I hope you cover somewhere in your PAM series the matter of the reported number of students vs. the actual number at any one time. There have been charges of enrollment inflation for the purpose of making the Academy appear more successful than it actually was in terms of enrollment.

It has been said that if a student enrolled for private instrumental lessons and also for a class (such as a theory class) that the student was actually counted as two students. Also, it was said in a recent LN story on PAM, that if a student enrolled for one class, he/she could take a second class for free. Could that student, then, actually count as three in enrollment statistics? Were pre-schoolers in their children’s music class (or infants in their Family Music class) counted the same as were the teen-age college preparatory students? There were three choirs; were they also counted the same as private instrumental students?

Who was responsible for the announcing of enrollment figures to the press? Was it the head of board of trustees, the registrar of the school or the founders themselves? And what of the report that the founders expected the faculty members themselves to recruit his/her own students and, if he/she didn’t do that, they would no longer be allowed to teach at PAM?

When PAM announced that it was planning to build a new building, I clearly recall that the founders were quoted as saying, “We have 400 students coming in here and we are bursting at the seams.” Yet, since they moved into their new building (that has been called a palace), the highest figure I’ve seen reported is 350. Later it was 325 and, more recently, 300. Has PAM’s enrollment actually decreased since the opening of its state-of-the-art building?

In addition to this, it was been reported that there are tuitions that are past due and that an attempt will be made to collect these past-due accounts. All reputable music academies and conservatories require payment in advance for lessons, usually by the semester, as are colleges. Why did PAM continue to teach students who had not paid for the lessons they were getting? Particularly when the instructors were on salary? This is tantamount to super-markets (or corner groceries) allowing persons to take groceries home without paying. Stores allowing this would soon be bankrupt.

Also, how many students were on full or partial scholarship compared with the number of students paying full tuition? Were all instrumental students private students or were several students allowed to share a class in order to make the lessons more affordable? (How many working class families can afford to pay $30 and more per half-hour lesson?)

And what was the arrangement with foreign students? Were these on full scholarship? Who paid their travel and living expenses? Their parents or PAM? If PAM, was it to give PAM the reputation of being an international school? Who paid for the founders’ trips overseas, particularly to Eastern Europe and to China?

What percentage of PAM’s income was expected to come from payment for private lessons?

Considering the reams of copy that has been written about PAM, whose product was music education, why has this information never been discussed or published? Was PAM a business or a charity? If a business, why was it so dependent on donations? If a charity, why did they build what has been called a “palace”? What were they (the founders), as well as the donors, thinking?

“The absence of trust is clearly inimical to a well-run society.   The great Jane Jacobs noted as much with respect to the very practical business of urban life and the maintenance of cleanliness and civility on city streets.  If we don’t trust each other, our towns will look horrible and be nasty places to live.  Mover, she observed, you cannot institutionalize trust.  Once corroded, it is virtually impossible to restore.  And it needs care and nurturing by the community – the collectivity- since with the best of intentions no one person can make others trust him and be trusted in return.”– Tony Judt, “Ill Fares The Land.”

There is a lesson above for Lancaster in the light of:

1)       The too hasty approval of the sale of Conestoga View by the former commissioners.

2)       The heavy handed and disingenuous ramming through of the Convention Center project despite 78% of the public with an opninion opposing a county guarantee per the the findings of a  nationally recognized pollster.

3)      The year long witch hunt conducted by then district attorney and now county judge Donald Totaro and wrongly contenanced by President Judge Louis Farina.

4)      The then biased news coverage by local media, so eggregious as to be subject to a suit for liable by a former commissioner.

5)      Franklin & Marshall College ramming through the relocation of the Norfolk Southern rail to a residential community without an expert study of alternate locations.

6)      The monopolistic profits,  lack of transparancy, disingenuous representations,  self perpetuating leadership, and paucity of finanicial suport of worthy community causes by Public Charity  Lancaster General Hospital.

Trust can only slowly be restored through rectitude.  Already the print media is doing its part.  Much will depend upon the actions of the new president at Franklin & Marshall.

Most important is whether Lancaster General Hospital stops stonewalling and obfuscation and instead becomes more forthright, transparent, and shares a larger portion of its excess profits with worthy organizations that  benefit the community at large.

From AOL NEWS / AP:

With BP declaring failure in its latest attempt to stop the uncontrolled gusher feeding the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the company is turning to yet another mix of risky undersea robot maneuvers and longshot odds to plug the blown-out well.

Six weeks after the catastrophe began, oil giant BP PLC is still casting about for at least a temporary fix to the spewing well underneath the Gulf of Mexico that’s fouling beaches, wildlife and marshland. A relief well that’s currently being drilled – which is supposed to be a better long-term solution – won’t be done for at least two months. That would be in the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season, which begins Tuesday…

[Doug] Suttles said BP is already preparing for the next temporary fix. The company plans to cut off the damaged riser, and then try to cap it with a containment valve. The effort is expected to take between four and seven days….

Click here to read the full article.

Second in series by Robert E.  Field

As an adviser to the Business Committee of the Pennsylvania Academy of Music (PAM), perhaps my very first act in September, 2009 was to raise funds among the Business Committee to engage Larry Michael, Esquire, of the law firm Dilworth and Paxton from Philadelphia.  He was a leading bankruptcy law practitioner and the  firm was distant enough not to be influenced by the Lancaster establishment .

McMichael painted no rosy picture concerning the future of PAM if it went through Chapter 11, although it would buy time for operations to continue under the Act’s protection.   The process was long and very expensive, perhaps as much as $250,000 for PAM and also for the creditors, and the outcome was not certain.  But for PAM to emerge  with a plan for reorganization that would enable it to conceivably retain a good portion of the chattel, well  over a million dollars in endowments and possibly even acquire the building for a low price,  McMichael stressed the importance of having a single class of creditors that would vote for PAM’s reorganization proposal.  (One class voting in favor is all that is required for its consideration.)

Not permitted as part of that new class were  trustees , their relatives, and myself on two counts, as an adviser and as formerly married to a trustee.  An adequate amount to be raised as a loan to the PAM was $50,000, preferably among a few individuals.    This could and should have been done at the very outset of the committee’s efforts.   Doing so would have changed the dynamics of any negotiation with the UNCB concerning its mortgage  and the foundations concerning their guarantees of  bank loans which,  all  in all, totaled  about $18 million dollar in PAM debt.

Their counsels would have understood the implications and dire consequences were PAM to seek Chapter 11 protection.  UNCB’s very independent continuation and Paul Ware’s ability to obtain charitable deductions were conceivably at risk.

(Nevertheless, I emphasize that PAM may not have emerged much better under Chapter 11.  But, by brandishing the credible possibilities of Chapter 11, a more favorable settlement might ultimately have been achieved.   This is a classic example of how “The threat is mightier than its execution.”)

But despite increasing urgency to gird PAM for battle, counsel’s preparations  of the necessary documents, and ongoing urgings on my part including an offer  to raise a good portion of the funds,  action was not taken.

Subsequent installments will show the unstinting and generally competent efforts of members of the Business Committee.    But nothing over the course of the months  to preserve PAM  represents better how the insular,  internecine  culture of those born in Lancaster  inhibits  taking confrontational stands and thus disturbing the social harmony among the establishment.

For every legitimate comment sent to NewsLanc, we have to wade through an average of about sixty spam messages, two-thirds coming from one hawker of pornography.  (It takes a lot of extra time looking at all of these…just kidding!)

The fantasy is a movie about inexplicable murders across the globe through slow strangulation.   Only towards the end are the victims identified as sources of spam and the murders funded by an alliance of news blog editors.

The old dog still can dream!

Editorial “Nancy’s new rules” states:  “…Republicans blamed [Nancy Pelosi[ for torpedoing President George W.  Bush’s $700 billion plan in 2008, then blamed her for the passage of Obama’s bailout.”

Also, “Earlier this month, she announced new travel rules for lawmakers and their families.  Lawmakers must travel in coach or economy class for all domestic and overseas trips.  Business-class seats are available only on trips lasting more than 14 hours.”

WATCHDOG: The almost trillion dollar TARP relief bill was passed with large support of Democrats during the George W. Bush administration.

It is highly unlikely that a congressman would not be ‘upgraded’ by the airline from economy to business or even first class.  (If criticized, they would say for security reasons.)   The unintended consequence is to push the extra cost onto the airlines and also to make legislators dependent on the good will of the airlines for their and their families’ travels.

From the NEW YORK TIMES:

This week, another research vessel confirmed the existence of a huge undersea plume. And on Thursday, a team of scientists appointed by the Obama administration offered a more credible estimate of the flow rate at the broken well, putting it at two to four times the previous calculation.

That higher estimate only added to the sense among academic scientists that much of the oil must be hovering in the deep sea, instead of surfacing. The goal of the researchers aboard the Walton Smith was to nail the existence of such deep-sea plumes beyond any doubt.

They sailed early this week from Gulfport, Miss., and went back to the spot where they had originally discovered a large plume. It was no longer there…

Click here to read the full article.

From the FINANCIAL TIMES:

Consumer spending stagnated in April as workers kept a tighter grip on their wallets and sought to rebuild their savings.

Savings increased to 3.6 per cent as a percentage of disposable income in April, after falling for the previous two months, according to a report from the commerce department on Friday. The jump from 3.1 per cent in March was the biggest since August 2009, leaving savings at their highest level since January…

The savings rate remains well below its historic levels. In the 1990s, personal savings averaged over 5 per cent of disposable income. But during the boom years, personal savings dropped dramatically, in some months not even reaching 1 per cent…

Click here to read the full article.

From NEWSMAX / AP:

BP’s chief operating officer says the attempt to plug the gushing Gulf oil well is going basically according to plan.

Doug Suttles says the company has shot assorted junk into the well along with heavy drilling mud to try to overcome the pressure of the oil.

He says the job remains underway even though there have been stops and starts to the actual pumping of heavy mud into the well…

Click here to read the full article.

From the YORK DISPATCH:

For what could become his first bill to make it into law, state Rep. Scott Perry picked an easy target.

The Dillsburg Republican’s latest proposed legislation would allow homeowners to use firearms or other deadly force against intruders without first retreating, as required under current law.

A variation of the “Castle Doctrine” and “Stand Your Ground” laws enacted by about half the states in recent years, Perry’s bill cleared the House Judiciary Committee this week by a 22-4 margin. It has widespread support from other lawmakers, 125 of whom have signed on as co-sponsors…

Click here to read the full article.