From the Hanover Evening Sun.
Maybe we can find out if Billy really likes Mary [giggle], but Mary really likes Joey [OMG! No Way!...Way!] and if Mrs. Jones really is the toughest teacher in the school.
Pa. lawmakers weigh audio school bus surveillance
By DAN NEPHIN Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 09/30/2008 08:26:21 AM EDT
PITTSBURGH—Bus companies and school districts would be allowed to record audio on school buses under legislation that would modify the state's wiretapping and surveillance law and, supporters say, help deter unruly student behavior.
Some buses already use silent video cameras, but questions have arisen about whether recording sound violates the law, which requires the consent of the person being recorded.
State Rep. Don Walko, D-Allegheny, said his legislation would allow school boards to authorize audio taping while requiring notification of students and parents and placing signs on buses stating audio taping is taking place.
"There is a lack of consistency among district attorneys throughout Pennsylvania, so again what we are doing is clarifying what we believe should be the law and putting in the safeguards," Walko said at a House judiciary committee hearing Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
Supporters, including the Pennsylvania School Bus Association, say audio recordings can help reduce bullying and sexual harassment and give a more complete account of an incident than video alone.
In 2006, state police asked Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. to determine whether Laidlaw Transit Inc. had illegally audio taped students on buses in two districts. Zappala found Laidlaw had no intent to break the law, and said he wouldn't prosecute bus audio taping cases if they followed the requirements now part of Walko's legislation.
The issue has cropped up elsewhere, with some prosecutors finding audio recordings were illegal.
A suburban Philadelphia district decided against using the audio-recording feature of its school bus cameras because of confusion over its legality.
The Pennsylvania State Police, which conducts annual school bus inspections and unannounced spot checks, also supports the legislation, saying audio and video recording deters unruly behavior.
The state School Boards Association supports the legislation's intent, but not Walko's bill, according to written testimony presented Tuesday.
Instead, it supports modifying the existing wiretap law to say that people cannot have an expectation of privacy in places that aren't typically private if plainly visible video and audio recording equipment is in use, along with signs indicating such use.
Walko said he's unaware of any opposition. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania said it has not taken a position on the bill.
The legislation is being offered both as a bill and as an amendment to another bill, but Walko noted the Legislature only has three session days remaining. If it doesn't move this session, Walko said he would reintroduce it.
Friday, October 3, 2008
These Boots Were Made For Walking
From the BCCT. Go take a hike with the Friends of the Delaware Canal. The Morrisville leg of the walk is on Saturday, October 25, from the waterworks to Bristol.
Walks along canal begin Saturday
By DANNY ADLER
One step at a time, the Friends of the Delaware Canal and others will walk about 32.5 miles of the Delaware Canal trail this month.
They’ll meet up four Saturdays in a row for the 21st annual Canal Walk, which starts this week and will cover more than half of the 60-mile towpath trail.
Normally, the annual walk covers the entire length of the historic waterway, but repair work in numerous sections of the canal will limit the trek this year to 32.5 miles.
The walk gives participants a chance to learn about the canal’s past — and future — while taking in the autumn scenery along the canal and Delaware River corridor. Susan Taylor, executive director of the group, local historians and conservationists will show where mule-drawn boats once transported coal and other goods while pointing out the significant historical and environmental areas along the route.
The walks, which are free and open to the public, begin at 9 a.m. each of the following Saturdays.
• This Saturday: a 9-mile walk begins at the Delaware Canal State Park office complex in Upper Black Eddy and ends in Point Pleasant.
• Oct. 11: A 5-mile trek from the Virginia Forrest Recreation Area north of Centre Bridge in Solebury to Odette’s Restaurant in New Hope.
• Oct. 18: 8 miles from Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve in Upper Makefield to the Afton Avenue aqueduct in Yardley.
• Oct. 25: 10 miles from the Morrisville waterworks complex on Delmorr Avenue to Bristol’s Lions Park.
For more info, call 215-862-2021, e-mail friends@fodc.org or visit www.fodc.org. The Friends of the Delaware Canal is a nonprofit organization working to preserve and improve the canal and its surroundings.
September 30, 2008 1:21 PM
Walks along canal begin Saturday
By DANNY ADLER
One step at a time, the Friends of the Delaware Canal and others will walk about 32.5 miles of the Delaware Canal trail this month.
They’ll meet up four Saturdays in a row for the 21st annual Canal Walk, which starts this week and will cover more than half of the 60-mile towpath trail.
Normally, the annual walk covers the entire length of the historic waterway, but repair work in numerous sections of the canal will limit the trek this year to 32.5 miles.
The walk gives participants a chance to learn about the canal’s past — and future — while taking in the autumn scenery along the canal and Delaware River corridor. Susan Taylor, executive director of the group, local historians and conservationists will show where mule-drawn boats once transported coal and other goods while pointing out the significant historical and environmental areas along the route.
The walks, which are free and open to the public, begin at 9 a.m. each of the following Saturdays.
• This Saturday: a 9-mile walk begins at the Delaware Canal State Park office complex in Upper Black Eddy and ends in Point Pleasant.
• Oct. 11: A 5-mile trek from the Virginia Forrest Recreation Area north of Centre Bridge in Solebury to Odette’s Restaurant in New Hope.
• Oct. 18: 8 miles from Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve in Upper Makefield to the Afton Avenue aqueduct in Yardley.
• Oct. 25: 10 miles from the Morrisville waterworks complex on Delmorr Avenue to Bristol’s Lions Park.
For more info, call 215-862-2021, e-mail friends@fodc.org or visit www.fodc.org. The Friends of the Delaware Canal is a nonprofit organization working to preserve and improve the canal and its surroundings.
September 30, 2008 1:21 PM
Officials cut public comment time
From the BCCT. The Emperor's three minute egg timer has been passed to a new group of elected officials.
A time rule is reasonable. No member of the public can expect to monopolize ten or fifteen minutes of air time. Multiply that out for each citizen in attendance and the meetings will adjourn next week, just in time for the next one to begin.
Being reasonable is the key. Most people can make their point in three minutes. What's the harm in letting some go over into [gasp] four to even [horror of horrors] FIVE minutes occasionally, especially if they are making fair arguments. The bedrock of the republic will not split asunder.
Having Betty Crocker stand there with her cake timer to promptly whack your hands with a wooden spoon at the stroke of three minutes is overboard.
No. That was not a suggestion. Marlys cannot use the petty cash fund for a shopping trip to Oxford Valley Mall. Williams-Sonoma is off limits.
How the three minutes is used is more important. At most elected board meetings I've seen from sewer commissions to the United States Senate, the elected officials are studiously and intently...not listening. They are off on their latest diversion, well meaning or not, important or not. They leave the unmistakable impression that they do not care what the voters have to say.
Except, of course, on one day, Election Day.
Officials cut public comment time
The supervisors’ Sept. 24 meeting ended at 10:50 p.m., more than two hours earlier than the Sept. 10 meeting, which ended at 1:33 a.m.
By DANNY ADLER
If you want to address public officials in Northampton, you better make your point quick.
Antonio Albano, chairman of the Northampton Bucks County Municipal Authority, invoked a three-minute rule for public comment Wednesday night, a week after supervisors Chairman George Komelasky did the same to avoid meetings lasting into the wee hours of the morning.
Both chairmen denied residents’ requests to cede their time to other people who wanting to speak longer.
Komelasky, a Republican, said some residents have used the “Citizens Concerns” portion of its meetings to engage in a dialogue with the board, and make statements and accusations “that aren’t citizens’ concerns.”
Meetings over the past few months have grown tense with heckling, insults, interruptions and board members raising their voices toward each other and residents. Much of the discussion has spawned from the controversial multimillion-dollar western end sewer project, which calls for about 300 residences and an industrial park to be hooked up to public sewers. The project could cost homeowners at least $20,000 apiece.
But the three-minute limit could be seen as successful. The supervisors’ Sept. 24 meeting ended at 10:50 p.m. That was more than two hours earlier than the board’s Sept. 10 meeting ended, at 1:33 a.m. Sept. 11. Eight of the supervisors 15 meetings this year ended after 11 p.m.; five of those meetings lasted at least until 12:20 a.m.
“This is in the best interest of the township,” Komelasky said. He later added “We’re trying to get business done for the township,” noting that some meetings didn’t get past public comment until hours into the session.
Albano, of the water and sewer board, said three minutes is adequate time for residents to voice their concerns. He said: “The three-minute rule is something that I’ve adopted from observing Council Rock School District board meetings” which leads to a “reasonable hour for adjournment.”
Resident Christine Mecutchen understands that the board can’t let people grandstand for an hour, but said the newly imposed time limit restricts freedom of speech and is “an extreme reaction to one late meeting.” She said: “It’s beyond outrageous. … We’re allowed to have a say in what’s occurring.”
Democratic Supervisor Jim Cunningham said a time limit “in and of itself is not an unreasonable thing,” but the board shouldn’t have changed the rules in mid-stream, he said.
Cunningham said the supervisors should have adopted those rules at the board’s reorganization meeting at the beginning of the year, not now. He also said details need to be worked out, such as can residents yield their time to another person? Who is the timekeeper?
“A set of guidelines needs be formally adopted by the board,” Cunningham said. “On the face of it, I don’t think it’s wholly unreasonable to do it.”
While possibly irritating to those who want to speak, numerous Bucks County municipalities have established time restrictions and regulations regarding public comment.
A Pennsylvania Governor’s Center for Local Government Services publication titled “Open Meetings/Open Records” states, “A governing body may still adopt reasonable rules for the comment period. … A time limit may also be placed on an individual’s presentation and any resulting discussion.”
A time rule is reasonable. No member of the public can expect to monopolize ten or fifteen minutes of air time. Multiply that out for each citizen in attendance and the meetings will adjourn next week, just in time for the next one to begin.
Being reasonable is the key. Most people can make their point in three minutes. What's the harm in letting some go over into [gasp] four to even [horror of horrors] FIVE minutes occasionally, especially if they are making fair arguments. The bedrock of the republic will not split asunder.
Having Betty Crocker stand there with her cake timer to promptly whack your hands with a wooden spoon at the stroke of three minutes is overboard.
No. That was not a suggestion. Marlys cannot use the petty cash fund for a shopping trip to Oxford Valley Mall. Williams-Sonoma is off limits.
How the three minutes is used is more important. At most elected board meetings I've seen from sewer commissions to the United States Senate, the elected officials are studiously and intently...not listening. They are off on their latest diversion, well meaning or not, important or not. They leave the unmistakable impression that they do not care what the voters have to say.
Except, of course, on one day, Election Day.
Officials cut public comment time
The supervisors’ Sept. 24 meeting ended at 10:50 p.m., more than two hours earlier than the Sept. 10 meeting, which ended at 1:33 a.m.
By DANNY ADLER
If you want to address public officials in Northampton, you better make your point quick.
Antonio Albano, chairman of the Northampton Bucks County Municipal Authority, invoked a three-minute rule for public comment Wednesday night, a week after supervisors Chairman George Komelasky did the same to avoid meetings lasting into the wee hours of the morning.
Both chairmen denied residents’ requests to cede their time to other people who wanting to speak longer.
Komelasky, a Republican, said some residents have used the “Citizens Concerns” portion of its meetings to engage in a dialogue with the board, and make statements and accusations “that aren’t citizens’ concerns.”
Meetings over the past few months have grown tense with heckling, insults, interruptions and board members raising their voices toward each other and residents. Much of the discussion has spawned from the controversial multimillion-dollar western end sewer project, which calls for about 300 residences and an industrial park to be hooked up to public sewers. The project could cost homeowners at least $20,000 apiece.
But the three-minute limit could be seen as successful. The supervisors’ Sept. 24 meeting ended at 10:50 p.m. That was more than two hours earlier than the board’s Sept. 10 meeting ended, at 1:33 a.m. Sept. 11. Eight of the supervisors 15 meetings this year ended after 11 p.m.; five of those meetings lasted at least until 12:20 a.m.
“This is in the best interest of the township,” Komelasky said. He later added “We’re trying to get business done for the township,” noting that some meetings didn’t get past public comment until hours into the session.
Albano, of the water and sewer board, said three minutes is adequate time for residents to voice their concerns. He said: “The three-minute rule is something that I’ve adopted from observing Council Rock School District board meetings” which leads to a “reasonable hour for adjournment.”
Resident Christine Mecutchen understands that the board can’t let people grandstand for an hour, but said the newly imposed time limit restricts freedom of speech and is “an extreme reaction to one late meeting.” She said: “It’s beyond outrageous. … We’re allowed to have a say in what’s occurring.”
Democratic Supervisor Jim Cunningham said a time limit “in and of itself is not an unreasonable thing,” but the board shouldn’t have changed the rules in mid-stream, he said.
Cunningham said the supervisors should have adopted those rules at the board’s reorganization meeting at the beginning of the year, not now. He also said details need to be worked out, such as can residents yield their time to another person? Who is the timekeeper?
“A set of guidelines needs be formally adopted by the board,” Cunningham said. “On the face of it, I don’t think it’s wholly unreasonable to do it.”
While possibly irritating to those who want to speak, numerous Bucks County municipalities have established time restrictions and regulations regarding public comment.
A Pennsylvania Governor’s Center for Local Government Services publication titled “Open Meetings/Open Records” states, “A governing body may still adopt reasonable rules for the comment period. … A time limit may also be placed on an individual’s presentation and any resulting discussion.”
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