According to County Commissioner Scott Martin, State Senator Mike Brubaker will hold a mid-October meeting with local civic leaders, including the Commissioners, to assess citizen concerns regarding the use of Protection From Abuse orders (PFAs) in Lancaster County.

Describing the scheduled gathering, Martin said, “There are two ways you can address these kinds of issues. You can address them through the court process and appeals, or…you can address them from an advocacy standpoint in a legislation fashion.” Martin said that Brubaker will be present to represent the legislative angle of this discussion. Also to attend the meeting are District Attorney Craig Stedman and County Sheriff Terry Bergman, according to Paul Roland, a children’s rights activist who has recently spoken with Brubaker on this issue.

PFAs are frequently submitted by women alleging spousal abuse. The orders can effectively remove the alleged abuser from the home, demand financial support, and cut off communication between the alleged abuser and children. These orders are issued twice as often in Lancaster County than in York County, and some activists have cited this as evidence of a flawed system. In August, the group Daddy Justice provided the Commissioners with three consecutive presentations to address these concerns.

Roland, who participated in the Daddy Justice presentations, said that those August appearances did not directly result in the October meeting; although he maintained that, without the organization’s persistence, the issue would not likely have come to the attention of elected representatives like Brubaker. According to Roland, most leaders have been very receptive to calls for reform.

Martin assured Roland that his complaints—as well as those from other Daddy Justice representatives—have been duly noted by the Commissioners: “We are aware of your concerns, as we talked about them. We will have a very thorough meeting….The Senator, I’m sure, will have the legislation that governs [PFAs] currently, and that’s something that will be a point of discussion. And there will be advocates at the table…sharing their concerns about the system.”

Martin later clarified to NewsLanc that the primary purpose of the meeting will be to consider citizen complaints, not necessarily to produce or promote any future legislation. The leaders will address the matter as they would any other issue evoking such public complaints.

“Barnstormers attendance dips. But ‘Stormers’ draw 3rd most fans among teams in league”

WATCHDOG: Why do readers have to wade through over a dozen paragraphs of chatter about a little boy at baseball games to come to the subject of the headline—the fall-off in attendance as compared to past years? Do the editors think we can’t take our news straight?

At the September 22 meeting of Lancaster City Council, Mayor Rick Gray explained the changes that will take place upon Lancaster Township’s (LT) January 1 transition from police coverage by the Lancaster City’s Police Department to that of Manheim Township (MT). While blunt in his evaluation of what LT will lose, Gray maintained that the change will ultimately benefit city taxpayers.

Gray asserted that the City has long provided LT with a variety services that we never clearly billed. “In my view,” Gray said, “City taxpayers have been too often subsidizing the cost of police services to Lancaster Township.”

According to Gray, no Lancaster City patrol officer will be laid off as a result of the transition. The ten officers previously assigned to the LT area will be absorbed back into city patrols while the department will reduce its staff through regular attrition and retirements, Gray said.

Gray also noted that police response will likely be boosted for city residents after the 2010 transition. Under the current contract, when an officer assigned to LT is unable to work, the City customarily draws a replacement from its own areas of coverage. In this regard, residents of Lancaster City will experience a slightly more steady and reliable police presence after the transition.

During his remarks, Gray detailed some impacts that the transition will bring to LT:

• The City’s Detective Division will no longer serve the township. Over the past five years, of all the crimes that City detectives have investigated, 5-10% of crimes against persons and 10-15% of property crimes have come from Lancaster Township.
• Approximately 446 open investigations, including one homicide, will be turned over to the MT police department. Gray noted that some of these cases have actually been closed, but await the completion of final reports.
• For any cases currently under prosecution, the townships will have to reimburse the City for any expenses incurred through additional investigation and court appearance after December 31, 2009.
• All LT-related items in the City’s evidence warehouse will be turned over to MT. This collection accounts for about 15% of the entire warehouse inventory.
• Parking enforcement, City computer database access, collection of unpaid parking tickets, and collection of certain fines are also among those services that the City will no longer provide.

Finally, Gray asserted that, since City police and MT police run their radios on different bands, “our police officers won’t hear an emergency call” related to any problem in the LT area. “I’m not sure anybody considered that in doing this,” Gray said.

A press release from the Pennsylvania Academy of Music, reporting multiple changes, led with the following:

“Michael Jamanis, co-founder of the Pennsylvania Academy of Music, has assumed a new role as president emeritus of the landmark music school and performance center in downtown Lancaster. His request to move from president to the new position was approved by the Academy Board of Trustees at their regularly scheduled meeting Monday evening, September 21.”

Also announced was the creation of the Business Committee consisting of three prominent Lancastrians—Art Mann as chair; Mary Burton, and retired attorney Jon Tryon, all PAM trustees. The Business Committee will also fulfill the function of the presidency for the time being. 

Mann is the long time CEO of Donsco, Inc., a former chair of the board of directors of the School District of Lancaster, and a co-founder of the Hourglass Foundation.  Burton was was the long time president  of  Specialized Medical Devices. 

Tryon was also elected Vice Chair.

Michael T. Jamanis, a member of the faculty and of the Newstead Trio, was appointed the school’s dean of faculty.

Also announced was that the Philadelphia law firm of Dilworth Paxson was retained as counsel.

The release further states: “[Jamanis] will remain on the Board of Trustees. His wife and Academy co-founder, Frances Veri, will continue in her role as vice president and academic dean with an emphasis on planning academic curriculum and graduate studies.  

According to Robert Falk, Jr., M.D., Board of Trustees chairman,   “Without the day-to-day management responsibilities inherent in the office of the president, he can work in the realm of development to further the academic mission of the school both at home and around the world.  Michael’s talents in this area are unsurpassed and will be a tremendous boost to the Academy.”

The Lancaster Community Safety Coalition says on its website that surveillance cameras deter crime. Apparently, the Coalition believes that criminals will not commit a crime within the sight of a camera. Recent events disprove that theory.

Within a 3-day period recently, three serious crimes were committed on city streets. Each of these crimes took place less than a block away from a surveillance camera. These crimes occurred in totally different areas of the city.

On Sept. 10, a woman was robbed at knifepoint in the 200 block of W. James St. There is an LCSC camera at the beginning of that block at W. James/N. Mulberry. An F&M camera is at the end of that block at W. James/N. Charlotte.

That same day, a man was robbed and assaulted on E. Filbert St. near St. Joseph St, which runs between W. Vine and Poplar Sts. There is an LCSC camera where E. Filbert St. intersections with W. Vine St.  There is another camera where E. Filbert St. intersects with Poplar St.

On Sept. 8, there was a robbery of a woman at gunpoint in the 100 block of S. Ann St. There is an LCSC camera at the intersection of S. Ann/E. End Ave., which is the beginning of the 100 block of S. Ann St. There is another camera at the next intersection, at S. Ann/New Dauphin St.

Last month, two murders were committed on the same day near the intersection of E. Orange and N. Plum Sts., where an LCSC camera is located.

The money being spent on this costly program would be better spent on proven crime-reducing programs. These include a greater police presence (on foot, bikes or horses), neighborhood policing, block watch groups, personal safety programs and the improvement of blighted neighborhoods.

At the September 22 County Commissioners Work Session, James Laughman, Executive Director of the Mental Health/Mental Retardation/Early Intervention Program, provided a brief update on his most recent knowledge regarding the estimated arrival of funding from the State budget. According to Laughman, many County agencies will likely have to wait until the beginning of November—“if we are lucky”—to receive dollars from the unofficially secured 2009-2010 budget.

Laughman’s comments were based on personal conversations with Harrisburg insiders, and Commissioner Craig Lehman, a former Harrisburg budget analyst, expressed a similar evaluation. Even in the midst of these observations, however, the County officials maintained that nothing is yet certain.

The September 22 Intelligencer New Era reported on this uncertainty—wrought by the “handshake” agreement that Governor Ed Rendell announced last Friday. The article roughly placed the arrival of State subsidies at some point in October, and quoted the executive director of a local service organization that her operation would not “make it” to November without State funds.

According to Laughman, even if Harrisburg were to formally pass the budget next week, funds would not arrive until as late as November. This is because, according to Lehman, the proposed budget will require additional legislation: “The budget is actually the easiest technical piece….The more complicated piece will be the accompanying legislative bills that go along with it—things like sales tax and the table games piece. Those are the things that are going to lag.”

Lehman also indicated that, to avoid some of these delays, the State may work to quickly pass those elements of the budget not requiring special legislation.

In response to a NewsLanc request to attend the board meetings of Lancaster General Hospital, a high ranking LGH official responded as follows:

“Lancaster General Health and Lancaster General Hospital are both considered public charities under the IRS code. As noted in a prior email to NewsLanc from John Lines, our Board meetings and Committee meetings are not open to the public other than the one public meeting of the hospital board that is held each year.”

We don’t question the legal correctness of their decision, but conducting the public’s business behind closed door is worrisome, especially when partially through market dominance LGH is able to extract well over a hundred million dollars a year in profits from county residents.

We will be examining this issue further in the future. But for starters, we recommend that a county commissioner, the mayor of Lancaster, and the chair of the School District of Lancaster be made ex-officio members of the LGH board.

Then the public would have a voice in these insular proceedings, now conducted by board members who were selected by board members, and who may be unduly lavishing funds on Lancaster General Hospital rather than contributing to public health, education, and social safety net programs that are languishing for lack of adequate funding.

The first in a series by Cliff Lewis

According to Jon Mitchell, athletic director for the School District of Lancaster (SD of L), McCaskey High School’s athletic program is well on its way to becoming a competitive force in the region. Mitchell observed that school’s seven fall programs have already shown improved performance and morale.

Mitchell noted the following achievements in a recent NewsLanc interview:

• The boys’ soccer team currently holds a 5-1 record, a reversal of the team’s 2008 performance. Mitchell credits recent training programs by OneOnOne Soccer of Lancaster as well as the team’s general maturation for the jump in performance.
• The boys’ cross country team holds a 7-1 record, with their single loss owing to a razor-thin 28-27 defeat from Lancaster Mennonite.
• The girls’ field hockey team has tied one game and lost the other to Penn Manor High School, which, according to Mitchell, is known to be a dominant force statewide.

This month marks the beginning of Mitchell’s first full school year as the District’s athletic director. Since taking on the role in January, his most prominent task has been the search for a new head football coach. In May it was announced that David Given, formerly of Tuscan, Arizona, was hired to fill the role. According to Mitchell, the District was especially attracted to Given for his propensity toward “public image and understanding what we need to do to change some of the beliefs and attitudes of people about our program.”

Thus far, the football team has lost its first three games. The slow beginning owes partly to an unanticipated academic probation for nine athletes—at least four of whom, Mitchell said, were starting players. Yet bystanders have noted an improved spirit and greater discipline.

To promote better academic performance among all of the athletes, academic tutoring services are now available prior to the school day, rather than forcing students to choose between tutoring and after school practice. Also, Mitchell has been emphasizing excellence over mere eligibility:

“Eligibility is for losers who just want to know ‘how much can I fail?,” he asserted. “We need to change that attitude and the culture of who we are, so that we only do our best.”

Mitchell believes a stronger athletic program will only improve student life if that program instills the ethical values that life demands. Citing a national survey of 25,000 student athletes that showed a below-average ‘moral reasoning,’ Mitchell asserted, “We do not inherently learn those things from athletics. Rather, we learn those things from athletics when we have moral, ethical coaches who use that sport to teach it.”

Staff members, as well, have been held to higher expectations. “I am not afraid to hold people accountable,” Mitchell said in reference to the District’s athletic staff.  He also observed that these new standards may have partly contributed to an increased amount of staff turnover in the last year. “I think the other thing,” Mitchell qualified, “is that it’s just natural for an organization, when you see leadership change, to see a change in personnel.” Lately, a large portion of Mitchell’s time has been committed to recruiting new coaches and their assistants.

Considering Mitchell’s spirit of principled urgency and the jump in fall athletic performance, it seems clear that this changing of the guard has marked a new chapter for SD of L sports.

In his weekly column, Editor Marv Adams queries:

“If you opposed President Obama’s health plan, would you have opposed it had it been President Bush’s plan?”

“If you support Obama’s plan, would you be supporting it if Bush had raised the idea?”

WATCHDOG: Good questions.

In his weekly column, Associated Editor Gil Smart suggests that opposition to Lancaster General Hospital building locating in West Earl Township is analogous to complaints against Walmart stores driving out smaller competition. (He only does so for illustrative purposes to make another point.)

WATCHDOG: This is not a valid comparison. Walmart is a for-profit business and competes with other for-profit business. Lancaster General Hospital is non-profit foundation whose market dominance has enabled it to generate annual earnings of well over a hundred million dollars at the expense of insurance companies and thus, indirectly, its patients, who have to pay higher premiums.

Since it is publicly owned, LGH should be using much of those profits to support worthy community healthcare and educational needs, which is consistent with its stated mission. Instead it provides a pittance of aid, we are told lavishes benefits on executives, and is acting in a predatory manner as though it is Walmart rather than a public institution.

What gain is it to our community to have LGH drive the Ephrata hospital out of business? How does it help the community to have hundreds of millions of dollars invested in duplicating existing services rather than directed to meeting existing community needs?