Category: Springfield

Post Office Closings Democrat Plot?

Post Office Closings Democrat Plot? — The Hill is reporting that the United States Postal Service consolidation is causing the closings of 2,500 post office in Republican controlled Congressional districts compared to about a thousand in Democrat ones.

This tally would include  Friday’s (Aug. 5) closing of the Springfield P.O.’s Brookside Road branch as a GOP loss as it is in Pennsylvania’s 7th District now represented by Republican Pat Meehan.

Before one starts screaming conspiracy, however, it should be remembered that when the closing was announced in 2009, Springfield was represented by Democrat Joe Sestak, a native son of the township.

An evil plot can be dismissed.

 

Post Office Closings Democrat Plot?

Post Office Closings Democrat Plot?

P.O. To Close On Brookside Road Friday

The United States Post Service will end Friday its half-century-plus tenure on Brookside Road, Springfied, Pa. 19064, according to an employee of the branch.

The new occupant of the building long for sale will reportedly be a credit union.

The new address for the Springfield Post Office, which has long been a non-delivery facility,  is in Olde Sproul Village on Baltimore Pike in what had been the Baja Fresh Mexican restaurant.

USPS Has Removed Listing For Springfield’s Brookside Site

The Lyndon LaRouche supporter who set his table outside the Springfield Post Office chose a day in which the mercury is expected to reach triple figures to tell the Saturday morning (July 23) masses who use the facility  to Save NASA, Impeach Obama, and to restore the Glass-Steagall Act.

For the curious the Glass-Steagall Act was a law passed in 1933 that divided banks into commercial and investment institutions and prohibited their mixing. It was repealed in 1999.

In an unrelated note, the United States Postal Service has removed the eventually-to-close Brookside building from its official listings.

July 4, 2011 In Springfield Pa

July 4, 2011 In Springfield Pa — Independence Day in Springfield Pa was kicked off in traditional hometown fashion — from the high school, down Saxer Avenue to Memorial Park on Springfield Road — with a parade featuring churches, fire trucks, community groups, antique cars and, of course, lots of kids on bicycles.

Here are some scenes from it:

July 4, 2011 In Springfield Pa

 

The Delaware County Patriots were among the participants

 

July 4, 2011 In Springfield Pa

Among the many red, white and blue bicyclists.

July 4, 2011 In Springfield Pa

A series of homemade floats honoring all four branches of the military.

July 4, 2011 In Springfield Pa

Special transportation for the Republican Party.

 

July 4, 2011 In Springfield Pa

Never Ending Drip Of School Tax Water Torture

Springfield School District (Pa) residents will pay an average of $115 more in property taxes next year (2012) all of course without any kind of guarantee that their schools will improve or even simply stay at par.

The millage which went from 26.2910 to 27.223 last year goes to 28.017 this year.

A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value. This means that the owner of a property assessed at $145,580, which is the district’s median assessed value, will now pay $4,079 in school taxes (28.017 x 145.58).

Regina Scheerer of the Delaware County Patriots attended Thursday’s budget meeting and notes the budget was approved with Donald L. Heller being the only dissenter.

Budget information can be found here at  the school district’s website www.ssdcougars.org.
Never Ending Drip Of School Tax Water Torture

Never Ending Drip Of School Tax Water Torture

Bill Carpenter, Hometown Hero

This Memorial Day let’s remember William Stanley Carpenter Jr., a 1955 graduate of Springfield High School (Pa).

While Carpenter survived his intense combat in Vietnam and would go on to retire as a lieutenant general, his accomplishments are overlooked in a time of a politically correct establishment media dominated by mindless pop culture.

Carpenter was seven when his father died fighting in the Ruhr pocket in 1945 shortly before VE Day in World War II.  An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer a few years back indicated this inspired a desire to take vengeance on the Nazis leading to a military career.

At Springfield, he was a star in  football, basketball and track. He was a member of the school’s inaugural Athletics Hall of Fame inductions in 1992.

From there he would go on to West Point being admitted in July 1956 and become a football legend at that school as “The Lonesome End”, the title coming from the unusually long distance he would be from his fellow linesman at scrimmage. Army ended up ranked Number 3 in the nation in 1958 and Carpenter received much national exposure being named an All American in 1959.

Carpenter would also receive All American honors the next year for lacrosse, a sport he had never played before entering West Point, which is a bit ironic as Springfield, which did not adopt the sport until the mid-70s, has developed a reputation for it.

Carpenter was graduated from West Point in 1960 and entered the Army as a second lieutenant. Four years later, he found himself assigned as an adviser to a Vietnamese airborne brigade which came under heavy fire when it was inserted into a sugar cane field. Carpenter was shot in the arm while changing rifle magazines and his radio set was hit by another bullet. He found the bunker from which the fire was coming and knocked it out with a hand grenade. He was awarded the Silver Star.

In 1966, Carpenter, now a captain in command of C Company, 2/502nd Parachute Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division, found his company about to be overrun by North Vietnamese in a battle near Dak To. Carpenter radioed for a napalm strike on his position saying “We’re overrun, they’re right in among us. I need an air strike on my position.”  While several of his soldiers were wounded in the strike, his company was able to regroup and break free. He was awarded another Silver Star which was upgraded to Distinguished Service Cross.

Carpenter became the first commander of the 10th Mountain Division after its reactivation in 1984, and then became commander of U.S. Army Field Forces Korea before his retirement.

He now lives in Montana.

Carpenter  married Toni M. Vigliotti in 1961 and had
three children: William S. Carpenter III (1962), Kenneth Carpenter
(1964), and Stephen Carpenter (1965).
Bill Carpenter, Hometown Hero

Bill Carpenter,  Hometown Hero

Adolph Says Vote Likely On Pa. NoBamaCare Bill

The man accused of bottling up a bill that would make much of Obamacare hard to enforce in Pennsylvania told the Delaware County Patriots, Thursday, May 19, that it will likely come up for a vote this year.

State Rep. Bill Adolph (R-165), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee has been accused of sitting on HB 42 by Tea Party activists. The bill has been tied up in Adolph’s committee since Feb. 8.

HB 42, introduced by Matthew Baker (R-68) on Jan. 19, says A law
or rule shall not compel, through penalties and fines, directly or
indirectly, any individual, employer or health care provider to
participate in any health care system.

It also specifically
says that an individual or employer may pay directly for lawful health
care services and shall not be required to pay penalties or fines for
doing so; and specifically allows  health care providers to accept
direct payments without penalties. It also prohibits state law enforcement and regulatory agencies from
participating “in compliance with any Federal law, regulation or policy”
that would compromise the “freedom of choice in health care” of any
resident of the state.

Adolph told the group, which met at Knights of Columbus hall in Newtown Square, that the biggest budget problem facing the state was the expiration of federal stimulus money. He said  last year’s $28 billion budget contained $3.1 billion of the fed dollars.

The $27.3 billion budget proposed by Gov. Corbett places a heavier burden on the state taxpayers despite it being smaller. House Republicans have tweaked the budget by easing some of the cuts the Governor had made to education while adding cuts to welfare. Adolph said the House budget gives state higher education 75 percent of what it had gotten last year, while Corbett would have cut the outlay in half.

Adolph said that the House budget actually ends up being few hundred thousand dollars less than the Governors.

Concerning the questions fielded by Adolph — and HB 42 was one — he said:

— He supported in principle privatizing the state-owned liquor stores but would not commit to any specific legislation as the “devil was in the details”.

— He supported giving school boards the power to furlough teachers for economic reasons. He, however, ducked the other half regarding his position on ending the requirement that school districts and municipalities pay prevailing wage for renovation and construction projects.

–He is not familiar with the First Suburbs issue which is starting to be discussed in Tea Party groups and appears to be an attempt to use government programs such as Section 8 housing to economically “diversify” Philadelphia’s older suburbs in accordance with the preferences of academics and activists.

–He supported abolishing the inheritance tax.

–He voted for and supports HB 1330, which expands the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit, and that he was only aware of the highlights of SB 1, the school choice bill bottled up in the Senate. He said he supports school choice in principle.

–That teachers should not be allowed to strike.

— He supports voter ID.

— He believes in state sovereignty.

— He supports cutting the size of the state legislature.

The only matter on which he incurred the crowd’s wrath concerned state pensions, and his unwillingness to condemn former State Sen. Bob Mellow’s $300,000 pension in significantly vociferous terms. He said Mellow’s pension plan had been grandfathered from before 1974, and that he should get it. He did not seem to get that it may fairer and more just to change the terms of an old poorly conceived contract rather than make a widow who was not party to it lose her home trying to fulfill it.

Insurgents Fall In GOP State Races; Dem Battle Close

The Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judges who actively sought Tea Party support fell handily  to the endorsed candidates in the Republican Primary state judicial races.

With 97 percent of the returns tallied, Paula Patrick was trailing Harrisburg attorney Vic Stabile  361,772 votes  to 190,231 in the Superior Court race, while Paul Panepinto had 167,455 votes to Anne Covey’s 386,751 in the Commonwealth Court race.

The 15-member Superior Court is the intermediate appellate court for civil and criminal cases from county Common Pleas Courts. The nine-member Commonwealth Court is the
intermediate appellate court for issues involving taxation, banking,
insurance, utility regulation, eminent domain, election, labor
practices, elections, Department of Transportation matters, and liquor
licenses.

On the Democrat side, party-endorsed Kathryn Boockvar, a private attorney known for her work with activist groups, was leading Barbara Behrend Ernsberger 300,389 votes to 297,635 to be the Commonwealth Court candidate.

On some local notes, incumbent Springfield (Delco) 6th Ward Commissioner Bob Layden appears to have held off a challenge from former commissioner Jim Devenney, who resigned after a minor scandal involving family memberships to the township swim club. The unofficial tally is 437 to 396.

And Tea Party activists Lisa Esler and John Dougherty 3rd will be on both party ballots in this November’s Penn Delco School Board race. Elections are being held for five seats. Cross filing is allowed in Pennsylvania school board races which means that in this fall’s race ticket totals will be combined to determine the winners.

Mrs. Esler had the most votes of six candidates on the Democrat side with 424, and had the third highest tally out of seven candidates on the GOP side with 1,239.

Dougherty had the most votes on the GOP side with 1,534 and the second highest total on the Democrat side with 377.

The candidates who won on both tickets — additionally Kevin Tinsley and Kimberly Robinson — while having a significant advantage do not have a guaranteed victory. Lewis Boughner appears to have failed to win on the Democrat ticket while James S. Porter 2nd appears to have failed to win on the Republican one, so there will be six people seeking five seats. It is in the realm of possibility that a person appearing on just one ballot will be among the top five votegetters.

In Newtown, embattled supervisor Linda Houldin was crushed 1,732 votes to 480 votes  in her GOP primary by former Marple Newtown School Director Edward C. Partridge. Partridge had sought Tea Party support.

Gar Raines R.I.P.

Gar Raines R.I.P.

A service was held this morning, April 16, for the gentle and decent Garland C. Raines at The Church of the Redeemer in Springfield, Pa.

Gar, a veteran of World War II, live a long and full life. He was a editor and writer and ended his professional career at the County Press in Newtown Square where he worked for 12 years.

Gar lived in Springfield and is survived by his wife, Ruth; son, Blake, and family.

 Gar Raines R.I.P.

Public School Budgeting Burdens Revealed

Public School Budgeting Burdens Revealed — The Springfield School Board’s Finance and Audit Committee gave, tonight, April 7, a detailed update of the district’s preliminary budget to a dozen or so persons most of whom were part of a Tea Party contingent led by Regina Scheerer. Public School Budgeting Burdens Revealed

The budget  now calls for spending $62,479, 521 for 2011-2012 which is $544,000 less than the initial budget proposed in February but still $2,192,822 more than the budget approved last year.

The district’s actual expenditures for this year are projected to be $59,172,082 which is expected to leave the district with a $1.09 million surplus, which is a good thing since as of now revenue is  $206,000 less than expenses.

Real estate taxes are expected to provide $46,456,313 of the new budget, which would be an increase of $2.033 million from the last one and translate to a tax hike of $128 for the average homeowner.

Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed state budget would cut $750,000 in assistance to Springfield noted Don Mooney, the district’s executive director of operations although the state is still expected to provide $8,635,330 to the district. Mooney pointed out, however, that pending legislation may result in another $847,000 being cut to the district.

The meeting before the small group lasted over two hours, and Mooney and Committee Chairman Doug Carney described the ways that the board is trying to save money and the ways in which their hands are tied.

Carney said that the biggest constraints facing the district, in descending order, were special education mandates, contributions to the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), and employee contracts.

It was noted that there was one special education student for whom the district was paying $125,000 annual tuition to an outside facility as per a court order.

One way the Committee said the district was fighting to keep taxes down for homeowners was by  using innovative ways of keeping non-residents from using its services
and that these have resulted in the removal of 10 students from classes
so far this year.

It also said the District was aggressive and generally successful in fighting real estate tax assessments — it was pointed out that the Springfield Mall is trying to lower its valuation from $84.7 million to $64.96 million despite the addition of the successful new Target store.

Claude de Botton, the township’s biggest landowner, was singled out for praise as being someone who never fought his assessments.

The Committee also noted that the District was considering increasing walking radius by a half-mile, which would still be within the mandated guidelines, and that this would greatly curtail the use of buses. It noted that it had eliminated early dismissals which meant that it was no longer required to provide buses for early dismissal at Cardinal O’Hara and other schools. The Committee said the District will be eliminating three crossing guards next year, and will begin charging for the summer wood shop program.

The Committee expressed specific concern over SB 911 now pending in the state legislature that would remove existing exemptions from the calculation as to when a proposed tax increase triggers the requirement for a referendum. Those exemptions, Mooney explained, were for Special Education obligations, PSERS contributions and contracted obligations. Since the obligations would remain it was expected that  just about every budget would end up being decided by referendum and be invariably voted down leaving the district no choice but to end unprotected programs like music and shop, and jamming students into classrooms of 40.

Carney expressed opposition to the referendum plan noting that the nation was founded as a representative republic. He said people will always vote to cut taxes and increase services.

Major looming expenses unveiled at the meeting were the replacement of the District’s six-year-old bus fleet, and, hold onto your hats, the replacement of the high school.

And of course the District’s PSERS contribution is going to increase from $2.3 million this year to $6 million in 2014-2015. It was $1.075 million in 2005-2006.

Springfield School District has 23 administrators — whose combined salaries are $2.1 million; 260 certified staff which is expected to increase by two next year; 217 other staff, which is expected to decrease by four; and 3,684 pupils which is expected increase by 116.

Public School Budgeting Burdens Revealed