The LuLac Edition #1421, Dec. 31st, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: MY DOG McKINLEY'S REACTION TO 1966, THE YEAR OF THE BIG YAWN ACCORDING TO LULAC READERS AND FOR THE VERY LAST TIME, OUR 1966 LOGO.

NEW YEAR!!!!

No, not 2011, our poll results from a few weeks ago where we asked voters to pick a year. Since 1966 was such a dismal year (at least to our readers and my dog) we decided to open it up to a conclave. The results:
1972 54%
1967 20%
1980 20%
1976 6%.
My preference would have been ’76, my friend and loyal reader Drew Wasko’s was ’67 but the peple have spoken and 1972 it is!!!

TOOLE’S VIEW

Wil Toole from Dupont has weighed in on some of the Luzerne County Home Rule Transition plans. Here’s his latest thoughts which he shared on Steve Corbett’s program and with some local newspapers:
Dear Editor,
The Luzerne County Transition Committee has approved a budget in excess of $89,000 and from the looks of the line items, we the taxpayers are in for one heck of a ride.
Let's just look at their budget.
They only budgeted the monthly retainer fee of their solicitor and nothing for his hourly rate. Good planning folks! They also budgeted additional money for attorney fees in connection with hiring staff. For what? They have an attorney on the payroll.
They are going to pay up to $10,000 travel expense for candidates looking for a job in Luzerne County government and an additional $4,500 for lodging of these job candidates. Here is a question for the public, "Were you ever paid expenses to apply for a job?"
They turned down free clerical help by using current county staff and budgeted $4,800 for clerical help.
They budgeted $6,500 for a professional consultant on county codes when a simple letter of inquiry to existing Home Rule counties would have given them all the information they need and only for the cost of a stamp. Insult to injury, they plan to spend $7,500 on expenses to recruit the consultant plus $3,000 for additional recruiting expenses.
So let's get this straight, they have already hired an attorney at a $500 monthly retainer plus $125 hour (not budgeted) for actual work. They have also set aside money for additional legal help and none of these attorney's are qualified to offer advise on the legality of county codes, we need to hire a consultant at a cost of $17,000?
The county purchases office supplies via public bids but this gang of 11 budgeted $3,100 for clerical supplies. Apparently the existing county supplies already in stock and paid for are not good enough!
$2,000 miscellaneous for insurance/bond, again who on the Transition Team is going to be bonded and why can't the county's existing general insurance cover the group?
This is just the beginning and when they said that the $89,000 was only the minimum, they sure as heck weren't kidding. They can easily spend $89,000 legal "research" costs.
Let's not kid ourselves, this is not a real budget, it is a makeshift thrown together plan to satisfy the County's requirement for a budget. If this is their idea of a "good" budget, we are in deep trouble.
This cure will be worse than the disease and we the taxpayers are in for the ride of our lives. People better start going to these meetings or we are going to pay more than we could ever imagine. This Transition Committee is absolutely out of control and they act like they have a mandate from the voters to do as they please. The media needs to assign some serious watchdog reporting to this group. Wil Toole-Dupont

ANNOUNCEMENT

“Maybe I’m Amazed” and our “Interview” segment will return next week.

DICK CLARK

Since Dick Clark has had his stroke, there’s a lot of debate as to whether he should be on the “Rocking The New Year’s Eve” program which he conceived. A lot of people are uncomfortable at his presence and his speech. Look, the guy owns the program, he is a fighter and deserves the right to speak. However haltingly. Better than hiding in a cave ashamed of a disability that he didn’t ask for.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT


MEDIA MATTERS

SUNDAY MAGAZINE

This Weekend on Sunday Magazine
Brian Hughes recaps the top local stories of 2010, from the mid term results,to the ongoing federal corruption probe, to natural gas extraction, and a whole lot more. And an encore of Brian's interview with the Ramsey family, who talk about how blood donations saved their child's life just after his birth, and why you should donate blood "For Pete's Sake", and Shannon Ludwig from the Red Cross previews the upcoming regional blood drives in Scranton, Wilkes Barre &pm Hazleton on Jan 5th. Sunday Magazine. Sunday morning at 5:30am on JR 93.7, 6am on 97BHT & 97.9X, 6:30am on Magic 93, and 9:30am on WARM 590 AM.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

This week Shadoe Steele interviews C.W. McCall who had one of the biggest hits of 1976. C.W. McCall (real name Bill Fries) of 1976's "Convoy" fame, who was former Mayor of Ouray Colorado and who loaned $1000.00 to Chip Davis, a fledgling musician from Omaha Nebraska to start a new record label called "American Gramophone Records", which became one of the largest independent labels in the world, and whose projects include "Manheim Steamroller" and the "Fresh Aire" series! Saturday Night Live at the Oldies starts at 7PM on WILK.


1966

East German Premier Walter Ulbricht discusses negotiations about German reunification.......Thieves steal millions' worth of paintings from the Dulwich Art Gallery in London................in Philadelphia the Mayor’s race on the Democratic side is shaping up as a real donnybrook. Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo has indicated he will run against incumbent James Tate for the nomination.......in Lackawanna County, incumbent Democratic Commissioners Patrick Mellody and Edward Zipay tell WDAU TV’s Tom Powell that they will indeed run for another term.........and 44 years ago this week, the number 1 song in LuLac Land and America was “Words of Love” by the Mama’s and Papa’s.

1966 saw the end of the Gary Lewis and the Playboy era. Here was one of his first hits of the year 1966 and the last hit that he charted in the top 30. A top 5 hit, “She’s Just My Style” and a Top 30 hit, “You Don’t Have To Paint Me A Picture”.