Graffiti = RESPECT?

There has been a lot of talk here and elsewhere about R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Whether it pertains to "these kids today" or adults, I think we as a society have lost some amount of respect for each other.

To the above, I drive past the old Ranch House on the corner of Schoeneck and East Lawn at least once a day. Coming home from work yesterday was the first time that I noticed it had been "tagged". Somebody (or multiple somebodies) had spray painted each side with "gang-like" graffiti. In addition to the Ranch House, the apartment building just North on Schoeneck had also been vandalized. I drove around both this morning and snapped these photos.

To me, defacing property (whether it is public or private) with graffiti, is pretty low. You might expect to see this in larger cities but not in Nazareth (at least I did not expect to see it). If it is not quickly painted over, it seems to spread.

The question I ask, is who does something like this? Is it bored kids? Adults in the middle of a mid-life crisis? Or is it symptomatic of something more sinister? I know gangs are active in and around the Lehigh Valley. Could we be seeing this coming to Nazareth or is this just wannabees? Have you seen any more graffiti in and around Nazareth? What do you think?

JD Malone Ingests and Digests at Sidewalk Sales

JD Malone, who reports on the Nazareth area for the Express-Times, apparently had a great day at work today according to the blog post he made on the Penn Live blog (read it here).

JD spent the day enjoying the sidewalk sales in the Borough and rating each establishments' hot dogs.

To his credit, JD has virtually immersed himself in Nazareth since taking on the assignment and has provided significant coverage of the community in the Express-Times. He works out of the Us office on Main Street and I personally enjoy stopping in to tease him for having to sit through another School Board meeting on the third Monday of the month when the Nazareth Downtown Association is meeting next door at the Nazareth News Agency.

His report on the sidewalk sales and activity in the Borough today may be light by journalistic standards, but it was much needed. It spoke of people enjoying a day walking, meeting shop owners, seeing one another, and getting some good deals on retail items as well as food.

In a reasonably brief post he highlighted many businesses and presented a fun day in town.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, as I'm sure many others are, and while JD's may have started early, I hope he takes all the festivities in and continues to blog on them from the Block Party to the Craft Show to the entertainment and the Road Rally concluding with the fireworks. It is a wonderful, long weekend and one that always seems to arrive at just the right time.

JD I'll be looking for you tomorrow night and looking forward to your next post.

Billy Ray Cyrus Coming to Wal Mart in Lower Nazareth

Lower Nazareth first drew Clay Aiken and now it is Billy Ray Cyrus' turn to visit the township according to an announcement in the Morning Call (read it here).

Now a TV star on the Disney Channel hit Hannah Montana, featuring his daughter Miley, Billy Ray is appearing to sign autographs for the release of his own new album "Home at Last." The CD goes on sale Tuesday and he is to appear on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.

Nazareth HS Grad Earns Gold at Pan Am Games

Upper Nazareth resident and former Nazareth HS student Patrick O'Dunne has had an amazing run at the Pan Am Games in Brazil this week earning both Silver and Gold medals in rowing according to reports in the Express-Times (read it here complete with photo).

The Pan Am Games don't garner much television time here in the U.S., but they are a major sporting event for the Americas.

O'Dunne noted his desire to compete in the Olympics and his results in Rio position him well to make that run.

Best wishes and congratulations to Patrick and his teammates!

Sidewalk Sales

Beginning today, Thursday, July 19 through Saturday July 21, downtown merchants will be holding sidewalk sales throughout the borough.

The Sunflower Stroll encourages you to visit as many of the shops in town as you can, there is entertainment, and transportation is available on Saturday by trolley.

On Saturday, Nazareth Day will be held in town and at the Borough Park culminating in evening fireworks sponsored/provided by the Vigilance Fire Company at 10:00 p.m.

ET Follow-up on Skate Park Closure

JD Malone of the Express-Times has an article (read it here) following up Monday's closure of the Skate Park that focuses on public officials' responses to what happened and recommendations for how to make it better in the future - in short, better communications.

In the article Malone writes:

Councilman Jack Herbst said Bowers told him Monday morning the park was closed due to trash, only to have Bowers tell him late Monday afternoon he closed it for safety reasons.

Bowers never told acting chief of police Alan Koch why he closed the park, so Koch opened it at noon only to have Bowers close it again. "

And further:

Councilman William Matz wants a supervisor at the skate park to monitor safety and uphold the park's rules against foul language, smoking and poor manners. Coyle supports that idea.

Herbst said the skaters should police themselves.

Finally:

"If (the public property committee) sees a dangerous thing, we have the right to close it down," Bowers said.

Bowers said if borough hall or the police wanted to know why the park was closed, they should have called him.

"I can make that decision without (the police's) help or Jack's (Herbst) help, for that matter," Bowers said.

The Public Property Committee is comprised of three individuals, Bowers (Chairman), Larry Stoudt, and Cindy Werner. While the Skate Park is a piece of Public Property, the Law Committee (Herbst, John Samus, Werner) submitted the Skate Park rules which were reviewed by insurance and counsel prior to adoption. Further, the facility, based on reports citing Herbst in the newspapers, was assembled by the equipment manufacturing company and reviewed by the insurance company in advance of Saturday's opening. How Bowers could determine it was unsafe when the manufacturer and insurance didn't have objections is a question that needs to be addressed, so too could be the implications on liability now if someone does get hurt in-light of his assertion.

I noted earlier that I believed Bowers attempted to provoke a response by shutting the Skate Park down with neither warning nor explanation and created a situation to incite the users of the facility to behave in a way that could be used against them. Taking the brunt of the abuse was Park Manager Heather Coyle who was put in the unenviable and potentially dangerous position of having to explain the closure without having any information to forty or more upset teenagers.

This brings me to Bowers' closing assertions. His committee's rights and the chain of command.

At the 5/31/07 Council Workshop Meeting there was a conversation I summarized as follows:

"Law Committee had several items:

• Policies and procedures for the Park Manager to ensure her safety when tending to Park matters.
• Skate Park rules need to be added to Park regulations and must be approved by Council (a draft was distributed)
• Discussion within the Skate Park rules first raised by Councilman Bowers on the difference between "Refrain" and "No" when beginning the sentence "use of profanity". Then in regard to who the "Borough" was in the context the Borough reserved the right to close the Skate Park at any time for any period of time as deemed necessary (my summary, not actual wording). Ultimately Council President Chiavaroli noted the Park Manager ought to inform Police to close and if serious incident Public Works Committee should determine the length of closure. It was later agreed after more discussion that the "Borough" was adequate for the rule and procedure could determine those eligible to do so."

No where in this conversation did it say that Public Property Committee could shut down the Skate Park. It said the Park Manager could inform police to close the park and then the Committee would determine the length of closure.

Based on this the Park Manager was responsible to make the decision, not the Chairman of the Committee.

There is, however, a loophole. The final rule reads (read them all here):

The Borough reserves the right to close the facility for any circumstances deemed necessary, restrict entry to the facility and ask persons to leave the facility if any of the guidelines are not followed or if unsafe behavior is observed.

The Borough, as noted in the summary above, was never publicly defined. Typically, this would refer to administrative function, Mayor, Police, etc., not individual Council members, though Bowers took it upon himself to be the Borough and outlined his own chain of command in the absence of a written one.

In the end we may blame communications, and this had a large part, but ultimately our Council did not do an adequate job in determining a procedure to address the Skate Park. More clarity should have been given in regard to what would constitute grounds for a closure, who other than the Park Manager and Police were able to (as outlined in the summary) close the Park, how the closure would be communicated, and finally what would take place following a closure (was mentioned in the summary).

By not taking the time to work this out we are left with a bad start to a controversial project and have put ourselves in a hole we need to work out of. The Council, having allocated funds and building the facility, have an obligation to make this Park work for the taxpayers and the Skate Association has a responsibility to work with them to see it happen.

State Closes Northampton County Childcare in Nazareth

Both the Express-Times (read it here) and Morning Call (read it here) report that the Northampton County Childcare in Nazareth on Belvidere Street was closed by the State.

According to the reports, "the violations "constitute gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct in operating a facility and pose an immediate and serious danger to the life or health of the children in care."

The Express-Times further reports, "Gayle Sarmir, listed as the director/president of Northampton County Childcare, said her attorney advised her not to comment on the public welfare report. She said she will file an appeal before a deadline expires Monday. She said she has owned the center for 11 years."

Skate Park Lockdown

According to reports in the Express-Times (read it here) and Morning Call (read it here) Nazareth Borough Councilman Conrad Bowers tried his best to incite Borough Park goers hoping to use the brand new Skate Park on Monday by not once, but twice locking the facility down.

To their credit, the forty or so individuals who were trying to use the public facility, waited and waited and waited. A few made phone calls to parents, the Borough offices, the Police, anyone who might be able to explain why the Park facility was closed. As they did others skated around the facility intended for their use but denied for no apparent reason.

At noon following calls received at the Borough and Police officers, interim Chief Koch reopened the area only to have Bowers return and order him to clear it at which time Bowers relocked it.

Bowers told JD Malone of the Express-Times, " "I think it's a liability for the borough. You're talking a straight drop," Bowers said of the 4-foot drop from the deck of the quarterpipes. "I don't consider that to be safe."

Finally at 5:00 p.m. Council President Chiavaroli over-ruled Bowers decision and the Park facility was re-opened.

Bowers acted based on his role as Chairperson of Public Property. At a previous Council meeting a schematic of the Park was presented based on the equipment the Borough was purchasing. The quaterpipes were described as having the loading dock drop off as an option by leaving one of the three rails left off. At another Council meeting, the very issue of who is 'responsible' for the Skate Park was discussed. As I recall no one appointed Bowers as the decision-maker. Instead it was noted that the Park Manager would be responsible and instructed to immediately call police if there was a problem or incident. The responding officer(s) could then determine if it needed to be closed or could be left open.

If Bowers was so concerned with liability, one has to wonder why he was not on site (and if he did why he didn't express his concerns) when the insurance company representative reviewed it or when the equipment manufacturer was assembling the pieces of the Skate Park.

Bowers, who lost his bid to be re-elected to his Council seat in the primary, was previously relieved of his duty as chairman of the transition committee when he first refused to allow the public to attend open meetings and then when he did let them come refused to allow them to speak.

It appears to me that Bowers baited the individuals who came to the Park to use the new Skate facility and they didn't take it. Fortunately, as a result of their restraint (we are mostly talking about teens) the consequences of Bowers actions did not result in any retaliation or correlated incidents.

At the end of the day, it would seem that Councilman Conrad Bowers is the biggest liability in the Borough at this time.

What do you think?

NASD 7/16 Board Meeting

This meeting was so quick, if you blinked you missed something (and even then there wasn't much "something"). Hensley, Maher and Marino were absent. For those who want to follow along, the agenda can be found here.

Mr. Scott Hartner asked about item VII.D which authorized the admin to spend $25K for the creation of a video and other expenses related to a fund-raising campaign for NASD. Dr. Lesky stated that this was for possible advertising at the stadium and other areas. It was joked that "highest bidder gets naming rights to the stadium" to which the reply by Dr. Lesky was "it seems to be going that way". This particular item comes on the heels of a question I asked the board a couple months back (when they were considering the new turf field). I simply stated that "it sure would be nice to get a sweetheart deal like the one BASD got with their new turf field". To which I was told to some extent that NASD is "working on that".

One item of note was that Mr. Heller's CIT refurbishment project is still "on time" and they still have contingency money left over. Now, they are deciding what to do with that. A couple of items that have needs are a new roof on the busing building where records (hard, paper copies) are also stored. Apparently, the roof leaks and some records have been already lost. Also discussed was repaving a parking lot that is also used by a CDL licensing facility (?) They contemplated going out for bid for these items, but it was stated that that would make it an additional project (non-reimburseable) and they would lose D'Huy supervision. Ultimately, it was decided to make change orders.

Dr. Lesky's report showed current Fall 07 enrollment and he noted that there are 121 new students to the district. However, he added that KG enrollment is down (less than the outgoing senior class) so perhaps the overall increase will not be that much. Current district enrollment is 4667. For comparison, May 07 enrollment was 4731 and Sept 06 enrollment was 4700.

The redistricting has had the desired effect of reducing enrollment at LNES. 24 kids moved from LNES to SES. Currently, SES has 657 and LNES has 661.

Mr. Butz made a motion to cancel next weeks board meeting. Motion passed. NO MEETING NEXT MONDAY. Next board meeting is August 20th in the board room at 7:30PM.

No further comments from the community. Meeting adjourned at 8:10 PM

Meetings Tonight

The Nazareth Area School Board Meeting is tonight at 7:30 p.m. As of this morning (7:30 a.m. there was no posted agenda).

The Nazareth Downtown Association Meeting is tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the Java Lounge in the Nazareth News Agency (South Main Street between Center and Belvidere Streets)

Archaeological Dig Underway

JD Malone of the Express-Times reports that the archaeological dig on the grounds of the proposed 7th & 8th grade building is now being conducted (read the article here).

The dig and study process are both outlined in the article. It is again noted that the cost to the NASD is about $100,000 and that this will not delay the project, although a Phase III follow-up could.

A note late in the article was of interest: " So far the dig has turned up a couple of dozen arrowheads and 10 to 20 pounds of other items, Lynch said. The items are photographed, catalogued and sent to Harrisburg for storage. The district can opt to store the stone tools and arrowheads but the state charges a fee to do so."

Wouldn't this be an ideal learning opportunity for students? Why not take these items, have reports and histories of the Indians who made them created, and display them in the lobby of the new building along with maps of where they were found and markers of the same in the to be created retention pond?

This would be first-hand history. Instead the state confiscates what is found on the school's property and charges a fee if the items aren't kept in the state's custody. Something doesn't seem right about this arrangement/process.

Prologis Purchases additional Area Warehouses

The Morning Call has an article (read it here) on the holdings of Prologis, the largest warehouse and distribution center company in Eastern PA.

Prologis has several current facilities in the Nazareth area and is building a new one along 248 & 33 and has purchased one and property for another on Hanoverville Road.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Recent conversations on this site and a nice email I received from a reader got me thinking about respect.

Sometimes you have to wonder to what extent people consider respect for others and others' property at a time when so many people are so focused on themselves. It is easy to remember the people who are so self-centered that they don't consider those around them. These are the ones who cut in line, pull out in-front of you, don't say excuse me, talk on their phone at inappropriate times and are outright rude in their quest to take care of themselves.

And then you step back and consider how many times people do make an effort to be nice, say hi, hold a door, wave you through, say excuse me, thank you, you're welcome, and I'd guess there are more people respectful than not, but the ones we remember more clearly and longer are the ones who are disrespectful.

As adults we model behavior for our kids and often they come around to exhibiting the same, but sometimes they don't. Beyond being a good example, though, parents need to also teach respect.

I try to respect others, their property, opinions, and being. I try to teach my kids the same. Living in the borough I've seen many instances that I would classify as disrespectful, or at the least lacking respect. I sometimes wonder to what extent is it intentional and to what extent do people simply not know any better.

As a kid I played in the street all the time. We lived in a three street neighborhood of about 20 homes or so. There was no through traffic. We played kickball every day in the summer and used chalk to make the bases. We got out of the way as fast as we could when someone yelled "car!"

Today, living in the borough, I don't think you'd find too many streets where a parent would be comfortable letting their kid play in. Yet (as I've noted before) I see kids using intersections to ride skateboards all the time and when a car approaches they take as much time as possible to get out of the way.

In this instance, I think they know better and are intentionally being disrespectful. And moreover, I think these kids do it for fun to see how upset the driver will get, but I digress.

Many kids like to cut through my neighbors' property. Each day I see some at all times of the day. They don't think twice about doing it. I've even seen kids ride their bike through the two yards. They are between about 4th grade and HS, so they should know better. In this case I'm thinking some do and some genuinely were never taught it wasn't right.

These same kids walk down the middle of the street instead of using a sidewalk. Most times they will slowly get out of the way when a car comes, but there is really no urgency in their doing so.

Again, I'm not sure how much is being disrespectful and how much is simply not knowing any better. Either way it comes back to their parents.

I'm sure at some point my kids when they are older are going to screw up. They will do something (hopefully not too often) that will make me question where I went wrong. And I'll remind myself that they are kids and kids make mistakes and that is how they learn. The key to this is to make sure they know they've made a mistake, because if they don't they are going to keep doing it and others will follow their behavior.

While I went on this morning, I guess I did because I find it so hard to believe that having respect is so hard for some individual's to exhibit and I wonder how you get it back once it is gone, assuming of course you had it in the first place.

Your thoughts?

Oil Spill Closes S. Broad Street

Both the Express-Times (read it here) and Morning Call (read it here) have blurbs regarding an oil spill on S. Broad Street that closed the road for three hours yesterday between E. Center and Belvidere Street.

One paper noted it was from a rental truck and the HazMat team was called in.

China Wok Robber Arraigned

Over the same weekend in early July both the China Wok and Kate's Garden Cafe were broken into and today the Morning Call reports (read it here) that the China Wok was robbed by Matthew Moeller, 43, of 330 S. Broad St., who stole $322.00.

The article notes "Matthew Moeller -- who originally claimed to be Jeff Eyer -- also is charged with receiving stolen property, loitering, public drunkenness, possession of drug paraphernalia and theft." Because he claimed to be Jeff Eyer he was also charged with giving false information to police.

Skate Park Opening Live and Online

Thanks to Rich Strucke for alerting me of the new web site (visit it here) created to provide information about the the Nazareth Skate Park, which has its official grand opening on Saturday at 10:00 a.m.

The site includes news, information about the Nazareth Area Skateboard Association (NASA), how to make a financial contribution to the Skate Park, and rules related to the use of the Skate Park.

It also has links of interest and allows comments.

The group did a great job getting this together in advance of the grand opening.

Legal Notices

Only saw one at this time in the Nazareth Area on the Express-Times' site:

• Lower Nazareth - Zoning Hearing meeting to be held on July 24, 2007 at 7:30 p.m., in the Lower Nazareth Township Municipal Building,

Colonial Regional Police Update

There is an article in the Express-Times (read it here) updating the situation regarding the Colonial Regional Police's new building that has threatened to eliminate the agreements between Bath, Hanover, and Lower Nazareth.

It pretty much comes down to control/ownership and money. The facility would move from Bath to Hanover with a purchase price of $1.5 million and an expected $1.3 million in renovations.

Hanover recently rescinded its letter of notice to leave, which is required one year in advance, and was submitted in December.

Eagle Scout Helps Park

The Express-Times has an article today (read it here) about an Eagle Scout project by Jeff Fehnel that provided Upper Nazareth Township with a sign for its Surrey Glenn Park.

A Lock of Washington's Hair in Nazareth

As far as anyone can tell President George Washington neither slept, nor visited Nazareth, but the Whitefield House does have a lock of his hair.

Historian and Nazareth teacher James Wright has an article on Washington's visits to Northampton County in the Express-Times (read it here).

In the article he notes:

One interesting relic from Washington's 1782 visit still exists.

While in Bethlehem, Washington gave a lock of his hair -- the 18th century version of a modern autograph -- to a young Moravian girl named Roseanna Beidleman.

The hair was preserved in a locket and can still be seen at the Whitefield House in Nazareth.