July 23, 2007

Thrills! Chills! Spills!

From David Whipkey's story in Saturday's Daily News:

North Versailles Twp. resident Gary Rosenbayger said he feels like he is living in another country.

"I went to bed last night in America," he said during Thursday's town hall meeting at East Allegheny High School auditorium. "But today, I woke up in a communist country."

. . .

East McKeesport Council President Ross Cianflone said he believes the transfer of Duquesne students to East Allegheny is only the beginning of additional school closings.

"I could see Clairton kids end up going to Thomas Jefferson, or Jeannette (students going) to another school," he said.

North Versailles Twp. Commissioner A.J. Matarazzo said he believes there is a simple reason for Duquesne's fiscal woes.

"If those people in Duquesne would have paid their taxes, we wouldn't be here today," he said.

. . .

North Versailles Twp. resident Sydney Matthews said she knows of many Duquesne students who are high academic achievers and said they all should be given a chance.

"Just give it a chance, if they're going to pay their way," she said as some in the audience booed. "Don't boo me. I listened to you. I didn't disrespect you."

Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher and North Versailles Twp. resident Harold Grant said the school children from Duquesne are the real victims.

"Stop trying to blame these kids," he said.

Check out Ms Matthews and Mr. Grant with their logic, reason and civility. How quaint!

. . .

Elsewhere: Pittsblog and Subdivided We Stand weigh in.

There's more light and less heat from Dan Majors and my old friend and cow-orker, Joe Smydo, in the Post-Gazette, including the news that West Mifflin and East Allegheny will receive $10,000 for each student they enroll; about 75 percent of the nearly 200 displaced Duquesne students will go to West Mifflin.

They also report on what sounds like acknowledgment of the inevitable by West Mifflin School Board President Joe Donis: "It is now a law and we will abide by the law, and we'll make sure everyone gets an education and everyone is safe who goes to our school. We'll do the best we can."

'Zat so? Paging Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross ... I think we're finally in Stage 4 of the grief process, heading toward Stage 5.

I only wish we had reached this point without all of the sturm und drang.

. . .

If Irony Were Strawberries: I've been doing some research on Edwin R. Crawford, the millionaire industrialist and philanthropist who died in 1936.

Over the weekend I learned that Crawford, whose brother served five terms as mayor of Duquesne, sat on both the Duquesne City School Board and on a "State Commission to Study the Consolidation of Local Government."

Laugh? I thought my pants would never dry. More than 70 years later, we're no closer to consolidating any of the local governments.

Crawford was a rock-ribbed, flinty-eyed, tight-fisted Republican businessman who merged his own McKeesport Tin Plate Co. into National Can. He'd have no sentimentality toward keeping any local school district open that was inefficient or uncompetitive.

I doubt I would agree with many of Crawford's attitudes toward labor, but we could use a few entrepreneurs and leaders like him around these parts again.

Posted at 07:43 am by jt3y
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