Winterfest

From the BCCT. I know I enjoyed the day and hope you did also. Any stories you want to share?

Pictures from the day posted at the BCCT.

Residents take part in Winterfest

By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times

The fortunes of this country seemed to change on Christmas night.

Little more than five months after the Declaration of Independence was signed, America's prospects in the fight for liberty looked grim. The troops were hungry and underpaid, and beating England's armies was starting to look hopeless in the winter of 1776.

So when George Washington and his troops battled freezing temperatures on Dec. 25 to overcome enemy Hessian soldiers in a surprise attack, their victory convinced the fledgling nation to keep up the fight.

Washington planned his attack from Summerseat, a historic house in what is now Morrisville.

Revolutionary War re-enactor Jim Gibson of Fallsington portrayed Washington on Saturday during a re-enactment of his historic December arrival at Summerseat.

Accompanied by several re-enactors dressed as soldiers, Gibson rode down Hillcrest Avenue to Summerseat in his carriage. He informed the residents that his troops would be commandeering their home. Dressed in royal blue and khaki with a blue sash denoting his rank, Gibson gave a rousing speech taken from Washington's letters and past speeches.

“The price of liberty is not cheap, but as it takes root it becomes a tree of rapid growth,” he said. “As a tree it flourishes, watered by the blood of patriots.”

From Summerseat, Washington planned the crossing of the Delaware with his men and 18 cannons. They faced a group of unprepared Hessians, emerging with no casualties.

With that victory, Washington was able to convince more men to join the Army, ensuring the victory over England, said Jim Slotterbeck, whose eyes welled with tears as he talked about the dedication of the troops.

“It was a pivotal moment,” he said. “It's the sincerity, and how they gave up everything for their country,” Slotterbeck wore Colonial garb to portray Summerseat owner Thomas Barclay.

The house, preserved and maintained by the Historic Morrisville Society, was packed with people enjoying glimpses of history, including traditional and holiday decorations by the Makefield Lakes Garden Club.

Patrick Peters portrayed a Colonial-era apothecary surgeon. On a table he arranged knives, a bone saw, dental instruments, medicinal herbs and other items his character would have used.

Ivy Attenborough paid close attention to Peters' descriptions about surgery without anesthesia and the use of herbs in the 1800s.

“Learning how they lived with their medicine was amazing,” said Ivy, 9, of Morrisville.

Ivy explored toy trains and books about trains in the house by the Southampton Railroad Station Society and the National Railway Historical Society.

People bought hot dogs, chili and pastries as well as raffle tickets for gift baskets. The raffle and food raised funds to maintain Summerseat.

The event was part of Morrisville's annual daylong Winterfest celebration.

Kids had breakfast with Santa at the Holy Trinity School and enjoyed a parade. At the Morrisville Senior Center, children had their pictures taken with Santa while parents checked out items for sale at the center's Christmas bazaar.

Residents visited the YMCA's craft fair, where tables were crammed with jewelry, scarves and other handmade gifts.

“The setup is just beautiful,” said Kathy Panzitta, who was exiting the craft fair with several purchases. Panzitta is vice president of the Morrisville Borough Council.

The day ended with a live nativity scene and a “Celebrate the Season” concert at First Baptist Church of Morrisville.

Enjoy Winterfest...

There will be no posting today. You should be out enjoying Winterfest. I know I will. Stop by and say hello. I'll be the one with the coat and gloves.

Pearls Before Swine today illustrates the value of public input into the local political process. Imagine the Emperor playing the part of Rat...

Winterfest Schedule

Morrisville Winterfest December 6, 2008

8:30-11am Holy Trinity's Breakfast with Santa
Call: Audrey 215 295 9235 or Michele 215 295 6230 for advance tickets
and prices.
Tickets on sale until 12/3/08.and will NOT be sold at door. Bring a
camera for pictures with Santa!

9am-2pm Morrisville YMCA Craft Fair & Flea Market
Variety of crafts, jewelry, holiday gifts…. Food by Lumpylicious BBQ
200 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Call Kim 215 428 2598

9am-2pm Senior Center Christmas Bazaar 31 E. Cleveland Ave
AM refreshments & lunch available, bake sale, crafters, FREE pictures
w/ Santa, Gift Boxed Money shirt, raffles & door prizes 215 295 0567

10am-11:30 Winterfest Parade 215 736 0346
Post Road to S. Pennsylvania Ave., to Delaware Ave., to Washington
St., to Lafayette St., to Hillcrest Ave., to N. Pennsylvania Ave., ending
At The Morrisville YMCA!

10:00am-3:00pm Summerseat Remembers
Historic reenactors, including George Washington (scheduled to arrive at 11).
Come have lunch. Home made chili, soup & baked goods.
Basket raffle & 50/50...
Hillcrest and Legion Ave

4pm-7pm Live Nativity & FBC Open House 50 N. Penn. Ave.
LIVE nativity, refreshments, "Celebrate the Season" Concert @ 6pm,
Gingerbread House & coloring contest awards @ 7pm,
Solid Rock Youth Center 7-9pm

5pm-6pm Robert Morris Plaza Activities Bridge St. & PA Ave.
Caroling, reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas, annual
Tree lighting and the arrival of Santa Claus

5pm-8pm BRIDGE STREET BLOCK PARTY!
Enjoy your local Morrisville Business Community after hours!
LIVE entertainment, DJ, FREE refreshments Call 215 295 3430

5pm-8pm Morrisville Rescue Squad Open House
Washington St., Refreshments, entertainment, pictures with Santa…

Same Animosity Remains on School Board

I just liked the headline.

New leaders elected, same animosity remains on OJR School Board
By: Laura Catalano, For the Spring-Ford Reporter 12/05/2008

The Owen J. Roberts School Board elected Edward Kerner as board president for 2009, at a series of three meetings Monday that were regularly interspersed by arguments.

Board member Debbie Bissland was named vice president.

The board voted 8-1 on both those appointments, with Barbara McMeekin casting the lone dissenting vote.

But later in the meeting the board sparred over several matters, including a decision not to accept a gift of fleece jackets presented by administrators. And outgoing President John Dutton read closing remarks that were heavily critical of the superintendent and served to highlight the growing rift between the board and administration.

The meeting was actually a series of three meetings that included the brief, final meeting with Dutton as president, a reorganization meeting during which the new president was elected, and a regular business meeting.

The first meeting began with Superintendent Myra Forrest acknowledging Dutton for his dedication and presenting him with a plaque to honor his year as president. She then acknowledged all school board members, in honor of January's School Director Recognition Month. The board does not meet again until the end of January.

The administration traditionally presents board members with a gift, and Forrest showed them fleece jackets that would be ordered for each member for the second year in a row.

Following that, Dutton gave his outgoing remarks. They provided a sharp contrast to Forrest's overtures of appreciation. About half of his brief statement was a condemnation of Forrest

"It is a year that no other president of the Owen J. Roberts School Board has ever had," Dutton said, reading from a prepared statement.

He noted that two board members had resigned, two replacements had been appointed and new lawyers had been hired. He then went on to blast a fellow board member and the superintendent.

"Another board member has consistently gone to the newspapers with confidential information that was discussed in executive sessions," he accused.

He laid blame on the superintendent, claiming she failed "to give the board all the information they needed to make the most informed decisions and the right choices." And he accused her of "stacking the meetings to try to intimidate the board into voting her way."

District teachers and administrators have regularly come to meetings and voiced support for Forrest and her recommendations. Dutton noted that when the board voted down her recommendations, Forrest often proposed them again.

"Dr. Forrest was under the mistaken impression that the board works for her," Dutton read. "It's just the opposite."

He concluded by saying, "I have always had the best interest of the students in my mind first and then the taxpayers."

Forrest, seated next to Dutton, made no comment on the remarks.

However, on Tuesday, Forrest made this statement: "Mr. Dutton's comments were unprofessional, appalling, and shocking, especially in the public forum in which they were made."

She insisted that "the comments were not consistent with the outstanding academic, athletic, and artistic achievements that the Owen J. Roberts School District has attained this year. It would be preferable that the leadership of the board work with administration to establish a communications protocol so we could continue to move forward in a positive direction."

Later, during the business meeting, McMeekin brought up the fleece jackets that had been offered to the board and suggested the board forego the gift and use the money "to hire a staff person or buy textbooks."

The board approved that motion with Eugene Endress, former head of the OJR Taxpayers Alliance, casting the only apparent negative vote. But immediately after the vote, Dutton reacted angrily to the decision.

"I'm going to freeze my a-- off this winter!" he said. "That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard."

Later Dutton said he was planning to cancel his reservation to a conference for school board members in April, stating "I'm not allowed to get a fleece, I'm not going to San Diego."

At the end of the meeting parent Karen Shimer approached the board, and reminded them that the district's Web site maintains that the board should "lead with respect."

"I think your hearts are in the right place," Shimer said, "But the impression you're making I don't think is one you want to make."

Who Let the Dogs Out?

From the BCCT.

Canine team to seek out drugs

By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times

The Bensalem school board has hired a canine search company to help find prescription drugs that students bring to school without permission.

The searches are needed because the medications could be misused as stimulants or depressants, said Superintendent James Lombardo on Monday night after the board approved the random searches.

The Partnership for a Drug Free America's annual tracking study suggests prescription drug abuse among teens and young adults is a serious problem in the United States.

The recently released study found that one in five teens has abused a prescription pain medication, one in five reported abusing prescription stimulants and tranquilizers and one in 10 teens has abused cough medication.

Hiring Interquest Detection Canines of Eastern Pennsylvania is part of the district's ongoing effort to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for its students, Lombardo said.

Bensalem is among several area school districts to enlist Interquest searches in its anti-drug enforcement efforts. Centennial, Central Bucks and Council Rock also have utilized the firm in the last several years.

“We want to make sure the schools are as safe as they can be,” the Bensalem superintendent said after the school board agreed to hire the firm at a cost of $215 per three-hour search.

District officials will decide when and where the searches take place, Lombardo said.

They began considering the searches in the spring after dealing with a couple of cases where students brought prescription medications to school.

Lombardo would not say what medications were brought in or identify the schools where the incidents took place.

Students who are prescribed medication are supposed to bring it to the school nurse, Lombardo said. Students who bring medications to school without going through proper channels face suspension. If they bring the prescriptions to school to give to other students, they face expulsion, he said.

The agreement with Interquest runs through June.

Stockham Building Update

From the BCCT.

Gym coming to building at center of dispute
Lawyers say a federal lawsuit over a strip club denied at the same building is moving forward.
By DANNY ADLER

A fitness center is coming to a Morrisville location that’s been the focus of a federal lawsuit over a New Jersey company’s constitutional right to put a strip club and a commercial sign there.

Signs posted at the Stockham Building in Morrisville’s downtown district announce the future opening of Champion Fitness Center, even though the building’s owner and a possible lessee are suing the borough and its zoning hearing board.

While the lawsuit goes through U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, owners of the mostly vacant building are moving on.

The gym was part of the proposed plan for the Stockham Building, a four-story masonry structure at the southeast corner of Bridge Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Bucks County records say the building was built in 1927.

It’s unclear when the 24-hour gym will open and which floor — or floors — it will occupy. Some exercise and office equipment can be seen through the new ground floor windows, which until recently were boarded up.

The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching Champion Fitness Center owner Tarek Hassieb for more information.

Even with the apparent signs of progress for the 18,800-squarefoot building, lawyers said they’re continuing the federal suit.

Stockham Interests LLC, the landlord, and 10 Enterprises LLC, a lessee, said Morrisville’s ordinances prohibit “First Amendment protected expression” to bring the strip club to the Stockham Building. The suit was filed a few months after zoning officials in May denied variances to allow the club.

The borough has challenged that its ordinances are not unconstitutional and that “adult entertainment” is not permitted in the Stockham Building’s central commercial zoning district. According to borough officials, Morrisville allows adult entertainment establishments in the borough’s industrial-zoned areas between Route 1 and West Philadelphia Avenue.

There is a strip club and bar, Sugar and Spice, about one-third of a mile south of the Stockham Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. Sugar and Spice is zoned residential, but the club is grandfathered in, zoning officials said.

Luke Lirot, an attorney from Clearwater, Fla., representing Stockham Interests and 10 Enterprises, said in a telephone interview last week that Morrisville is attempting to “zone out” adult businesses. Borough solicitor James Downey III has said Morrisville has its zoning for “good municipal planning.”

The Pennsylvania Department of State’s Web site lists the president of 10 Enterprises as Ralph Friedman of Jenkintown. Todd Colarusso is a principal of Stockham Interests.

In an order issued Nov. 12, U.S. District Court Judge Berle M. Schiller said Stockham Interests’ and 10 Enterprises’ free speech claims can proceed. The judge dismissed other claims issued by the two parties and denied Stockham Interests’ request for in excess of $75,000 in damages.

Lirot on Monday filed documents that focus heavily on the constitutional issues of the litigation. He said the documents focus on the absence of any “reasonable” locations to put such an establishment and the lack of evidence that the proposal would cause any increases in crime or declining property values.

“The bottom line is, we felt that the application was erroneously denied,” Lirot said.

Some giving raises back

From the BCCT.

State legislators giving back raises
Many said they would return them to the state or donate them to charity.
By RACHEL CANELLI

’Tis the season to be giving — back, that is. And state politicians are no exception.

Many local lawmakers publicly announced Wednesday that they’ll either be returning the 2.8 percent automatic cost of living allowance to the commonwealth, or donating their raises to charity.

If all the money goes back to the state, it would total about $506,000.

“People all across Pennsylvania are losing their jobs, and of those lucky enough to stay employed, many are not getting a raise this year,” Rep. John Galloway, D-140, said in a statement about his roughly $2,000 return to the state’s general fund. “If they’re not getting a raise, then why should their elected officials get one?”

Responding to public pressure and House leadership’s call on its members to give back the COLA money, Galloway called the raises an “irresponsible use of tax dollars in these tough economic times.”

While state law prohibits legislators from refusing the and women have the option of donating the funds to charity. Many said they’re awaiting direction from leadership on how to return the dollars to the state treasury. Either way, officials pointed out they still have to pay income taxes on the amount.

Despite that, area politicians, including Rep. Anthony Melio, D-141, Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, R-6, and Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-12, confirmed Wednesday that they’ll be giving back the COLA raises to the commonwealth.

“I hope and pray that times get better for all the poor people having a rough time,” said Melio.

Before the give-back announcements, some lawmakers, including Rep. Katharine Watson, R-144, had already quietly decided to return the increases.

“It’s not right at this time when so many others are hurting,” she said of the raise estimated to be about $2,100. “It was a matter of my conscience and I don’t expect credit for it. I appreciate that it’s public dollars and it’s just part of what we’re supposed to do. It’s up to the members and their circumstances.”

Watson and Rep. Scott Petri, R-178, both talked about the need for a better process to lower the increases, provide the ability to suspend them, especially during tough times, or get rid of the COLA.

“People are suffering,” said Petri. “The goal is to reduce expenditures in Harrisburg.”

That’s why Rep. Marguerite Quinn, R-143, is co-sponsoring a bill in the works to repeal Act 51 of 1995, which instituted the automatic raises. She and several other legislators, including Rep. Rick Taylor, D-151, and Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, R-18, have vowed to donate their increases to charity.

Reps.-elect Steve Santarsiero, D-31, and Frank Farry, R-142, who will be sworn in Jan. 6, have also affirmed they’ll return the COLA money.

“I want to make sure my constituents get the benefit of that money,” said Farry, who’s donating his funds to athletic associations in his district.

Santarsiero is committed to giving his adjustment to the state treasury in response to the worsening economy.

Although the politicians admitted that returning the COLA money will not solve the financial crisis, they said they should be sacrificing since everyone else is tightening their belts.

“Is it going to balance the $2 billion hole? No, it’s a small drop in the bucket,” Taylor said. “But it’s a statement that we understand the issue.”

Inclusive School Week

From the BCCT.

All together now
Jeannette Hallak Morrisville

We are in the midst of the 8th Annual Inclusive School Week.

During the week, the focus is on what it means to provide an inclusive education.

Inclusive practices believe that all students with disabilities attend the same classes with children without disabilities. It’s about making sure that our school districts’ education system works for all students, including minorities, students of low socio-economic status, and students with disabilities.

Research has shown that inclusive practices are successful and improve academic achievement for all students.

Not that long ago many of our children were excluded from classrooms. On May 17, 1954, in the court decision, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled, “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.”

I challenge each school in Lower Bucks County to celebrate Inclusive School Week and recognize those teachers who are already making their curriculum relevant for each and every child.

To celebrate, please visit: http://www.inclusiveschools.org

New Businesses Flock to Morrisville

I got this tip from a reader. Thanks for the info.

Borough Council: Congratulations on exceeding expectations for attracting new business to town.

See the new smoke shop on Bridge St where the Pinball place was?

Whats that make it now? 7, 8 9?????????? How much can one town smoke?

Galloway Rejects Pay Increase

Remember this question?

Kudos to Rep. Galloway!

What's Senator McIlhinney going to do?

Galloway returns pay increase to the taxpayers

Pennsylvania lawmakers received an automatic 2.8 percent increase in their salaries on Monday, Dec. 1. I am writing to let you know that I am rejecting the increase and returning it to the state treasury.

The cost-of-living increase was issued in accordance with a 1995 law that provides an annual COLA to state elected officials based on a cost-of-living index.

But during these tough economic times, with many residents struggling and the state facing a large budget deficit, the legislature should be looking for ways to cut spending and direct precious tax dollars toward property tax reduction and infrastructure projects that will create jobs and boost our economy.

If all 203 lawmakers return their raises it would save the state roughly $400,000. In this economy, every penny of it can make a difference.

I look forward to serving you in the 2009-10 legislative session. Please contact me if I may be of service to you and your family.

How To Fix America's Schools

From TIME


Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge
By Amanda Ripley / Washington Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008
Rebecca Greenfield for TIME


In 11th grade, Allante Rhodes spent 50 minutes a day in a Microsoft Word class at Anacostia Senior High School in Washington. He was determined to go to college, and he figured that knowing Word was a prerequisite. But on a good day, only six of the school's 14 computers worked. He never knew which ones until he sat down and searched for a flicker of life on the screen. "It was like Russian roulette," says Rhodes, a tall young man with an older man's steady gaze. If he picked the wrong computer, the teacher would give him a handout. He would spend the rest of the period learning to use Microsoft Word with a pencil and paper.

One day last fall, tired of this absurdity, Rhodes e-mailed Michelle Rhee, the new, bold-talking chancellor running the District of Columbia Public Schools system. His teacher had given him the address, which was on the chancellor's home page. He was nervous when he hit SEND, but the words were reasonable. "Computers are slowly becoming something that we use every day," he wrote. "And learning how to use them is a major factor in our lives. So I'm just bringing this to your attention." He didn't expect to hear back. Rhee answered the same day. It was the beginning of an unusual relationship.

The U.S. spends more per pupil on elementary and high school education than most developed nations. Yet it is behind most of them in the math and science abilities of its children. Young Americans today are less likely than their parents were to finish high school. This is an issue that is warping the nation's economy and security, and the causes are not as mysterious as they seem. The biggest problem with U.S. public schools is ineffective teaching, according to decades of research. And Washington, which spends more money per pupil than the vast majority of large districts, is the problem writ extreme, a laboratory that failure made. (See pictures of a diverse group of American teens.)

Rhee took over Anacostia High and the district's 143 other schools in June 2007, when Mayor Adrian Fenty named her chancellor. Her appointment stunned the city. Rhee, then 37, had no experience running a school, let alone a district with 46,000 students that ranks last in math among 11 urban school systems. When Fenty called her, she was running a nonprofit called the New Teacher Project, which helps schools recruit good teachers. Most problematic of all, Rhee is not from Washington. She is from Ohio, and she is Korean American in a majority-African-American city. "I was," she says now, "the worst pick on the face of the earth."

But Rhee came highly recommended by another prominent school reformer: Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City's schools. And Rhee was once a teacher--in a Baltimore elementary school with Teach for America--and the experience convinced her that good teachers could alter the lives of kids like Rhodes.

Anacostia High has a 24% graduation rate, and only 21% of its students read at grade level. Rhodes is well aware of the miserable statistics, and when he first saw his new chancellor from afar, he thought she looked petite, foreign and underqualified. "I was like, She doesn't look ready for urban kids." But after they exchanged e-mails, he agreed to meet her downtown. He realized almost at once that he had underestimated her. "She actually sat with me," he says, "and talked eye to eye, like I was one of her co-workers." They decided to meet again, this time at Anacostia High. Rhodes began to talk about Rhee to his classmates, and they started writing an agenda for the meeting, detailing all the things that were wrong with the D.C. school system. They had much to tell.

Rhee has promised to make Washington the highest-performing urban school district in the nation, a prospect that, if realized, could transform the way schools across the country are run. She is attempting to do this through a relentless focus on finding--and rewarding--strong teachers, purging incompetent ones and weakening the tenure system that keeps bad teachers in the classroom. This fall, Rhee was asked to meet with both presidential campaigns to discuss school reform. In the last debate, each candidate tried to claim her as his own, with Barack Obama calling her a "wonderful new superintendent."

Hard as it is to imagine Washington schools ranking among the best in the country, the city does have some things working in its favor. The system is relatively small, making it easier to redirect. As in New York City, the board of education was recently dissolved, which means changes can be made without waiting for the blessing of a fractious body of overseers. And now that a third of Washington's kids are in charter schools, there is intense pressure on the public system to keep the students it still has. If they keep fleeing the system at the current rate, enrollment will drop 50% every 10 years.

Each week, Rhee gets e-mails from superintendents in other cities. They understand that if she succeeds, Rhee could do something no one has done before: she could prove that low-income urban kids can catch up with kids in the suburbs. The radicalism of this idea cannot be overstated. Now, without proof that cities can revolutionize their worst schools, there is always a fine excuse. Superintendents, parents and teachers in urban school districts lament systemic problems they cannot control: poverty, hunger, violence and negligent parents. They bicker over small improvements such as class size and curriculum, like diplomats touring a refugee camp and talking about the need for nicer curtains. To the extent they intervene at all, politicians respond by either throwing more money at the problem (if they're on the left) or making it easier for some parents to send their kids to private schools (if they're on the right).

Meanwhile, millions of students left behind in confused classrooms spend another day learning nothing. [Story continues at TIME.com]

How Obama can fix education

From the Boston Globe.

How Obama can fix education
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist / December 3, 2008

IF MONEY were the key to great education, Sasha and Malia Obama might be getting ready to transfer next month to the Francis-Stevens Education Center, the Washington, D.C., public school assigned to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., which will be the girls' new address as of Jan. 20.

The District of Columbia, after all, boasts one of the most amply funded school systems in America. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the DC public schools spend about $13,700 per pupil. That is a level of funding more lavish than in 48 states and half again as generous as the national per-pupil expenditure of $9,150.

But bigger budgets, alas, don't guarantee educational excellence. Its abundant spending notwithstanding, DC's public school system ranks among the worst in the nation.

"In reading and math, the District's public school students score at the bottom among 11 major city school systems, even when poor children are compared only with other poor children," The Washington Post reported last year. According to the authoritative National Assessment of Education Progress, only one in seven fourth-graders is ranked at grade-level ("proficient") or better in reading and math. Among eighth-graders, only one in eight is proficient in reading; only one in 12 can handle eighth-grade math.

So to no one's surprise, the Obama girls will not be attending public school in Washington. Barack and Michelle Obama have decided to enroll their daughters in Sidwell Friends, the same private school that Chelsea Clinton attended when she was First Daughter.

The president-elect has taken a bit of heat for rejecting public education for Sasha and Malia. Critics point out that Obama cast himself as a staunch supporter of public schools during the presidential campaign. "We need to fix and improve our public schools," he told the NAACP convention in July, "not throw our hands up and walk away from them." When Time magazine asked the candidates whether parents should be given vouchers to enable them to send their children to better schools, his reply was adamant: "No. I believe that public education in America should foster innovation and provide students with varied, high-quality learning opportunities."

Now in fairness to the Obamas, an ideological commitment to public schools hardly obliges them to send their kids to one - especially when the local school system is as wretched as Washington, D.C.'s. The Obamas' first and deepest responsibility is to their daughters; to have enrolled the girls in the District's failing public system just to make a political point would have been appallingly irresponsible.

But in fairness to the critics, why doesn't Obama want other parents - poorer parents - to be able to do better by their children too? Candidates have been promising to "fix and improve our public schools" for decades, and for decades the schools have remained stubbornly mediocre, hefty spending increases notwithstanding. More promises won't do anything for the parents whose kids are stuck in the public schools Sasha and Malia will be spared. Vouchers, on the other hand, would.

Not every school can be a Sidwell Friends, but every school ought to have something Sidwell Friends benefits from every day. Money isn't the root of Sidwell Friends' success. Neither is the size of its classes, or its well-appointed facilities, or its loyal alumni. Sidwell Friends thrives because it has competition - and DC's public schools stagnate because they don't. Public education is essentially a monopoly, and monopolies tend to be costly, unimaginative, and indifferent to their customers' needs. Private and parochial schools, by contrast, cannot succeed if they lose the goodwill and confidence of the parents who choose them to educate their children.

The DC school system spends $13,700 per student, and most of those students can't even read or do simple math. Imagine what would happen if that money were channeled to parents instead, through vouchers that would let them freely choose their kids' schools. Imagine the energy, innovation, and diversity such competition would beget. Imagine the accountability and excellence it would lead to. Imagine the improvement in the lives of Washington's children. Imagine - 54 years after Brown v. Board of Education - achieving educational equality at last.

Public education doesn't have to be a lethargic and mediocre monopoly. Let vouchers stimulate competition, and education would be revolutionized. If that isn't change worth believing in, Mr. Obama, what is?

Property Tax/Rent Rebate Deadline is Fast Approaching

PA Governor Rendell Says Property Tax/Rent Rebate Deadline is Fast Approaching

128,000 more Seniors Encouraged to Apply Before Dec. 31

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Edward G. Rendell today reminded eligible residents to apply by Dec. 31 for rebates up to $650 from Pennsylvania's expanded Property Tax/Rent Rebate program.

"More than half a million seniors already received rebates this year, but we know there are about 128,000 more people who qualify but haven't yet applied," Governor Rendell said. "I encourage all Pennsylvanians to consider if anyone they know -- parents, grandparents or friends -- may qualify for a rebate and help those loved ones apply before the Dec. 31 deadline.

"These rebates helped eliminate school property taxes for more than 113,000 seniors this year, and I don't want a single qualifying senior to miss out on this help to pay their taxes."

The rebate program benefits eligible Pennsylvanians age 65 and older; widows and widowers age 50 and older; and people with disabilities age 18 and older. The 2006 program expansion increased the income limit from $15,000 to $35,000 (which excludes half of Social Security income) for homeowners and raised the maximum rebate for both homeowners and renters from $500 to $650.

Property Tax/Rent Rebate claim forms (PA-1000) and information are available online at www.PaPropertyTaxRelief.com and by calling 1-888-222-9190, between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Residents requesting forms by mail must call or submit Web site requests by Monday, Dec. 22, to allow sufficient time for mailing. Forms can be downloaded from the Web site until Dec. 31.

Forms and assistance also are available at Department of Revenue district offices (listed in the government section of local telephone directories), local Area Agencies on Aging, senior centers and state legislators' offices. Claimants are reminded to provide all the necessary income, property tax or rental information for their claims to be processed accurately and quickly. Applications must be postmarked by Wednesday, Dec. 31, in order to be considered.

"There are people and offices all over the state ready and willing to help seniors through the application process," said Acting Secretary of Revenue Stephen Stetler. "The program deadline is nearing, but time still remains for residents to explore the program and apply for rebates."

Pennsylvania is providing a total of $786 million in property tax relief this year, including expanded rebates from the state's senior citizen Property Tax/Rent Rebate program and first-ever general property tax relief for all homeowners that was distributed through school districts this past summer. As a result, an estimated 113,000 seniors had their entire school property tax bills eliminated.

Act 1 of Special Session 2006 delivered the largest property tax cut in Pennsylvania history, using proceeds from slots gaming. In addition to the expanded rebate program, the law provides state-funded tax relief through reductions in the tax bills that school districts send out each summer. The broad-based property tax relief started this year at an average of nearly $200 per household across the state.

About 600,000 seniors are expected to benefit from rebates this year, compared to 314,000 before the program's expansion in 2006. Last year, 564,000 seniors received more than $240 million in rebates. So far this year, about 600,000 people have applied for a rebate and, as of Nov. 24, rebates totaling $262 million have been sent to more than 590,000 homeowners and renters.

The expanded household income limits and maximum rebate amounts are:

Renters with incomes between $0 and $8,000 now receive a $650 rebate and those with incomes between $8,001 and $15,000 receive a $500 rebate.

The Property Tax/Rent Rebate program is one of five programs supported by the Pennsylvania Lottery. Since the program's 1971 inception, more than $3.8 billion has been paid to qualified applicants. The expanded portion of the rebate program is funded with revenue from slots gaming.

The Rendell administration is committed to creating a first-rate public education system, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and continuing economic investment to support our communities and businesses. To find out more about Governor Rendell's initiatives and to sign up for his weekly newsletter, visit his Web site at: www.governor.state.pa.us.

CONTACT: Chuck Ardo 717-783-1116

Web site: http://www.governor.state.pa.us/
http://www.PaPropertyTaxRelief.com/

Teacher Pay

Here's an article from the BCCT looking at the recent Souderton teacher's strike and teacher pay. The best part of the story are the reader comments.

Thank God that this would never happen here in Morr...

Oh. Sorry. My bad.

Teachers: Pay driving them away

By LOU SESSINGER
Staff Writer

The Souderton Area school board listened impassively as three teachers claimed the board’s rigid stance during the current labor dispute over salary is driving talented teachers to districts willing to pay more — and quality of education in Souderton is suffering.

Speaking during the public comment section of last Tuesday night’s school board meeting, speech therapist Allison Moran said the recent resignation of three of her colleagues, “due to the contract this board has presented,” has reduced the number of full-time district speech therapists to two.

One took a job in Upper Perkiomen and two were hired by Upper Dublin, she said, adding that those who went to Upper Dublin got more money.

“Quality teachers and speech therapists cannot be kept in this district without adequate compensation,” she said.

School district solicitor Jeffrey Sultanik said the board was aware of a trend in which school districts are competing for a limited number of speech therapists.

“The board would be prepared to address this issue by having a different compensation scale arranged for speech therapists,” he said. “Compensation should be determined to a certain extent by supply and demand, and this board is prepared right now to sit down and negotiate a separate compensation scale for speech therapists.

“But you’re shaking your head no because it runs contrary to your concept of unionism, which keeps everybody’s salary at the same level, not withstanding supply and demand,” he added.

Science teacher Christopher Luck said he had a master’s degree, was certified to teach both chemistry and physics, was in his ninth year with the school district and earned $53,600 a year, several thousand dollars less than he would be paid at neighboring North Penn or Pennridge.

He said he has seen many of his colleagues leave Souderton for higher pay elsewhere.

“Do you really want quality teachers to leave?” he asked.

Christine Jackson, a physics teacher with 16 years’ experience, said this year the board’s attitude toward teacher salaries “left us with no choice” but to go on strike or find employment elsewhere.

“We’re disheartened by your lack of respect to teachers and administrators … and your unwillingness to strengthen the district,” she said.

The teachers union went on strike for 15 days at the start of the school year in September.

The school district has offered a three-year contract with pay raises averaging 2.5 percent. The union wants a four-year pact with raises averaging 8.2 percent.

The labor impasse is now in a phase of nonbinding arbitration.

Reorg Recap

Any updates from last night's reorganization meeting? Is the new boss the same as the old boss?

Presbyterian Church Alternative Christmas Shopping this Sunday

Thanks to the emailer who sent in this information on a great Christmas shopping idea!

You can also do some extra good by bringing something for the food bank too.

On Sunday, Dec. 7th the Presbyterian Church in Morrisville is having an "Alternative Gift Market" from noon to 3:00. It will feature art from Trenton Soup Kitchen artists, Ten Thousand Villages Fair Trade items, handbags from Peru and others, and "gift certificates" for donations for the food pantry!

The "shop" will be in the basement area, "Fellowship Hall" at Morrisville Presbyterian Church on North Pennsylvania and West Trenton Avenues.

It's Raining

From the Inquirer. The state's rainy day fund appears poised to be tapped again.

Was there ever any word on the pay increase for our state legislators?

Pa. lawmakers consider tapping surplus funds
By Paul Nussbaum Posted on Mon, Dec. 1, 2008

Facing a growing budget deficit, Pennsylvania lawmakers must consider tapping the state's $750 million "rainy day fund," State Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said yesterday.

"This is more than a rainy day; it's a hurricane," Evans said.

The legislature also should consider using its own $240 million surplus fund and the approximately $700 million in legislatively controlled grant money, familiarly known as "walking around money," he said.

Pennsylvania's budget shortfall may be about $2 billion by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, as tax revenues are lagging about 7 percent below projections so far. The state budget is $28.3 billion.

The financial woes of Pennsylvania and other states will take center stage in Philadelphia tomorrow, when President-elect Barack Obama and the nation's governors gather to discuss increased federal aid for states.

Last Monday, Obama asked Congress to ready a stimulus program for him to sign as soon as possible after he takes office Jan. 20. Estimates of the spending range from $500 billion to $700 billion over two years, and Democratic congressional leaders have said some of it could help cash-strapped states provide health care to the poor and pay for road and bridge projects.

Pennsylvania would like to get a commitment of $750 million to $1 billion from Washington, Evans said.

Gov. Rendell is to brief legislative leaders Dec. 9 on the grim state of Pennsylvania's finances.

Rendell already has ordered two spending reductions at state agencies, issued a hiring freeze, and banned state-employee travel and the purchase of new government vehicles.

As the leader of state House budget efforts, Evans said the state should borrow money to spend on road, bridge, and mass-transit projects. That would create needed jobs and shore up the state's crumbling infrastructure, he said.

He said he would reintroduce a bill to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator. A proposal to lease the turnpike to an American-Spanish consortium for $12 billion died in the legislature this year.

Targeted tax increases, but not a general tax increase, also may be considered, Evans said.

"Everything is going to be on the table," Evans said. "We're not going to try to protect anything. . . . I'm not going to say no to anything."

At the same time, the state needs to spend on such things as education and transportation as "investments for the future," Evans said. He said cutbacks for hospitals, nursing homes and the poor should be "the very, very last places we go." He said cuts there would simply transfer the burden to local governments and to overstretched private charities.

"At some point, this will pass, and we will be looking at the future. We need to make Pennsylvania a competitive place to live and work," Evans said.

The state's "rainy day fund" has been tapped before. In 2002, the legislature approved a $750 million withdrawal from the fund, and in 2003, it approved draining the remaining $250 million from the fund.

Contributions over the last five years have brought the fund balance back up to $750 million. A two-thirds majority of each legislative house is required to approve any withdrawal.

Stockham Update

From the BCCT.

Have you noticed the new windows and signs downtown? There are signs of life in the nearly century-old Stockham Building.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, the strip club lawsuit continues.

Stay tuned.

Strip club lawsuit continues, fitness center coming to Morrisville
Posted in News on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 12:57 pm by Courier Times staff writer Danny Adler

A fitness center is coming soon to a site that’s the focus of a federal lawsuit over a New Jersey company’s constitutional right to put a strip club in Morrisville.

Signs posted at the four-story Stockham Building in the middle of downtown Morrisville boast that a Champion Fitness Center is coming soon as the building’s owner and a tenant are in the midst of suing the borough and its zoning hearing board.

Luke Lirot, an attorney from Florida representing Stockham Interests and 10 Enterprises in their suit against Morrisville, said the lawsuit is still moving forward.

“The bottom line is, we felt that the application was erroneously denied,” he said. In May, borough zoning officials unanimously denied variances to allow the strip club.

Reorganization Meeting Monday

We'll soon see if the Emperor is re-elected to a second term as president of the board.

It's a simple vote for the board members: If you support the secret meetings, the uncoordinated and haphazard spending of taxpayer money, the harassment and bullying, and the rest of the Emperor's agenda, then you will vote for him for a second term.

Prediction: 7-2 Hellmann for a second term.

Baaa...Baaa...Black Sheep.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Board Reorganization Meeting
The annual board reorganization meeting will be held in the LGI room located in the Middle Senior High School at 7:30 p.m.

Site: HS LGI
Time: 7:30PM

Plans, plans, and more plans

From the Inquirer.

Our neighbors to the south are building a new elementary school. It's been in the planning stages for ten tears, but it's been PLANNED! The Philly School District is much, much larger than Morrisville, but look at their planning staff.

Plans are for sissies anyway. We can do it on the say so of the Emperor and the board of selected toadies. That's all we need.

Groundbreaking set for new elementary school
Posted on Thu, Nov. 27, 2008

After years of delays, the Philadelphia School District will break ground on a new Frances E. Willard Elementary school next week.

The new school will include a two-story, 96,000-square-foot building for 850 students. Planned is an industrial-looking exterior with a combination of steel and masonry structures. The new Willard will rise on a former cemetery site, which was most recently used by the city as a recreation center. Human remains buried at the site have been moved.

The Kensington school community has been waiting for a new building since 1998. In the current Willard building, the only student restrooms are in the basement. Also, the school has no cafeteria, so students must eat in their classrooms.

The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at the current school site, 2900 Emerald St. - Kristen A. Graham

Oops!

From the Inquirer.

Maybe we can learn from this mistake?

Camden school district must return $393,00 in federal funds
By Rita Giordano Inquirer Staff Writer Posted on Thu, Nov. 27, 2008

The Camden School District, which often complains to the state that it doesn't have enough money to serve its mostly poor student population, has to return nearly $400,000 in federal aid.

Why? Apparently someone didn't file the necessary request to allow the district to roll over the unused funds from 2004-05 to the following year.

The district routinely asks for federal permission to roll over unused funds from one year to the next, spokesman Bart Leff said. However, for the year in question, he said the request for rollover permission "either wasn't made or it was made late."

The $393,000 was part of nearly $21 million in Title I aid from the U.S. Department of Education for the 2004-05 school year, according to Leff. The unused money, which is granted to help low-income children, was identified through an audit.

A vote to return the aid was made at Tuesday night's board meeting.

In an interview yesterday, board president Sara Davis said she feels state officials "share some of the blame" for the district losing the money. She said the money would have been used to fund certain math and reading programs, but state officials wanted those programs discontinued.

She also acknowledged that given administrative changes and lack of continuity within the district in recent years, "things happened that shouldn't have happened."

Camden school officials have long said the largely poor district needs more aid than it receives. To balance this school year's budget, the district had to cut staff and programs.

The board also voted to make Jan. 20, the day of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, a school holiday. It gives students an extended holiday since they are already off Jan. 19 for Martin Luther King's Birthday and employees a paid day off.

Local Sales Tax for the Schools?

If you remember our friends in the financially-strapped and taken-over-by-the-state Greenland School District in Arkansas, the local city council is proposing a sales tax increase designated for the district only.

A member of the city council is the former president of the final voter elected school board and believes that "If we pass the sales tax, most of the money will be paid by people passing through town..."

That only works if you have a strong commercial base already existing in the town.

"If the school can't stand on its own, we go to Fayetteville and taxes go up forever," Groom said. "The 2 percent tax will last for only two years."

The bottom line, according to Groom: "Even if you don't care one iota about the school, you're better off passing a sales tax for two years and letting people from out of town pay for it."

It's an interesting crossroad. Is it legal in Pennsylvania? I doubt it. Is it worth a try? I doubt that too.

What I do know is that we better start throwing ideas out on the table pretty soon.

Greenland Aldermen Consider Sales Tax To Help Schools
Legislature Changed Law In 1993 To Allow Funding Method
Friday, November 28, 2008 7:50 PM CST in News

A tactic to boost school income using sales taxes that failed 17 years ago in Fayetteville may work in Greenland.

Bill Groom, a member of the Greenland City Council, proposed letting Greenland residents vote on extending a 1 percent sales tax to benefit the financially strapped school district.

Groom, the former president of the Greenland School Board before the State Department of Education dissolved the school board and took over the district, says a sales tax to finance sewer improvements will end next year.

Greenland voters could extend the tax and divert a portion of the money toward bringing school finances back into the black, Groom said.

"Bald Knob has done it," Groom said. "I've talked to them and they've been real helpful. They've sent us a sample ballot and we've talked to a tax attorney in Little Rock, recommended by our City Attorney Danny Wright, about the legal wording."

Bald Knob dedicated 95 percent of its sales tax to the school and 5 percent to the city, Groom said. Bald Knob residents approved the measure last year. It has not been constitutionally challenged.

The Fayetteville School District attempted a similar tactic in 1991, but Springdale attorney John Lisle sued the district.

Back then, Lisle said, the move was judged to be illegal.

"At that time, no sales tax law existed allowing you to use a sales tax for schools," Lisle said. "That made the Fayetteville tax unconstitutional."

Lisle said he'd just moved to Northwest Arkansas from Little Rock and his father had voted for the Fayetteville tax. That alerted Lisle to the problem.

"It took close to four years to get it all done including the appeals," Lisle said. "They'd estimated the tax would raise $130 million. We won. They lost. This is the first I've heard of it since."

However, the state Legislature intervened in 1993, passing a law that makes it legal for cities to share sales taxes with schools.

In part, the law stipulates that a school district does not have the authority to impose a sales tax itself. However, a city or county may designate on the ballot that a portion of a sales tax will be dedicated to a school district.

In that scenario, only voters inside Greenland would vote on the tax. The Greenland school district extends from Prairie Grove on the west to Elkins on the east and from Fayetteville to the north and past Winslow to the south.

Voters outside the Greenland would pay the tax only when purchasing items or services from businesses in Greenland.

Groom said, from his point of view as an alderman, the tax is justified -- even though the city would have to pay $3,500 for a special election.

"We have a 2 percent sales tax with 1 percent dedicated to sewer improvements," Groom said. "The sewer tax is about to end. The sewer allowed us to get the businesses along Interstate 540, which is most of the sales tax coming into the city. Without the 1 percent sales tax, those businesses couldn't have been established."

The school tax would last for two years, bringing in about $100,000 per year, Groom said.

"If we pass the sales tax, most of the money will be paid by people passing through town," Groom said. "There's not a lot of money that Greenland people spend themselves in Greenland. So, we're looking at an outside stream of money versus 8, 9 or 10 mills more than we're paying now if we're annexed into the Fayetteville school district. That would have a great effect on people's budgets."

Groom said he feels Greenland schools are at a crossroad.

"If the school can't stand on its own, we go to Fayetteville and taxes go up forever," Groom said. "The 2 percent tax will last for only two years."

The bottom line, according to Groom: "Even if you don't care one iota about the school, you're better off passing a sales tax for two years and letting people from out of town pay for it."

Winterfest: December 6

From the BCCT.

Make sure you come out and support our town.

Winterfest is coming to town

By DANNY ADLER

Now that the Thanksgiving turkey is done, Santa Claus is preparing to make his annual rounds through Morrisville during the borough’s Dec. 6 Winterfest celebration.

The jolly one’s day kicks off with a “Breakfast with Santa” event at Holy Trinity School and concludes with him hanging out at the Morrisville Rescue Squad headquarters.

Other festivities include a Winterfest parade through the borough’s streets, a live nativity scene and concert, caroling, tree lighting, a reading of the Christmas classic and more.

Here’s a full list sent from organizer Kim Kane of the Morrisville YMCA:

“Breakfast with Santa” from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at Holy Trinity School on Osborne Avenue gives families the chance to enjoy some morning grub with Santa. For tickets and pricing for the breakfast, call 215-295-9235.

From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Morrisville YMCA at 200 N. Pennsylvania Ave. hosts a craft fair and flea market, featuring crafts, jewelry, holiday gifts and food.

The Morrisville Senior Center Christmas Bazaar will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 31 E. Cleveland Ave.

The Winterfest parade runs from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and swirls through the borough, starting at Post Road and traveling down South Pennsylvania Avenue to Delaware Avenue. Then the procession turns onto Washington Avenue, Lafayette Street and Hillcrest Avenue before going back on Pennsylvania Avenue, where the parade ends at the YMCA.

The First Baptist Church of Morrisville, at 50 N. Pennsylvania Ave., will present a live nativity and offer refreshments from 4 to 7 p.m. A “Celebrate the Season” concert there is scheduled for 6 p.m.

From 5 to 6 p.m. at the Robert Morris Plaza at Bridge Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, there will be caroling, the reading of “The Night Before Christmas,” the annual tree lighting and a guest appearance by Santa Claus.

Local businesses on Bridge Street are slated to stay open during the Bridge Street block party from 5 to 8 p.m., featuring live entertainment and refreshments.

Also from 5 to 8 p.m., the Morrisville Rescue Squad, on North Washington Street, will host an open house with refreshments, entertainment and, yep, more Santa.

Way to go, Fitz!

From John Mullane's column in the BCCT.

Mike Fitzpatrick has always been a class act and his service to Bucks County is well documented. If ever there was someone who deserved a break, this is the guy.

A second chance

By JOHN MULLANE
Bucks County Courier Times

Mike Fitzpatrick was told he had colon cancer in June. It was stage three cancer, which means it had spread to his lymph nodes.

The former Bucks County congressman found himself facing his own mortality.

“You want to know how is it to be told you have cancer?” he asked, exiting a hospital elevator earlier this week on his way to a morning session of chemotherapy.

He is 45 and has a wife and six children.

“I ignored the symptoms from about, let's see, January,” he said, entering the treatment suite. He removed his suit coat and draped it over a chair.

Last May, he said, at his wife's insistence, he went for exams and tests. In early June, he was told about the cancer.

“The first hour was, well, basically disbelief. Then there was another hour of self-pity. After that it was like, OK, I have six kids. What do I have to do to beat this?”

Fitzpatrick settled into the chair. He unbuttoned his shirt. Blood was drawn. A thin plastic tube curled from an IV bag filled with clear liquid and was anchored to a port in his chest.

The two-hour chemo drip began. He is a veteran of this procedure, and he chatted amiably through it.

Because of his relative youth, his doctors recommended an aggressive treatment program of radiation and chemo to shrink the colon tumor. Afterward, whatever was left would be cut out — a major surgery that would leave him down and out for five to six weeks.

But in mid October, he got good news. His doctor, examining his CT scans, said the tumor appeared to have vanished.

“Melted away,” Fitzpatrick said.

The surgery was canceled.

“I left that doctor's office and I felt free,” he said.

Could the cancer return? Yes.

“I'm not counting on it, though,” he said.

A nurse checked the IV bag.

“The steroid they give me will keep me awake all night. That's OK. I'll be in court tomorrow. I can do paperwork overnight,” he said.

Since losing his congressional seat in 2006, Fitzpatrick has returned home to Levittown and is practicing law. He is legal counsel to the Morrisville School District. He drafts wills as a sideline.

His oldest child is in college. His youngest is 8. He told the older ones about the cancer, but the little ones he only gave bare details.

“Dad's got to take some medicine to get better, is what I told them. No need to burden them,” he said.

Ultimately, cancer is a lonely battle, he said. There is fear. There are nights when he is up alone worrying, questioning.

“You think about whether you have succeeded in fulfilling your talents, your dreams, and you refocus on what is really important,” he said.

“You know — there was this calming effect on me, too. I haven't set an alarm clock since June 3. Until then, my life was measured in six-minute intervals, for [attorney] billing purposes. As a public servant, I was always thinking how many events can I cram into one day? I realized I wasn't spending enough time with my kids.

“I told my wife, I'm not setting my alarm for 5:30 anymore. Let the birds wake me. For me, it took a crisis to make me realize what I should have been doing all along. I feel like, you know, I've been given a second chance.”

The treatment was complete. The chemo tube was removed.

“You want to get coffee?” he asked.

Downstairs, he took a seat in the hospital cafeteria next to large windows, which overlook an outdoor courtyard called the Healing Garden.

He talked about the cigars he can no longer smoke, and the doctors who saved his life.

He reminisced about his days as a county commissioner.

He talked about taking more time to help one of his sons with reading, and how he insists on driving his children to school each morning. It's not a hassle in his day, but a highlight.

He talked about Thanksgiving with family and how this Christmas will be, for him, “one like no other.”

He sipped his coffee and looked into the courtyard, filled with late morning sunshine.

“Looks like a good day,” he said.

Happy Thanksgiving

Proclamation of Thanksgiving
by the President of the United States of America

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

A. Lincoln

Morrisville Tomorrow

Here's a comment from long time poster Peter answering the question of who or what is Morrisville Tomorrow.

It's nice to see someone on the scene in the community with some progressive ideas. OK, what I meant was any ideas at all. The school board is mired is doing too much haphazardly and ineffectively with too little and the borough council is just not doing much at all.

Yes, being a [insert public office holder title] is hard and demanding. But whirling feverishly and accomplishing nothing is just like a Canadian police chase.

Let's hear some real discussion that can improve Morrisville instead of what's really happening: Zero discussion and outright evasion.

Face it people: We got exactly what we voted for.

Maybe we can do better?

So, who/what is Morrisville Tomorrow?

Well, like the ad says, we are a non-partisan group that is interested in getting more people informed about the goings on of our town. We recognize that we are all busy and that people may be more inclined to get involved if someone helped them stay informed. None of us can attend every meeting, but we can as a group.

The sentiment of the billboard is sincere. We just want to show our appreciation for the efforts of those that are working hard to make our schools great, and recognize the improvements that are being made.

We encourage a progressive can-do attitude and support attempts to improve our town through business development. We love the rich history of the town but realize that history alone will not sustain us. And not only do we need to attract businesses to our town, we need to attract the right types of businesses.

What Morrisville Tomorrow is not: we are NOT a charitable organization. We have NOT incorporated, nor do we plan to. We are NOT about reliving the past and we are NOT about a new school building.

Want to know more? Contact Morrisville Tomorrow at:

Morrisville Tomorrow
P.O. Box 1222
Morrisville, PA 19067
morrisvilletomorrow@googlegroups.com

Where's Chicken Little When You Need Him?

From Forbes Magazine.

Pa. teacher, government pension funds post losses
By MARK SCOLFORO , 11.25.08, 05:00 PM EST

Pennsylvania's massive state government and teacher pension funds reported double-digit declines Tuesday, losses that reflect returns through September but not the market's continued fall since then.

And officials with both systems warned that year-end totals could be even worse.

From July 1 through Sept. 30, the two funds fell by more than $12 billion, or nearly half the size of the current state budget.

The State Employees' Retirement System said its investments fell about 14.4 percent from January through September, while the larger Public School Employees' Retirement System's investments dropped 16.7 percent for the one-year period ending Sept. 30.

The government workers' pension fund shed $4.3 billion dollars from July 1 though Sept. 30, ending the period with a value of $29.3 billion. The teacher fund, the nation's 14th largest public defined-benefit pension fund, lost $8 billion over the same three-month period to a value of $54.7 billion.

The stock market has experienced steep declines in October and November, and the two pension funds warned that their year-end accounting may end up looking worse.

In a statement, the state employees' pension fund said its investment performance in 2008 closely mirrored that of other large public pension funds in a prominent national comparison service.

Over the past decade, the State Employees' Retirement System has produced 8 percent a year on its investments, compared with a median of 5.6 percent for the large pension funds measured by the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service.

For 2007, the system earned 17.2 percent, a $5 billion windfall that was among the best in the nation. By comparison, the S&P 500 grew by 5.49 percent in 2007.

The investment returns are bad news for state government retirees who have been pressuring the Legislature for a cost-of-living increase. Such increases are not automatic.

But state tax revenues for the current year are running hundreds of millions of dollars below expectations, and the decline in pension fund investments raises the likelihood taxpayers will have to pump in billions more to balance the retirement funds even without a cost of living adjustment.

Bridge Renovation Trifecta in Play

The BCCT tells us this morning that the Calhoun Street Bridge is next on the list of DRJTBC structures to be rehabilitated.

Structures need to be maintained (note to school board) and plans need to be made (also a note to the school board) but it's not going to be easy traffic-wise with both the Superhighway and Calhoun bridges undergoing some sort of work.

Calhoun Street Bridge slated for rehabilitation
The 124-year-old span is the oldest of the commission’s 20 Delaware River bridges.
By GEORGE MATTAR

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission awarded a contract Monday to start the rehabilitation process for the 124-year-old Calhoun Street Bridge, which carries about 18,500 vehicles daily.

At its regular monthly meeting, the board approved a contract not to exceed $666,000 for TransSystems Corp. of Langhorne to begin engineering studies on the bridge. The engineering contract is for preliminary, final and post design services.

The rehabilitation includes replacement of the floors, repairs of the iron truss, painting, improvements to the bridge rail and sidewalk safety features and roadway repairs.

Construction is expected to being late next year and be completed in late 2010, said commission spokesman Joe Donnelly. The study will determine the cost of the project.

“The Calhoun Street Bridge is the oldest bridge in our jurisdiction,” said Frank G. McCartney, the commission’s executive director. “At 124 years old, the bridge is constructed of wrought iron, posing unique challenges for commission personnel and our consultants to overcome in rehabilitating the structure.”

Donnelly said McCartney was referring to the iron structure, as few, if any bridges are constructed of iron today. Even back in the 1800s, Donnelly said many bridges were built with steel.

The bridge is 1,274 feet long. A timber plank pedestrian sidewalk is supported by the upriver truss on steel cantilever brackets, Donnelly said. The bridge has a three ton limit and a 15 mph speed limit.

In 1985, stiff opposition from Morrisville residents prevented the commission from replacing the span with a new bridge. Likewise, a plan by the commission to convert the Calhoun Street bridge into a pedestrian route in return for a four-lane bridge being built next to it was turned back in 1992.

Thanksgiving Day Pigskin Preview

Don't forget some pigskin with your turkey on Thursday. The Bulldogs will host Bristol at Robert Morris Field at 10:30 A.M.

THANKSGIVING DAY RIVALRY
Cookson spreading out success

The Morrisville sophomore has thrown for 1,161 yards in the Bulldogs’ spread offense. He said his team needs to be more consistent to defeat archrival Bristol Thursday.
By TOM WARING

Matt Cookson loves quarterbacking in the spread offense.

The Morrisville sophomore rarely lines up under center, almost always taking the ball from the shotgun. The Bulldogs have a single back and up to four wide receivers.

“The defense has to stay on their heels,” Cookson said. “We can run or pass.”

Cookson, a 6-foot-1, 175-pounder who played mostly special teams as a freshman, has had a pretty good season. The 10th-grader has thrown for 1,161 yards and seven touchdowns.

The Bulldogs, though, have mostly struggled. Cookson blames the team’s 2-8 record (0-3 in the Bicentennial Athletic League) on inconsistency.

“Football is four quarters, not just one or two,” he said.

Morrisville has a final chance to prove it can play four solid quarters of football Thursday against archrival Bristol. The teams will meet for the 80th time at 10:30 a.m. at Robert Morris Field.

A backup quarterback a year ago, Cookson will be playing in the most highly anticipated game of his young career. The Thanksgiving game brings out plenty of partisans on both sides.

“We should get a pretty big crowd, and we hope to please them,” he said.

Morrisville coach Jim Gober likes his quarterback’s athleticism, size and willingness to learn the spread offense that was implanted in the offseason.

“He has a nice mix of running ability and throwing ability, smarts and toughness,” the coach said.

Cookson plays some outside linebacker and safety, but Gober will limit his snaps on defense to keep him fresh and healthy for when the Bulldogs have the ball.

The 16-year-old quarterback knows his team is the underdog. Bristol owns a 41-35-3 advantage in the series, including eight wins in a row. The Warriors have earned shutouts the last three games.

Still, Morrisville is coming off a victory over St. George’s Tech (Del.). That game was played on Nov. 1, and Cookson acknowledges that the team hasn’t experienced much hard hitting in practice since then. Coaches have introduced new plays and made practice fun in the last three-plus weeks of game inactivity.

The quarterback is confident that running back Kyle Schnee, a speedy senior, will have a big game in his career finale. He added that the offensive line has improved during the season. Based on watching film of Bristol’s game against Academy of the New Church, he expects the Warriors to blitz a lot.

The Bulldogs can’t wait to get back on the football field.

“We’re all hyped up,” Cookson said. “It’s been cold, but we’re all pumped and excited for Bristol. It’s our rival.”

Flashers and Heaters and Furniture Oh My!

From the BCCT.

Board approves new expenditures for new school
Posted in News on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 3:16 pm by Joan Hellyer

The Bristol school board agreed Thursday night to let administrators buy $531,628.57 worth of furniture and equipment for the district’s soon to be completed pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school.

The facility is under construction next to the district’s Warren Snyder-John Girotti Elementary School off Buckley Street.

The board also entered into an agreement with Gilmore & Associates to design and construct two 15 MPH school zone flashers for the project. Plus, board members approved temporary heaters at the school for construction workers.

The school is expected to be completed in 2009.

Shakespeare Already?

"Pearls Before Swine" today, presented in honor of all those English teachers, past and present, who bring us Shakespeare and other "olde litterature" and the parents who get to relive those moments.

Gambling Money Comes Back to Towns

From the BCCT.

Authority awards $2.6 million in casino grants
Lower Southampton will get nearly $800,000. Bristol Township will receive $634,000. This year’s grants are a million more than last year.
By JAMES MCGINNIS

The Bucks County Redevelopment Authority on Monday awarded more than $2.6 million in casino impact grants while setting the stage for even more towns to apply for gambling money.

Bristol, which doesn’t directly border Bensalem or Philadelphia Park Casino, will nonetheless get $350,000 to pay for renovations to its police and fire departments next year.

The gaming act states that grants should go “to the municipalities which are contiguous to the municipality and which are located within the county in which the licensed facility is located.”

Still, Redevelopment Authority Director Bob White said the borough is eligible to receive funds as long as the application is submitted by the county.

“We checked with our solicitor on this and the county can apply for anyone that they want,” White said.

That might come as a shock to officials in Penndel who said the Redevelopment Authority told them they weren’t eligible.

There also was confusion at the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Monday about whether Bristol is eligible. Representatives said they need time to review the law on impact grants before any comment.

Meanwhile, White encouraged applications from Penndel and Langhorne, calling those towns the “doughnut holes” of Lower Bucks. “These towns are surrounded by Middletown and Bristol Township and they can apply,” he argued. “They can clearly argue that they’re affected” by the casino.

Being close to Bensalem certainly had the desired effect for Lower Southampton — the big winner among grant applicants this year. Lower Southampton can expect nearly $800,000 in revenues from the slot machines.

One grant of $192,000 will help pay for upgrades to the intersection of Street Road and Central Avenue while another for $185,000 will pay for equipment that clears intersections during emergency response calls.

Lower Southampton and Feasterville fire companies will receive a combined $240,000 for new generators. Tri-Hampton Rescue Squad will get $72,782 for global positioning communications equipment, and the fire marshal is slated to receive $40,000 for three hybrid vehicles.

There are no hybrids on Bristol Township’s list. Instead, the township is going to buy guns.

A $20,000 grant for Mayor Sam Fenton’s proposed firearms buyback program is just one of $634,000 in grants for the township.

The community is slated to receive $120,000 to fight flooding and another $140,000 to make the township building handicap accessible.

A combined $166,050 will go to renovating the Croydon and Edgely firehouses. Third District Fire Company will get $100,000 for new air packs. Another $88,000 is set aside for emergency generators and traffic signals.

With just one grant this year, Middletown will receive $478,977 to help pay for upgrades to the intersection of Route 213 and Business Route 1.

Nearby, Hulmeville will receive $300,000 for a new borough hall. The borough plans to renovate an old borough-owned school on Main Street into the new borough hall and police headquarters.

Bensalem is slated to receive $275,000 next year, with $150,000 to help clean up graffiti and another $125,000 to pay for extra shifts of ambulance crews. (As a casino host community, Bensalem also receives $10 million a year.)

The authority’s board of directors said it received 42 applications seeking a total of $7.2 million for Lower Bucks County. Last year $2.5 million was awarded in grants.

“It’s not easy choosing these grants,” he said. “We had a lot of really good requests this year. And none of this is going to a study. These are things that will start right away.”

Student Achievement Billboard

Thanks to the anonymous photographer who provided the picture of the student achievement billboard. The remarkable thing is that it was done without the active support of our elected school board. When it says congratulations to the "superintendent, principals, teachers, staff, and parents" who made it possible, it was not an unintentional error.

In honor of the achievement, this billboard will occupy a place of honor at the top of this blog. Keep up the good work!

Setting An Example: Legislative Pay Raise Next Week

From the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Should our elected representatives show some restraint, or do they deserve their raise?

Legislative pay cut in Florida won't fly in Pennsylvania
By Eric Heyl TRIBUNE-REVIEW, Sunday, November 23, 2008

The hogs of Harrisburg appear to be recession-proof.

The nation is experiencing its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Pennsylvania is facing a potential deficit of as much as $2 billion, leading Gov. Ed Rendell to slash spending on many programs and hint strongly that a tax hike is in the offing.

Amid this hurricane-force economic storm, your state legislators should be quickly boarding up some windows. Instead, they are breaking out the tanning lotion while cheerfully whistling "Happy Days Are Here Again."

On Dec. 1, General Assembly members are scheduled to receive their annual cost-of-living adjustment. Their base salaries will jump 2.8 percent to $78,315; those in leadership positions will make as much as $122,000.

That's a bit more than most families bring in annually in the Keystone State. According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the median household income in Pennsylvania is $43,714.

State lawmakers never have been particularly sensitive to the dramatic income disparity that exists between them and the people they are elected to pickpocket -- er, I mean represent.

But given the state's dwindling coffers, state Senate President Pro Tempore and Lt. Gov. Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, suggested Thursday that lawmakers should consider forgoing this year's pay increase.

Expect that to happen when pigs fly. And last time I checked, Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-Lackawanna, wasn't sporting a pair of wings.

Mellow conveyed a counterpoint to Scarnati's proposal that almost certainly will prevail in any legislative debate over the raises. He defended the increase as "modest and the right thing to do."

On Friday, Mellow told The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Our members have the same family responsibilities as others."

So do state legislators in Florida. Yet in June, those lawmakers did something that probably left their Pennsylvania counterparts aghast and apoplectic over the terrible example they set.

With the Sunshine State facing a $3 billion revenue shortfall, lawmakers not only eschewed a raise -- they reduced their salaries by 5 percent.

That action is even more impressive when you consider that Florida legislators make about $31,000 annually -- less than half of what your average Pennsylvania porker takes home.

I wanted to ask Mellow why the family needs of Pennsylvania lawmakers seem to be substantially greater than those of their Florida brethren, but calls to his office were not immediately returned Friday.

Perhaps he was getting a jump on his Christmas shopping.

From his remarks, however, Mellow obviously believes state lawmakers should continue indulging their insatiable appetites at the public trough regardless of whether the public can afford it.

Is he right? In a pig's eye.

The Next Generation

From the (Tucson) Arizona Daily Star. The immediate focus is, not surprisingly, Arizona. The concepts are applicable worldwide. Quotes like, "...infrastructure is what we build today for our children and grandchildren..." and "Are we going to make investments to secure the well-being, quality of life and competitiveness of our children and grandchildren?" need serious consideration.

The Center for Competitiveness and Prosperity Research has the full series of reports available.

Investing in the future of our children
By Michael M. Crow
Special to the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.24.2008


With demographic projections suggesting the likelihood that within the next quarter-century more than 10 million Americans will call Arizona home, our state must confront unprecedented challenges as it matures and in terms of population becomes one of the 10 largest states in the union — larger than New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois and probably Pennsylvania.

Chief among these challenges is adequate investment in infrastructure — roads, transit, electricity, drinking water, telecommunications, but also health care and public safety and the educational infrastructure of our public schools and the three state universities.

Last Monday Arizona State University was honored to welcome elected policy-makers and prominent leaders from the public and private sectors to the forum "Preparing for an Arizona of 10 Million People: Meeting the Infrastructure Challenges of Growth." The purpose of the gathering, tagged "Arizona 2030," was to address some of the major challenges facing the state's public and private sectors as a result of rapid growth.

While there was broad agreement that our success is contingent on an optimal infrastructure, I would argue that when it comes to reaching the consensus required for policy to advance and investment to be made, Arizonans still lack a sufficient sense of clarity and urgency.

Despite chronic underinvestment in our state's infrastructure, contentious debate over whether or not we should commit to meet the infrastructure needs of the present and future prevents us from acting in our own self- interest.

Perhaps some perspective may be required: Put simply, infrastructure is what we build today for our children and grandchildren. If we look back across the generations who came before us, most were generally well-served by an infrastructure commensurate with the population and needs of the era.

One need only consider the tens of thousands of public schools and the hundreds of great universities that have been built across the country. Railroads operating in the private sector were given massive land grants by the federal government, and canals were advanced through government investment succeeded by private-sector operation.

Throughout our history our success stories have been made possible by government helping to lay down the foundation of the infrastructure and then bridging to the private sector that in turn found some way to prosper.

At the epicenter of our national future — that is the American West — critical decisions regarding the course we take must be made:

● Should we invest in an enhanced quality of life with some sense of collective identity as fellow citizens, or is everybody just out for themselves?
● Can we fathom the extent of our interrelatedness in the global economy and the mounting ferocity of competition from abroad?
● Will we continue to deliberate over infrastructure while most economies in the developed world simply move forward with investments required for success and then engage the private sector?
● Can we find a way to destigmatize and depoliticize concepts like planning and market-driven solutions, and practices like tolls and user fees?
● Can we grasp that infrastructure is not an expense but the basis from which we will attain economic competitiveness?

While the implementation of infrastructure projects may prove challenging, our decision to make a commitment need not be so very complicated after all: Are we going to make investments to secure the well-being, quality of life and competitiveness of our children and grandchildren? Will we lay down the infrastructure they will need so that their market-driven private-sector ambitions can be erected on a platform equal to or greater than that which we enjoyed?
Such deliberation should transcend partisanship. We need to make a decision about whether or not we can find a way to meet today's needs and still invest for tomorrow — for the future of our children and grandchildren.

On StarNet: "Preparing for an Arizona of 10 Million People: Meeting the Infrastructure Challenges of Growth," a study, was done by the Center for Competitiveness and Prosperity Research at the W.P. Carey School of Business and is available in a database that aggregates growth analysis, opinion and documents. The report is available at: azstarnet.com/special/growthresources

The Arizona State University Office of the President Web site is http://president.asu.edu/

Group seeks financial help for district

From the BCCT

Group seeks financial help for district
Donations to the education foundation are tax-deductible.
By MANASEE WAGH

It costs more to educate one child in the Morrisville School District than it does in any other district in Lower Bucks County — including Bristol, Council Rock and Neshaminy.

For that reason, Morrisville’s new Opportunity Educational Foundation is finally taking wing to narrow the gap.

The nonprofit group wants businesses and individuals to help the district financially. While potential donors have already expressed serious interest, the organization’s committee needs more interested participants, said Mark Coassolo at the school board’s Wednesday meeting.

“We’re looking for more people to be on the board of trustees. We’re looking for doers and people who are going to bring money,” he said.

In particular, the group is seeking corporate representation, he said.

At least nine people are necessary to form the board of trustees, which will include a board member, likely Marlys Mihok, a member of the teachers union, the business manager and district Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson.

Funding from the foundation would allow students to participate in more educational opportunities by fostering business partnerships with companies. Mini-grants and other donations would pay for field trips, classroom tools, scholastic projects, or other learning experiences without dipping into tax money.

Pennsbury, Centennial, Neshaminy, Bristol, Bristol Township, Council Rock and Bensalem all benefit from fundraising foundations that bring in many thousands of dollars for educational projects that might otherwise be too expensive.

The average cost of educating a high school student in Morrisville is $14,214, as compared to $10,866 in Bristol, another small district, and $11,711 in the larger district of Bristol Township. Elementary costs are higher, too.

The numbers reflect the fact that Morrisville has about 1,000 students and a little more than 70 teachers, as well as support staff including gifted/instructional support aides and guidance counselors. The average teacher salary last year was $69,000. Teacher contracts are locked in until 2012.

In general, the smaller the district, the higher the cost per pupil because class sizes tend to be smaller, said William Ferrara, the high school principal.

“We’re a small district and we’re not the wealthiest district, so it can only help. Everybody wins, because donations are tax-deductible,” said Coassolo.

If you are interested in joining the future board of trustees, helping financially or would like more information, please contact Mark Coassolo at 215-428-9657 or at markdc32@verizon.net.

Alternatively, call the district business office at 215-736-5933.