Countdown to April 29 to PERMANENTLY close M. R. Reiter. Ask the board to see the 6 point plan.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Baseball-Softball Congrats

Congratulations to the Baseball Bulldogs on their second straight BAL Constitution Division championship and the Lady Bulldogs on their Constitution Division championship.

Morrisville wins BAL division
By: Todd Thorpe
Bucks County Courier Times

Morrisville clinched the Bicentennial Athletic League Constitution Division for the second straight season, as it scored 18 runs on 16 hits to pound Lower Moreland, 18-8, in baseball action on Wednesday.

Morrisville 18, Lower Moreland 8

Lower Moreland 001 25-8 7 1
Morrisville 103 4(10)-18 16 2

WP: Steve Driscoll (1-1); LP: Goodman

Doubles: LM- Leonard; MV- Anthony Reyes

Home runs: LM- Vega; MV- Marty Murray 2,Kyle Schnee, Chad Demi

RBIs: LM- Leonard 2, Licht 2, Maddick, Grimaldi, Vega; MV- Marty Murray 5, Kyle Schnee 4, Anthony Reyes 2, Chad Demi 2, Tyler Quill, Eugene Figueroa, Matt Evans Multiple Hits: LM-Leonard 2-for-3; MV-Matt Evans 3-for-4, Eugene Figueroa 2-for-4, Marty Murray 3-for-4, Kyle Schnee 2-for-3, Matt Cookson 2-for-3, Anthony Reyes 3-for-4 Records: Morrisville (9-6, 6-5 BAL).

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'Softball Night' a big success
By: Rick Woelfel
Bucks County Courier Times

The second annual Lower Bucks Softball Night was an unqualified success. The doubleheader featuring Bristol against Morrisville and Pennsbury against Neshaminy drew quite a crowd and gave people who haven't seen much softball a chance to experience it firsthand.

For the players, performing in front of a large crowd was a unique experience.

"We never really get a crowd like this," Falcons first baseman Kirby Groves said. "Usually they're day games, and not a lot of people get to come to them. It was really nice in this atmosphere and to play a great team like Neshaminy."

The crowd included members of the Truman Tigers, who were originally set to play the opener against Bristol, but had to bow out because they had faced Abington on the road Tuesday in a SOL National makeup game.

Morrisville took the field in Harry S Truman's place just after beating Phil-Mont Christian to win the Bicentennial Athletic League's Constitution Division title.

Election Conflict of Interest

Two stories from the BCCT.

Residents complain about election officials

MORRISVILLE SCHOOLS

Two election officials this year are involved with the school board, prompting complaints from area residents.

Morrisville School Board member Marlys Mihok is working as judge of elections this year.

Elected to the position in 2005, Mihok will be in charge of setting up the polling station, assigning duties to other election officials, submitting paperwork and closing the polls.

According to election code, an individual cannot hold an elected office and serve as an election official at the same time.

However, the county suffers from “extreme difficulties” finding people who are interested in working for municipal elections, said Deena Dean, director of the Bucks County Board of Elections.

So unless someone expresses interest in replacing a current election official, the county will take whoever wants the job, Dean said. She’s not sure how commonly this conflict of interest occurs in Bucks.

Maria Buckman, the wife of incumbent school board candidate John Buckman, is also an election official this year. Though she’s a minority inspector, she is not running for office, so there is nothing to prevent her from working as an election official, Dean said.

The NAACP’s Bucks County President John Jordan called both examples a “disturbing” conflict of interest.

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MORRISVILLE

The NAACP plans to post representatives at every Morrisville polling station during Tuesday’s primary election.

John Jordan, the organization’s Bucks County president, said he wants to make sure people aren’t subjected to intimidation. In the week leading up to the election, Jordan said the local office of the NAACP received several phone calls complaining about voter intimidation. Jordan couldn’t provide details.

No police reports have been filed, according to the Morrisville Police Department.

BCCT: Unpaid but unbowed

From the BCCT.

They're against deadbeat government. You should be too.

Q: How many conflicts of interest can Morrisville contain?
A: No one knows. We haven't reached a limit yet where good people rise up and say "enough!"

Your chance to do that is Tuesday. Morrisville's registered Republicans and Democrats get to make the choice for the future.


Unpaid but unbowed
By: GUY PETROZIELLO
Bucks County Courier Times

Voters should think twice about candidates who can't keep up with their own tax bills.

People who flunked math shouldn't apply for accounting jobs. And people who don't pay their taxes shouldn't run for public office.

We have in mind two Morrisville Council members running in Tuesday's primary, one of them for mayor; and an incumbent Morrisville school board member, who formerly served on the town council. All three candidates owe a total of $9,600 in outstanding tax, sanitation, water and sewer bills.

The three candidates are incumbent Council members Eileen Dreisbach and Rita Lidge, who's running for mayor; and school board member Jack Buckman. Explaining why they're in arrears, the three candidates cited financial hardships brought on by family and health problems.

While we are not unsympathetic to people experiencing hard times, especially now, it's difficult to muster confidence in candidates for public office whose personal affairs are askew. After all, these are the folks who want to determine everybody else's tax bills, yet are unable to pay their own; who want to manage town and school district affairs, but can't effectively manage domestic affairs.

Letter writer Cynthia Dee Wilson perhaps captured the sentiments of a lot of folks with this sentence: "If their personal lives are so overwhelming at this point in time that they cannot keep their own house in order, why would they add the additional responsibility of running for public office? If they cannot keep their own houses in order, why would they expect the voters to believe they can keep + Morrisville Borough and the Morrisville School District in order?"

Good question.

Look, we're not knocking the candidates' records. They might have done a good job despite personal difficulties. Maybe that says a lot about character. In the end, voters will have to decide what it says to them.