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Schools don’t consider lost revenues

With all of the other issues with the plan to close the Sheffield and Youngsville High Schools, is there the possibility of the district losing revenue due to this decision? Have they already lost revenue due to just the discussion of closing schools? What happens with yet another empty building? What happens when the district finally sells a building? Is there a gain? Is there any costs to the district by a vacant building? So how would the district lose revenue? Well considering that every resident in the attendance area of Youngsville will be losing a high school, which is huge ...

Escalators and elevators

I was intrigued when a beautiful wooden escalator crossed my desktop. I immediately began my research. It seems that the beauty is part of Macy’s Department Store in New York City. I think I probably rode it when I was with the grandchildren. I know we did not ride it when we visited Santa Claus with the ladies. I know we rode the elevator to go up to the top floor. This escalator was installed sometime between 1920 and 1930 So it has been in operation close to one hundred years. It was installed by the Otis Elevator Co. I knew that many elevators were made by Otis, but I never knew ...

Big Julie wuz one of a kind

I was standing in the checkout line at a Country Fair in Erie when I heard the big tough man’s voice behind me. He was on the phone. “You tell doze guys I’m gonna take care-a dem poysinally when I get back.” He added profanity for emphasis. I hadn’t heard an accent like that – delivered in a threatening, gravelly voice – in over 50 years. But I didn’t have to dig too deep for the memory. The big tough guy with the rough-neighborhood New York accent was unforgettable. His name was Big Julie. Whadda a package he was. I was a stewardess based at New York’s Kennedy ...

We hear the words, “I don’t vote because it won’t count.” Every United States citizen has the right to vote to preserve our democracy, and has a right to feel that their vote counts. How your vote for president counts is decided by the way the state legislature translates actual vote tallies into electoral votes. Electoral votes are apportioned to each state by population -- Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes. Each state’s legislature can decide how its electoral votes are cast in the presidential election. Some states, including this one, declare all their Electoral College ...

What are your Goliaths

First, of all, I hope that you are familiar with the account of David and Goliath from the Bible. Our guest preacher used it as his scriptural reference Sunday. In case it is unfamiliar I will give some of my history with it as well as something from the Bible. I missed the book of the Bible that he said the story was in, but I knew the story. I was able to look it up on the Internet. The account is in I Samuel 17 in case you want to read it. Goliath was a giant who wanted to throw his weight around and pester the Israelites. For forty days he appeared to taunt them. He was a ...

Rounding Third: Spring brought an unwelcome surprise

In fact, Spring started a little early for us, and brought an untimely gift. Whoop-de-doo. We have ants. And we have been struggling. Occasionally in April or May, we have had a small platoon of the little black critters. Nothing we couldn’t deal with easily. We’d buy an 8-pack of ant traps, punch the holes open, and scatter a few around the kitchen and laundry room. In a few days, the annual invasion would be gone and we’d be back to business as usual. The laundry room is particularly important because that’s where Finian’s food dishes are, along with his sack of dry food ...