had 30 sponsors. The number of sponsors is between 25 and 30 due to changing committees and possible conflicts. The Central Susquehanna Valley Colon Cancer task force was OK with this.

On January 31st, 2007 the Legislative and Finance Committee, a joint committee of the PA General Assembly, held a hearing on the study that was commissioned by the assembly. You could read all 58 pages here. The next step is to move this bill out of committee and into debate on the Senate floor. The Senate currently has Senate Bill 246, Clean Air Act, moved to the second reading. With governor having an ambitious insurance agenda in the second term and the general assembly willing to listen, this bill has a lot support. In the study, it was noted that Pennsylvania has one of the highest incidences of colorectal cancer in the country with almost half of the cases proving fatal. You can also look at the statistics on the PA Department of Health website, here. What the study does prove is 90% of the cases fall in the proposed law's screening guidelines for screening and PA has the capacity to handle additional screening. The numbers that the Senate Committee on banking and insurance should be concerned about is early screening equals 100 percent cure.

With the American Cancer society's Daffodil Days coming in March. Efforts should be made to lobby Senator Don White who has assumed the banking and insurance chair from Senator Gibson Armstrong who now heads up the appropriation committee. Armstrong's office did a good job stonewalling movement on this bill while he was chairman. One of the excuses given to the Central Susquehanna Coalition was that the law would affect insurance surpluses. Senator White is on record of sponsoring Senate Bill 635 in the last session. Hopefully, he hasn't changed his mind. Here is Rep. Phyllis Mundy's op-ed here questioning what Northeastern Blue Cross was going to do with 175 million dollars. This only one of a few Blue Cross providers in the Commonwealth. Does this help provide more coverage?

With the country's sixth most populous state, PA does not have any colorectal screening law. Even Arkansas, has screening and here is the story behind the law.

Ron Miller Inducted into Susquehanna University Hall of Fame

Ron Miller '93 is a native of Marion Heights, Pa. and a graduate of Mount Carmel Area High School. He was a first-team All-MAC selection on the offensive line as both a junior and senior as the Crusaders led the conference in both total offense and rushing offense both years, and was an honorable mention All-American as a senior. Following graduation, he served as Susquehanna's offensive coordinator for eight seasons and as head men's lacrosse coach for four seasons. He earned a master's degree in education from Bucknell and is head football coach at West York High School. Miller resides in Selinsgrove with his wife, Jennifer, and their daughter, Aspen (3).
Miller, who grew up less than an hour from campus, was a little disappointed with local medial coverage when speaking to this blogger. Miller hopes to one day bring his team north and knock out a AAA team from the Coal Region out of the PIAA playoffs. For Miller, that may be only the Crimson Tide of Pottville who for the most part are the only Coal Region team left in AAA. Most of the teams are now relegated to A and AA.


Senior day for the mens and womens basketball teams was also held with local product Jen Clark of Southern Columbia, Sara Jane Kalejta of Lourdes Region and Chad Lauer of Southern Columbia all took part in the ceremonies. For Lauer, it was a great day. The senior did not see any action this season due to be operated on for a brain tumor, but the main thing is that things look to be going well from the surgery. It would have been nice to see Lauer out there helping his teammates claw for a playoff spot in the MAC. Lauer was a member of the Crusaders two seasons ago that went winless in the MAC. Lauer did all he could as a sophomore and at that time was one the leader in tenure on the team as a sophomore.

Shamokin Indian Head Coach Part II

• Can Dave Zielinskie return the Indians to the type of team they were in the early 1990's?
  
  Shamokin Area last walked off the field as a champion in the last game of the season in 1975 when they defeated Dunmore at Kemp Memorial Stadium for the Eastern Conference Class A championship. While the Indians in the meantime put out some outstanding teams over the last 31 seasons, their neighboring districts have more PIAA hardware. How much of the program is broken? What can be done to improve or fix them?
  On the surface some things are very easy. They are actually obvious. When Zielinskie inherited the program from Jack Murdock in the mid-80's, the program was at rock bottom including an 1-10 campaign in 1982 under Bob Chesney and 0-11 campaign in 1983 under the first season of Murdock. Zielinskie brings instant credibility to the program. Current players will here stories of hard-hitting defenses and teams that went toe-to-toe with the best in PA.

Here are some positives to point out:

• The program isn't as down as it was in the mid-80's.
• The Indians return plenty of starters and there are some players in the wings.
• Shamokin now competes in "AA" compared to "AAA".

With Coach Zielinskie:

• A little older and wiser
• Can navigate well through the mine fields of being head coach
• Present employment gives him a better understanding of his kids
• This helps identify discipline problems early
• Easily can identify the positive leader on the team and build the rest.

There are also some negatives that are obvious. Early season schedule with Southern Area, Montoursville, and Mount Carmel in the first four weeks and team speed could be a problem.

Here are some others:

• New offense....doubtful Shamokin will run the West Virginia spread. However, all is not lost. Shamokin didn't have the speed back to run the spread. Forbes could be utilized in a better fashion to make up the lack of a running game.
• Schedule - see above
• Assistants, who will they be?
• Red Zone offense - Shamokin moved the ball well between the 20's. Had many problems scoring as evident in coming out of timeouts and players unsure of assignments.
• Dysfunctional feeder system - SUBJECT TO FUTURE POST.

Zielinskie has returned with the enthusiasm they he came with in the 80's. He still can motivate an average player to attain higher. It will be interesting to see how the team adjust to the new slate of coaches. Marc Persing and Jordan Haddock are proven leaders to build a team around especially when it comes to work ethic. Once again, Zielinskie should have the benefit of any doubt due to past performance. Parents, fans and the media will have patience.

SMOKE UNDER THE TEE-PEE!!!!!

It has been learned earlier this evening that the new assistant coaches have been hired. Several sources have confirmed that three of the four new coaches will include Dave Kopitsky Jr., Todd Nye and Mike Gurski. Offers will be tendered in the near future. This group of coaches could change if offers by the district to them are rejected or anything that could arise between now and summer drills. They round out the staff with Zielinskie and Ed Zack. A fourth will be hired, but there were mixed reports if he would be posted with the freshman or varsity. Two coaches remain to be hired to round out the staff from top to bottom. (A future post will profile the assistants.)

UPDATE

On personnel issues, Robert Cowder was appointed varsity cross country coach, and head football coach David Zielinskie and his coaching staff and their salaries were approved. Zielinskie will make $5,800, while his staff will be paid as follows: Assistant varsity coaches Edward Zack, $3,542; David Kopitsky Jr, $2,352; Michael Gurski, $2,904; Anthony Carnuccio, $1,800; eighth-grade head coach Edward Taylor, $1,776; assistant Todd Nye, $1,200; ninth-grade head coach James Lichty, $2,942, and assistant Gerald Bogetti, $1,638.The vote was approved by a 5-0 vote, with Mark Anonia and Tracey Witmer abstaining.

Robert Getchey asked that there be more volunteers for additional adult supervision for the younger squads.

FROM THE HARDWOOD

Shamokin defeated Pottsville on a 3-point bank by Mark Persing in OT at the buzzer. In the game Frank Marcinek went over the 1000-point mark. The Indians were eliminated from the Schuylkill League playoffs with Blue Mountain's victory over Jim Thorpe.

Shamokin Area Football Coach Hired

This past Tuesday, Shamokin Area filled the head football coaching job. The Shamokin Area School Board voted this past fall to open after a 2-8 season by former head coach, Carmen Defrancesco. Dave Zielinskie was hired for his second stint as Shamokin Area head coach. Zielinskie previously served from 1986 until the conclusion of the 1992 season.

Zielinski remained very popular long after he was fired. He won 5 games against arch-rival Mount Carmel Area including 87,88, 90,91, and 92. His 1991 team went 13-1 losing the AAA Eastern Final to Conestoga Valley coach by Jim Cantafio. Cantafio in a strange twist of coaching fate was an applicant for the Shamokin job and considered a favorite. Shamokin Area's 1987 through 1995 seasons, saw the Indians pile up 7 wins against the Red Tornadoes in 9 seasons. This had been the best run again Mount Carmel since Shamokin High merged with Coal Township in mid-1960's.

The Shamokin football job has never been easy. It has been 31 seasons since the Indians played their last game of the season, won, and were declared the champion. Since that championship season in 1975, the following coaches met their boothill: Tim Montgomery, Joe Gubernot, Bob Chesney, Jack Murdock, Dave Zielinskie (Round I), Sam Schiccatano, and Carmen Defranseco. Mathematically, if your in sixth grade, don't count on having the same coach when your a senior. The other pressure involved is having two neighboring districts win 11 state titles in the last 12 seasons.

Defrancesco who had some varing degrees of success with a couple of District AAA titles, did not deserve to get fired after this season. The schedule was brutal, there were injuries and just the lack of experience took it's toll. The players to their fortitude played hard for Carm to the very end and were not happy with Carm being dismissed as witnessed at the Hillside Coaches banquet.

Zielinskie on the other hand did not deserve to get fired after the 1992 season. Participation was on the high the end and the team was highly competitive in AAA. The public excuse was that their were too many penalties on the team. In the end, he just wasn't a fit for that board at the time and moved on.

One thing that has remain a constant in past 30-plus seasons is that the board micromananges the football program. Current board member ron McElwee was quoted in a recent newspaper article:

“It’s the most disgusting thing ever pulled in my years on this board,” he said. “We could have waited until tonight to open up the football coaching positions. The reorganization meeting was the wrong place and time for something like that. It was disgraceful the way it was handled.”

Back in 1992, McElwee supported opening up Zielinskie's job.

Director Robert Getchey who was a driving force in bringing in Defrancesco seven years ago had this to say. In regard to instructing athletic director Paul Stehman to start advertising for new football coaches, Getchey replied, “Let’s do it right and take our time before we hire a new staff. We have to bring the right people in for the job. When are we going to learn and do it right?”

Is it all about winning? Is it about beating Mount Carmel? Here is a letter to the editor to the News-Item that director Sol Bidding submitted this past November 18 in regard to coaching in the Shamokin Area District. This letter was to all coaches. The letter was titled, "Where's the Beef?" Bidding later commented on the not hiring of Cantafio taken from the News-Item:

One of the main concerns of the school was cost. According to school board and
athletic committee member Sol Bidding, the school board did not want to create
another “$55,000 a year position.” Bidding also addressed the topic of Jim
Cantafio, one of the seven coaching candidates and one with previous head
coaching experience at Conestoga Valley, Wyoming Valley West and Wilson (West
Lawn). Bidding stated that money would not be a reason for him to reject the
position. However, it was still felt that Zielinskie was the top choice.

Less than two months later, the board finally found their beef. However, it was only hamburger. There was also some strange happenings when the final vote for new coach was taken. Why was the althletic director asked to leave the meeting? Were there two votes taken, one private and one for the public? Some of the questions this board may have to face is what is their motivation? Is it the student athlete? Is it about wins and loses? Dave Zielinskie was and is a good football coach. Carmen Defrancesco is a good football coach. This is one thing the board cannot change.

Can Zielinskie successfully return to Shamokin?

Henry Hynoski Big 33!!!!!!!

Southern Columbia Football has finally done it. After many seasons of success, their football program finally made an exclamation point with the selection of Henry Hynoski to the Big 33 All-Star football game to be played on June 16, 2007 in Hershey, PA.

The Tigers were blessed this season with two solid Division I recruits with Hynoski and Josh Marks. The Big 33 selection criteria comes down to highlight film submitted by your nominating coach and stats from your senior season only. The final selection is made by the Board of Directors from the PA Football Coaches Association. In checking their website, it is a litte unclear who is on their board of directors.

Either player, Marks or Hynoski, was an excellent choice. Both earned the honor to be on team. With any all-star game some of the best stars are slighted. Maybe Marks could cheer on Hynoski with Brian Westbrook of the Phildelphia Eagles who was slighted from this years Pro Bowl.