Look Out Below

Today the NCAA has imposed the some of the toughest sanctions ever doled out to a university and one of their sport's programs.  The NCAA handed down a 60 million dollar fine, took away post season appearances for 5 years, reduced scholarships by 10 per year, and vacated all the wins by the program from 1998 to and including 2011. Their current or recruited players can now transfer without penalty.

The NCAA did this while never conducting their own investigation. For all intents and purposes, PSU received a "death penalty" without it being official.  Call it fair, unfair, or whatever you want, but NCAA sanctions in most instances penalizes the current and future teams. It does also penalize over a decade of players most who worked hard for 5 years.

This story is far from over and there is actually more "bad" to come from this.  In one of my favorite movies of all time, Jaws,  the chief of police is in conflict with the mayor of the town to close the beach for the safety of the residents.  In a shark attack where the mayor's and chief's children were nearly victims, they come to an agreement to deal with the problem.  The Chief said in a statement, "Larry you are the mayor of shark city." That was movie fiction and this is real life.

Somewhere between 1998, an indictment, a jury trial, and an internal investigation, like or not, Penn State has become synonymous with cover up, secrecy and child molestation. The most famous name of the university has become the new mayor of "Shark City."

College football in general is part of the problem.  Pressure whether intentional or not is put on football programs to win and generate revenue for the universities.  Do you realize they play a full schedule, rely on computer, and vote who the two best teams are and play a championship game roughly six weeks later????  This is part of the insanity.  A team with two early season losses is almost never in contention for the vote.

Penn State won't be last university in trouble for putting the dollar and their reputation ahead of what is right, but the NCAA and college football needs to look at itself in the mirror.  We as Pennsylvania citizens need to more adamant about the incestuous relationships that exist between our elected and appointed officials have with institutions they supposed to regulate and provide oversight.  (See campaign contributions from 2nd Mile and grants given to them by the state.)

To those former players and graduates, you will continue to be leaders and innovators in your chosen professions and endeavors. Nothing that has transpired over the last 15 years that could ever change it.  To all current students, study where leadership has failed on your board of directors, the attorney generals office and transparency of your university.  Become engines of change.

To the new generation of Penn State football player who decide to play their careers with no hope of post season, I applaud your decision. You will still receive a great education and your displaying leadership qualities which has been lacking and will hopefully translate into a better future for all involved.

Beyond a Best Friend

Beyond a best friend - News - News Item

News-Item sports writer Chuck Souders talks about his decade long relationship with the stray dog he adopted named "Girlie."

Saying Good Bye to the Greascar

After over 60K miles on grease, it was time to say good bye to my 1983 Mercedes 300SD.  The new owners were just as enthusiastic and committed to getting it back on the road once again and getting over 75mpg (this figure was bases on how long the diesel gas last while running grease) on diesel and 25 mpg on straight grease.

Running a car on used grease does work!!!!!

Primary Day, ID-Up

If you are voting today, unlike Northumberland County Commissioner Steve Bridy who is a registered independent, please bring valid photo ID. 

This little ditty was in the Daily-Item Letters to the Editor:

No one who has followed Gov. Tom Corbett's decisions regarding public education funding would be surprised that he would ignore the civil protest at Indian Hills Golf Course on Friday, April 20, two days before Earth Day. He has continued on his path to lift up fracking and deter education, and what better place to do it than a few miles north of Shamokin?

If the governor had left the rolling countryside of Paxinos for a short ride along Route 61, he would have passed the massive slag heaps and culm banks left by the coal barons of yesteryear. He would have witnessed the empty factories, the condemned homes, and the chemically endangered Shamokin Creek. People may be easier to ignore.

The governor believes there will be enough jobs driving trucks to compensate for potential environmental damage. Presumably truck drivers don't need to be educated in the arts or foreign languages or whatever else the schools have to cut to make their budgets work. But those of us who grew up and were schooled in Shamokin look at the burgeoning fracking industry through eyes educated by our own experience and remain doubtful.

Many of us had a mixed connection to our surroundings. We understood our anthracite heritage, celebrated by parades and fireworks. Without mining, there would not have been an opera house, beautiful churches, and mills of all sorts to keep people employed. There would not have a been a rich cultural mix of social clubs with ethnic foods and festivities.

There also would not have been black lung, mine cave-ins, underground fires, dangerous child labor, and the resulting economic depression of a large demographic when the mines closed down. Due to competitors' outsourcing, long before outsourcing was a word, the successful factories like the ones my family owned and operated were unable to stay afloat. Those of us who took our education to other locales did so with the sad realization that it would be harder to advance in the town we called home. Others brought their professional skills, including teaching, back home to help succeeding generations.

I wish Gov. Corbett had been invited to dinner in Shamokin. It may have been less expensive than $1,000 a plate, but more valuable. Maybe.

Kay Hooper, Selinsgrove

Tom Corporate Coming to Indian Hills on Friday

PA Governor Tom Corbett will be coming to Indian Hills Golf and Tennis Club as part of $1000/couple plate fundraiser to benefit the reelection campaign of Kurt Massser (R-107th) of Elysburg.  Just last Thursday, Shamokin Area School District furloughed 22 staff in response to the governor's budget cuts for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

While school districts are the big losers in Corbett's budget. Act 22 cuts a proposed 2 million to the elderly, handicapped, and children of Northumberland County.  Northumberland County Commissioner Steve Bridy is on the record for calling state legislator "cowardly."

“As a collective, they’re cowardly,” said Bridy, chastising the state Legislature, particularly state Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-108 of Sunbury, and Sen. John Gordner, R-27 of Berwick, for delegating the proposed cuts to the secretary of the state Department of Public Welfare. “They’re the second highest paid (state lawmakers) in the nation, and it’s just wrong to push blame on someone else. It’s just asinine and hypocritical to cut services to the elderly and needy children.”

Schlegel-Culver and Gordner basically say we didn't know this would happen????

Act 22 was intended to give Welfare Secretary Gary Alexander temporary authority to cut fraud and wasteful spending and “in no way did we think it was going to come to this. These are unintended consequences,” Schlegel Culver said of the statewide budget cuts. “I know (Bridy’s) frustrated. Everybody’s concerned about it.”

Gordner said there was no way to foresee cuts would be made in to the department of aging, but hopes the funding will be restored if state revenue rebounds for a second month in a row in April.

The big lie the GOP and Corbett tell and repeat often enough is that PA's school funding crisis has been caused by federal stimulus funds drying up and local school boards.  He blamed local school boards as recently as last week. 

So if you look at the funding crisis from the Heartland Conference point of view, the problems faced the past two years at Shikellamy, Selinsgrove, Midd-West, Lewisburg, Mifflinburg, Warrior Run, Mount Carmel and Shamokin are all the result of inept school boards, business managers, and superintendents??? That if very hard to believe governor.

If you can't read between the lines the governor is attempting to privatize public schools through charter schools and vouchers.  As collateral damage, the public school teacher's union will be crushed.  One of Corbett's top contributor's is man named, Vahan Gureghian.  Read about him and the Chester-Upland SD here.  For profit companies making big $$$ off your childrens' education.

In case Mr. Corbett forgot about the goal of public education, here is very well written letter published in the April 17th edition of the Daily-Item.

Masser touts his credentials in the April 17th issue of the News-Item saying he votes what is best for the 107th.

The most frequent criticism made by potential Democratic opponents and other political critics against state Rep. Kurt Masser is that the first-term legislator can be expected to follow the "party line" by voting for whatever Gov. Tom Corbett and the House Republican leadership want.

Masser said such assertions couldn't be further from the truth. Although he makes no apology for being philosophically in tune with and supportive of much of the Republican agenda, Masser said he carefully considers how every bill would impact his constituents.

"With every vote I cast, I do my best to represent the (107th House) district," Masser remarked. "That is my job. It is not my job to please the leadership by going along with whatever they want."

The most recent example of Masser's independence, he said, was his vote against the voter ID law. Masser agreed with the "heart of the bill," he said, but strongly believed its implementation should have been delayed until 2013.

Voter fraud was so rampant around the state, Act 13 was passed with the fury of a flash flood.  Make sure to disenfranchise the electorate.  I agree with Mr. Masser it needed to wait until after 2013.  Again, Corbett needs to do all he can to stop President Obama.

The Daily-Item had some disagreement with Mr. Masser with HB 153.

Over the last 50 votes, the four representatives serving the Central Susquehanna Valley voted identically 47 times. Keller went his own way three times. On one of those occasions, Culver agreed with Keller.

Ninety-four percent of the time we could easily save $240,000 in salary by eliminating three of those legislators and never know the difference. Keller seems to be the legislator most inclined to think for himself. Why not pick him?

Who will be at the Indian Hills on Friday for dinner?  Not that the fare is bad as I myself am a member, but my guess is Senator Gordner, Rep. Culver, Rep Keller, some heavy hitters from the gas industry and Moran Industries.

As a side note, if you want to see what is happening to the Susquehanna River and water under the governor's watch, check out the Susquehanna River Sentinel. 

When election day comes up in November, ask yourself the following question, "Do you want to be able to buy dinner for your family or do you want the scraps off the $1000 plate????"

To borrow a line from the governor himself, "remember the children."