The LuLac Edition #794, Apr. 25th, 2009
PHOTO INDEX: WBRE TV'S KYLA CAMPBELL AND THE ORIGINAL SCRANTON SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF BUILDING, CIRCA 1885.
ON DEAF EARS
A few weeks ago, two very prominent political movers and shakers of Lackawanna County told me independent of each other that State Senator Robert Mellow was going to make a concerted effort to save the Scranton School For The Deaf. I was told that finally Senator Mellow was going to get the most positive press he has had in his career by the media in Northeastern Pennsylvania. In the two week interim, something changed radically. Thursday WBRE TV reported that Mellow was going to withdraw his amendment that would save the Scranton School For the Deaf. My question is what changed in the last two weeks? Or who got to Bob Mellow?
Friday, WBRE’s Kyla Campbell reported that on July 1st, the Scranton State School for the Deaf (SSSD) will be taken over by the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (WPSD). That's according to a confidential three-year transition plan obtained by WBRE TV. Governor Ed was in town handing out stimulus money like Santa. He shook his head saying, "We have to make cuts, it's a shame," But no other state in the union runs its own school for the deaf.” He made the statement in Pottsville where he just coughed up 15 million dollars for an intermodal transportation center. For freaking Pottsville? Governor Ed also said that Pennsylvania was the only state in the union that had a state school for the deaf. Wrong, countered Ruth Gerrity, the President of the Deaf School teacher’s association. 41 states have them. I guess if it were the stats on the Eagles, Governor Ed would be a tad more accurate. And what about the fact that the private school in Pittsburgh where the kids will be shipped to got 8 million bucks while a public school got 6 million last year in state funding? Isn’t that a little out of whack? That's like giving Wyoming Valley West 4 million bucks and Wyoming Seminary 10 million! If these students don’t go to Pittsburgh, they will have to be absorbed into the public school system in LuLac land. And despite the obvious commitment that needs to be made to these children, the school taxes will have to be raised to pay for this. It is also curious to me that the story on the street is that Marywood University had an interest in the property. But Marywood officials said they hadn’t been privy to any news about that. But as sure as Chuckie Castanzo watched porn in the office, you can bet that someone in town is interested in that land. And that is the reason why Mellow caved.
When I was growing up in the Junction section of Pittston there was a kid on my street named Ronnie. Urban legend and Pittston Science said that he cranked up the table radio too loud when he was a baby and went deaf. I later found out that he was born deaf. Ronnie went to that school and the first year he went, we regarded him as the deaf kid. But when Ronnie returned every summer, we began to notice he was a better, faster swimmer than all of us. So "Ronnie the deaf kid" became "Ronnie the swimmer." In high school, I got a job at the old Detato’s Supermarket in Pittston. So did Ronnie. When we were adults, I went to Ronnie’s mother’s wake. When I was introduced to some family members, someone signed to Ronnie that “you could take the boy out of the Junction but you couldn’t take the Junction out of the boy”. See, the Scranton School for the Deaf kept Ronnie, years after he attended school there, a Junction Boy. It is a tragedy that with the State Legislature having slush funds in excess of 50 million dollars for their own political use, that no one, not one official has the courage to get the money for this school. Kevin Murphy is keeping his word but the fix is in. Someone wants that land.
The Scranton School for the Deaf made people perceived as being weak powerhouses in their own right. That will end when they close the school in Scranton.
The late Hubert Humphrey, Vice President, to Lyndon Johnson, often said, that " The compassion of the government is measured, in how it treats --- those in society --- least able to take care of themselves ".
Poor Hubert, he was so naïve, and thankfully never a resident of Northeastern Pennsylvania with its political climate of duplicity and cowardly behavior. If you're looking for "Profles In Courage" here...move along.
posted by David Yonki @ 12:30 AM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Good morning Dave!!! A great article on the SSFD. You're right, there's something afoot. I have a 37 year old daughter, Mellow's been in office longer than she's been alive. That's just plain wrong. I guess the white horse he intended on using was scratched at the gate by those more powerful than he. Vince Fumo might have been indicted and convicted but at least he had a set!
THE "A MAN" FROM ARCHBALD
Possible scenario: Mellow is considering a run for governor, and by some accounts has already decided it's a go. In making love to the western end of the state by keeping their deaf school open, he may think he can raise his profile and grab votes with the populace there. It's a gamble he apparently feels worth taking.
At the same time, his arrogance may be such that he believes he can "sell" SSSD closing to his present constituency, which is a huge piece of NE PA. My guess is that he cannot, that he's made a colossal blunder, one that will take a chomp out of him whatever his future plans might be. This abandonment of his intent to save SSSD could very well just have cost him another term in the senate. As far as governor goes, my take is that he doesn't stand a chance.
Also, he may have made a deal for Rendell's supporting him if he runs for governor, which I'm personally betting drives his flip on SSSD. If Rendell does support Mellow, it should confirm that Mellow's mind was changed by the governor in, as is usual in PA politics, a quid pro quo. As with most of these deals, they win, we lose.
What changed Mellow the Yellow's mind? Wait and see when the SSFD becomes the main campus for whatever the name this week is of the new medical school..
Every constituent in Bob Mellow's District needs to e-mail or call him and tell him he will receive not one more vote if he does not reverse this deal and do the right thing to restore funding to SSSD. His contention that it costs $97,000 per student to educate a student at SSSD is dead wrong. As a matter of fact, that's exactly the cost of tuition this year at WPSD in Pittsburgh. SSSD students achieve academically, and post-secondary rates are excellent. Call the school and they will provide you with the documentation to support this information. We hide nothing, while the Senator hides everything! Someone needs to ask the Senator exactly how much it will cost to send a student to WPSD. Notice how that information has never been provided. I have taught at that school for 29 years and I never remember the Senator setting foot on our campus even once, yet he can hop a chartered plane at taxpayers expense in a year when PA has a $2 billion dollar deficit and fly to Pittsburg for four hours? To be fair, he should have gotten on a school van at five in the morning and experienced for himself how appropriate that commute is for school children twice a week. Taxpayers need to demand to know why it was necessary to strike this deal behind closed doors? Why were none of the stakeholders invited to the discussion? The people of Pennsylvania need to send a clear message to Mellow that this is the issue that will end his political career, and e-mail our other Representatives and Senators in PA that they need to do the right thing and vote to restore SSSD's funding.
Maybe Mr. Mellow should be asked why the Blues are allowed to donate millions to start med schools and not help bring premiums. Doesn't he collect 40K a year from them?
Mellow = phoney!
IN RESPONSE
Maybe Mr. Mellow should be asked why the Blues are allowed to donate millions to start med schools and not help bring premiums.
IN ALL FAIRNESS, SENATOR MELLOW HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BC PREMIUMS. THE PREMIUMS ARE PRICED IN DIRECT CORRELATION TO MEDICAL COSTS.
i wish GOD would render every person who is involved in closing SSSD deaf FOR A YEAR AND THEN GIVE THEM THEIR HEARING BACK JUST SO THEY COULD WALK IN A DEAF CHILD'S SHOES, AND THEN SEE IF THEY WOULD MAKE THE SAME DECISION TO CLOSE SSSD. I BELIEVE YOU HAVE TO HAVE WALKED IN THE SHOES OF A DEAF PERSON BEFORE YOU CAN JUDGE AND MAKE A DECICION THAT WILL IMPACT THE DEAF COMMUNITY FOREVER. G.C.
Dave,
Going back to premiums, why do Blues think it's prudent in investing in med schools?
IN RESPONSE
why do Blues think it's prudent in investing in med schools?
WHILE I DO NOT PRESUME TO SPEAK FOR ANY OF THE BLUES OR IN PARTICULAR BLUE CROSS OF NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA., I MUST TELL YOU THAT IT IS A GOOD INVESTMENT. THE COMMONWEALTH MEDICAL COLLEGE WILL EDUCATE UP AND COMING DOCTORS AND SCIENTISTS TO SERVE NORTHEASTERN PA. AND OTHER COMMUNITIES IN A PATIENT CENTERED AND COMMUNITY BASED MODEL OF EDUCATION THAT WILL USE 21RST CENTURY TECHNIQUES. I'D RATHER HAVE A COMPANY INVEST IN A COMMUNITY RATHER THAN TAKE MONEY OUT OF IT LIKE A WALL STREET FIRM. I MEAN WE'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THAT, RIGHT?
Sorry Dave, people do not pay premiums to be invested in a medical college. Premiums are paid to cover the health care costs. The truth is that the biggest investment would be in anti-obesity, wellness care and other preventive types of intervention. Or here is a silly thought how about paying for the actual care of the patient instead of setting up a system of denials.
If Blue Cross has that much extra money it should be rebated to those paying the premiums. 90% of those that graduate from the med school in Scranton will NOT stay in this area. They are intelligent educated folks, they know better than to stay in this corrupt part of the country, besides maybe the would not want their children falsely imprisoned.
IN RESPONSE
Sorry Dave, people do not pay premiums to be invested in a medical college. Premiums are paid to cover the health care costs.
THE PREMIUMS ARE APPLIED TO MEDICAL COSTS AND THE FACT IS THOSE COSTS ARE HIGH. FUNDING FOR THE MEDICAL COLLEGE MOST LIKELY CAME FROM INVESTMENTS MADE BY THE COMPANY THROUGH THE YEARS.
We will have to agree to disagree. When I heard about this move to put money in the medical college i switched by entire company 500+ employees from blue cross. Short sited or not, I have had it with blue cross their 400 million plus surplus, memberships at huntsville their silly redundancies. The medical college was the last straw...
Dave,
I agree with you on the fact that a medical college is coming to the Northeast. If you look at muni's in the area with colleges and university, their effect on community is well worth it. Whether the money should have come from an insurance giant, I just don't know.
I know fighting the fight with Harrisburg to get Colon Cancer Screening legislation passed (It passed in July of 2009 on HB1155 the Autism Bill), the Blues really didn't care about anything other than collecting premiums.
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