The LuLac Edition #1231, July 9th, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: BARLETTA AND KANJORSKI, ROUND 3, OUR 1966 LOGO AND A POSTAL CARRIER.

DEBATE CHALLENGE

Hazleton Mayor and 11th Congressional District candidate Lou Barletta challenged Paul Kanjorski to a series of five debates – one in each county of the district. “It’s very simple. Either Mr. Kanjorski believes he has a record that he can defend and has the courage to meet me in a debate or he does not,” Mayor Barletta said. “Will he accept my challenge – yes or no? Does Mr. Kanjorski think the people of the 11th Congressional District deserve at least five hours of his time between now and November? If so, he should agree today, right now, to these debates.”
Here is what Mayor Barletta is proposing:
One 60-minute debate in each of the five counties (Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Monroe) of the 11th Congressional District. The WVIA-TV debate scheduled for Oct. 28 will count as the Luzerne County debate.
Debates will be open to the public and members of the media.
Campaigns can negotiate terms and format.
“Kanjorski will no doubt brush this off and say there will be time for debates, and he will say his staff will handle the requests. After 26 years in Congress, can’t he just tell you yes or no, right now, to five debates over the next four months?” asked Shawn Kelly, a spokesman for Mayor Barletta’s campaign.

HAZLETON LAYOFFS?

WNEP reported last week that Mayor Barletta’s city of Hazleton might need to lay off workers. Here's that report from their website:
Some Hazleton city employees will be losing their jobs later this month as city leaders try to balance the budget."I am a little upset," said city employee Lisa Whitely. She and 10 other Hazleton city workers will be laid off to balance the budget. "It will hurt because your bills never go down, they always go up and when you collect unemployment, that unemployment is never the rate as your pay."Officials said the layoffs will save the city $120,000.Telling people they don't have a job isn't easy."No one wants to be the person who has to inform people of a layoff. It did not come as a surprise to them because they have been questioning it," said Hazleton administrator Mary Ellen Lieb.Police are not included in the layoff, but their civilian dispatchers are. That means an officer will do that job, taking him or her off the street.City administrators will also spend less time doing things like inspections and more time behind their desks.You might think that 11 people being let go would not effect city services, but officials said it will."That actually leaves the highway department to cover over 100 miles of streets with seven workers," Lieb added.The city administrator said the snow will be removed and road repairs will be made but at a slower pace. The layoffs are effective July 19, although benefits for full-time employees will continue for six months.The city administrator said if the city is able to come up with a financial agreement with the water authority the layoffs could be avoided but if the deal does not go through, more layoffs are possible.

URBAN ON THE MOVE

STEPHEN A. URBAN MEET AND GREET
FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010 5-8 PM
MAGIC 93 - PIZZA
BO BROTHERS 2004 WYOMING AVE, WYOMING

LABRON WANNA BE…………

Happy and Free. Congrats South Beach. As a Knick fan and someone who follows the NBA for maybe a half a minute at the end of the season, I have no dog in this hunt. I do however feel for Cleveland because as an Indian fan I feel their pain. One of my first vivid sports memories is the 1964 Browns team with Jim Brown and Bill Wade. That was the last time Cleveland won a championship.

POSTAL RATES

Looks like the U.S. Postal Service is going to raise their rates again. Postage rates will increase in 2011, with first-class stamps rising from 44 cents to 46 cents starting in January, pending approval by the Postal Regulatory Commission, the US Postal Service announced Tuesday. It is the latest in a series of cost-cutting, revenue-raising moves the USPS has made as it confronts plummeting service, out-of-control health-care and pension costs, and a massive budget deficit
After only three rate changes in the 1990s, the Postal Service has boosted rates for domestic letters on seven different occasions since 2000, including five separate increases in the past five years. Postcard rates will also go up two cents in 2011 under the proposal, to 30 cents apiece. Even with a rate increase, the postal service cost is a bargain.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT


1966

A Warsaw Pact conference ends with a promise to support North Vietnam..Indira Gandhi visits Moscow…Congressman Richard Schweiker of Montgomery County declines to answer questions as to whether he will run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Joseph Clark in 1968. Schweiker said he is content to run for re-election and is concentrating on the 1966 General Election…….in Wilkes Barre Mayor Slattery’s contentious relationship continues with the City Council, a reminder of his decision to impose a 1% wage tax and 44 years ago the number 1 song in LuLac land and America was a song I still detest but is played at every wedding, Christmas or holiday party, “Hanky Panky” by Tommy James and the Shondells.