According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 36 million Americans (17%) have some degree of hearing loss, making it the third most common health issue facing Americans after heart disease and arthritis. But individuals with hearing loss and their family members often have trouble finding the resources they need to adjust to living...
With the onset of an ever-increasing gas boom in our region, the weight of the impact is being considered by many of us with great concern over the future of our community as a whole. Living a stone’s throw from Rt. 664, I have had fi rsthand experience with the increased truck traffic and...
Successful people and successful organizations set goals and make plans to achieve them. A Comprehensive Plan is focused on the future, encouraging people to think about what kind of community we really want and attempting to define a shared vision in terms of goals and objectives. We know tomorrow will be dramatically different from...
Are the Occupy movements starting to drift toward the classrooms? On November 17, several Pennsylvania College of Technology students “occupied” outside the Academic Success Center on Third Street, protesting against high tuition and demanding education equity. Like members of the Occupy Movement in New York, the Penn College students want to demonstrate that the...
The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street are polar opposites in their political commitments and policy goals. The former articulates a militantly right-wing ideology with particular emphasis on reducing the size of government social programs. The latter, while much newer and still inchoate insofar as specific proposals are concerned, certainly stands for more robust...
Zuccotti Park in Manhattan is named not for some obscure Italians revolutionary hero or an oddly shaped pasta, but for John Zuccotti, co-chair of the board of Brookfield Properties, the company that owns the land on which the park is situated. A former deputy mayor of New York City, he has an annual salary...
The creative, cultural entrepreneurs and explorers who pioneered new lifestyles in dilapidated urban neighborhoods are identified as the “creative class,” a term coined by Richard Florida in his 2004 ground-breaking book The Rise of the Creative Class. Florida traces the fundamental theme that runs through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society:...
There’s a famous quote I’ve heard numerous times, sometimes attributed to 18th-century politician and philosopher Edmund Burke, that goes something like this: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Recently, the nation has been captivated by an unbelievable tragedy that has been brought to light at...
The Executive Director of AIDS Resource in Williamsport, Kirsten Burkhart, is a national HIV Hero! Kirsten won the honor in a nationwide contest to identify the heroes who help victims fight HIV in their communities every day. Winners were chosen by a panel of judges including Grammy Award-winning singer Dionne Warwick, actor Wilson Cruz,...
The YWCA of Northcentral PA has had a long history within the Williamsport community of providing unique services to the area. Founded in 1893, the YWCA began as a community-minded organization and has continued to adapt to the needs of Lycoming County for over 100 years. Today the organization has grown and developed into...
On November 22, in Tunkhannock, Terry Engelder of Penn State University gave a PowerPoint presentation advocating forced pooling. Our regular contributor Ralph Kisberg presented the following counterpoint to Engelder’s presentation. On the surface, no pun intended, compulsory pooling flies against the instincts of most of us. My property, my rock, my gas, my consent...
State grants given to build Kohl’s department store in downtown Williamsport … $5 million Retail jobs at Williamsport Kohl’s … 130Personal pay “earned” by NY hedge fund profiteer John Paulson last year by suckering investors & betting that the U.S. real estate market would collapse … $5 billionNumber of high-paying jobs John Paulson claimed...
Dear Editor: For the past three months I had the privilege of serving on the Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission, which hosted five hearings across Pennsylvania to give citizens a voice on Marcellus Shale gas drilling. More than 400 citizens attended and dozens testified, eager to have their voices heard. Last week, the Commission released...
To all concerned citizens: As a Pennsylvania resident, business owner and employer of 75, I have very serious concerns about the pace of the development of Hydraulic Fracturing in Pennsylvania. As a property owner in Sullivan County, PA, I have firsthand knowledge of the Gas Industry and the high pressure tactics that the energy...
Ever since Steve Jobs died, I’ve been thinking about my heroes. Steve Jobs changed my life by thinking differently. In the mid 80s I walked into a computer shop with my fiancé. We were two kids in our early 20s who looked as if we didn’t have two dimes to rub together, so no...
Have you ever wondered whether you’re a cynic or a romantic? If so, I have an hour and a half quiz for you. It’s a new critically acclaimed film called Like Crazy. I always assumed I was a romantic, at least when it came to my taste in movies. My list of all-time favorite...
In part one of this interview, I focused on the artistic side of Williamsport Sun-Gazette Arts and Entertainment Editor Matt Parrish. The second part of my conversation with him focuses on other areas of interest in his professional and personal life. WG: How do you combine your writing with your art? How do they...
The last two months have been full of changes for Williamsport Community Radio. The station is now back on the air after recovering from a lightning strike and surviving a hurricane and a tropical storm. We’ve now installed a battery backup system and continue to move toward building a professional studio where we can...
ARIES—Do not, under any circumstances, even consider dressing as anyone from “The Jersey Shore” for Halloween. Trust me on this. Avoid herbal teas made with purple flowers. Do, however, wear a purple hat. Chew gum to help curb your tendency to break into song at inappropriate times. TAURUS—Th ese cool, dark mornings have...
I’ll admit that in the three years I’ve invested in getting Williamsport a new public concrete skatepark, I’ve had my doubts that it would ever really be possible. Don’t get me wrong. The support has always been there. The dream has always been there. Mayor Campana initiated the idea after realizing that hundreds of...
Peg & Bill’s II Diner is tucked in between residences on Memorial Avenue near the Pajama Factory. The place was recommended by some of the folks who pull late-nighters during Guardian publication time, and I was thrilled to learn of it, because I just adore diners. I lived in New England for the best...
I’m sure that at some point in the past I have called my brother an idiot. After watching Our Idiot Brother, I feel the need to correct that and admit that my brother is definitely not an idiot. Neither is Ned, the main character of the film, who is ably played by Paul Rudd,...
I admit it: I love celebrities. I love to see what “they” are doing. I love to see what “they” are wearing. I love the air of glamour they portray while I am wearing peanut butter-crusted yoga pants that I happen to be wearing for the second day in a row. It is escapism...
Recently, I was able to catch up with the überbusy Matt Parrish. Matt, the Entertainment and Arts editor at the Sun-Gazette, has art featured at the Grey Gallery and is part of a current group show at Lycoming College. Perhaps fittingly, we met up at the hub of all things creative—the Pajama Factory—to discuss...
The Susquehanna River: America’s most endangered river Union County Public Library, 255 Reitz Blvd, Lewisburg Tuesday, October 11, at 6:45pm The Otzinachson Group of the Sierra Club will present a program on our threatened Susquehanna River. The presentation will be made by Liz Garland Deardorff from the American Rivers organization, which for the past...
Dallas billionaire T. B. Pickens addressed a crowd of 1700 in a folksy “conversation” at the CAC in Williamsport on the last Friday of September. The evening began with a fairly short monologue consisting of a few entertaining anecdotes, opinions on our political and economic situation, wisdom gleaned from the oil patch, and cryptic...
When I was a kid, my father used to get free press passes to the circus when it came to Madison Square Garden. As a writer for a New York newspaper, he also got passes to go where ordinary mortals couldn’t go, like the VIP viewing platform for Michelangelo’s Pietà at the New York...
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” — Albert Einstein Hopefully, there will come a time when it is widely understood that people are complex organisms with varying degrees of political persuasions. But these days, the media have become a successful tool in shaping our inner monologues...
GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES FEMA/PEMA/County of Lycoming Disaster Recovery Center This location brings together federal and state flood assistance for individuals and businesses affected by the September flooding. Open 7 days a week from 10am until 7pm. Directions: 740 Fairfield Rd, Montoursville. Take Interstate 180 or Lycoming Mall Drive to Fairfield Rd. Follow signs for...
COUNTY COMMISSIONER Steve Shope I’m running for county commissioner for two reasons. First, I was tired of seeing career politicians ignoring the will of the people that put them in office. The issues facing our county have become too serious to allow complacency and party politics to keep us from getting the work done....
The gas rush is bringing rapid changes to the landscape and quality of life in our region. Some individuals and advocacy groups have responded to those changes and the risks they pose to our air quality, water resources, health, and peace of mind by calling for a complete ban on shale gas development. Let’s...
There is a movement happening. I am not referring to a small percentage of angry kids walking behind an empty cause. The Occupy Wall Street protests have drawn a following from every age, race, occupation, gender and sexual orientation. The movement has even spread out of Manhattan and into a projected 65 cities within...
I am for laughter. I am for hugs. I am for playing in the dirt with my kids. I am for romantic movies. I am for songs that make me sing out loud. I am for believing that people are generally good, no matter how many times they try to prove me wrong. I...
The Williamsport Guardian thought our readers might be interested in the following e-mail exchange on the subject of public comment on Chesapeake Oil and Gas’s application for a water withdrawal and filling station in Hillsgrove, a topic we covered in our last issue. Dear Mr. Dehoss and Ms. Ballaron, Please include what...
Take-home pay of the chairman of Merck in 2010 … $17.9 millionNumber of workers Merck plans to lay off this year … 13,000What the CEO of Bank of America takes in annually … $10 millionNumber of workers Bank of America has announced it’s laying off … 30,000Amount of nation’s income taken in 1979 by...
In our last issue we printed a letter to the editor that asked: “What are you for?” and so in this issue we asked some of our regular writers as well as candidates for local office to tell us what they are for. It therefore seems appropriate for me to use this editorial space...
Cliff Rieders, author of “Yiddish for Politicians,” listed his membership on the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Board at the end of the article. That got me wondering. Is there a Pennsylvania Client Safety Board? It seems only natural that if there is a need for a Patient Safety Board, there must be a need for...
MISPLACED GRATITUDE
The plaque just inside the front door of Penn College’s spectacular Madigan Library contains this message to former State Representative Brett Feese: “Your tenacity, skill and leadership provided the resources necessary for our dream to become a reality. We will be forever grateful.” Now that a jury has determined that Rep. Feese employed that...
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