By Robert Field, Publisher The following article appeared in the Washington Post concerning the recent sale of the Scranton Times-Herald. “Could the local news crisis get any worse? Look at Scranton.” We had a similar LNP situation here in Lancaster but, thanks to the Steinman family that also had owned our newspaper for over a […]
Category: REF Speaks
Opioid Settlement Funding, spend it on needed health services, not law enforcement
Dear Commissioners Parsons, Trescot, and D’Agostino, I am writing to express my concern regarding the allocation of Lancaster’s Opioid Settlement Funds. As you may be aware, there have been recent proposals to spend a significant portion of the 2022 funds on law enforcement staffing. Please consider allocating 100% of the remaining $275,000 towards treatment, recovery, […]
A Visit to the New Lancaster Public Library
By Robert Field The Board of Directors and officers of Manor Management Corporation were meeting at our Lancaster home, so I needed a comfortable place to read and stay cool on a very hot summer day. I decided this was an opportune time to visit the newly opened Lancaster public Library at Ewall plaza in […]
Steinmans Donate LNP to WITF Foundation
By Robert Field, Publisher Few things have brought me as much joy recently than the announcement that the Steinman family is donating LNP to the WITF Public Foundation. I was also pleased when the Steinmans exited their half ownership of the Marriott Hotel, thus freeing itself from the sordid recent past. Newspapers throughout the country, […]
REF: Charlie Smithgall is in ‘Cannon Heaven’
An LNP article reports the death of Charlie Smithgall, Lancaster’s long time pharmacist, former mayor, and a unique and unforgettable individual. I only got to know Charlie during his two attempts for re-election at which time I was a significant funder and a would be political adviser. Upon my arrival at his house, he would […]
Peace between Russia and Ukraine
Sep 22, 2022. – E-mail to friends Based on current conditions, the following is a deal I propose between Russia and Ukraine that would allow both to retain their dignity: 1). A hundred year lease to Russia for Crimea. 2). Russia having the right of passage by a designated land and rail route to Crimea. […]
REF speaks: Is the “Atlantic” the “Fox News” of the left?
By Robert Field, Publisher Some weeks ago I discontinued my subscription to the “Atlantic”. This morning I heard Jeffrey Goldberg, its Editor in Chief, two times refer to Trump supports as “rabble”. I hardly consider almost half of the nation as “rabble”, defined at Google “as ordinary people, often regarded as socially inferior […]
Is the bar for proficiency now too high to encourage learning a musical instrument?
A couple of hundred years ago, only those living in major cities could hear professional performances of classical music. It was common for families and friends to gather in parlors to listen to amateurs perform music as best they could. The beauty of what they were playing transcended occasional mistakes, corrections, and misinterpretations. But in […]
REF speaks re arming teachers
Newslanc supports allowing specially trained school teachers to have access to guns, body armor and face shields in a secure classroom closet. Only trained volunteers would have access to the closets. I recall from our visits to Israel several decades ago that every adult from army age forward was required to keep a firearm in […]
REF: Is Scott Martin a gutless candidate for governor?
by Robert E. Field LNP, Dec. 11, 2021: “State Sen. Scott Martin is officially entering Pennsylvania’s 2022 race for governor Saturday, launching a campaign he hopes will rise above a crowded and well-funded Republican field by leaning on his relatability as a parent and small business owner and on his solid conservative legislative record… “Another […]
REF: A very apt title to a work of music
At times I envision composers getting together over drinks and laughing over the preposterous titles they give their works, as though the titles in any way have influenced the creations. But an outstanding exception to a linkage of music to events is Richard Strauss’s “Ein Heldenleben,” which translates as “A Hero’s Life” and refers to […]
REF: When Fascism came to Lancaster County
I recently encountered professor Timothy Snyder of Yale on MSNBC and ordered his very short book “On Tyranny”. For over sixty years I have tried to learn the meaning of “fascism”. I now understand my difficulties since it is more like a creeping cancer than an alternative form of government and, as we saw with […]
Boston Found a Scapegoat After 9/11
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/us/virginia-buckingham-boston-911.html by Robert Field I underestimated and questioned the hysteria following 9/11 and made the expensive mistake of so underestimating its effect that I blew $50,000 in launching the hitherto successful “Diamond Men” movie in over twenty theaters in the NYC region a few weeks later. When I sought to promote the movie by handing […]
REF speaks: I remain fearful at what may occur in the not distant future.
By Robert Field The visceral direction of the Right is a call to return to the USA of 1850, a nation of total white supremacy. Today we have a very different nation comprised of a citizenry and norms that were unimaginable back then. (And for white elders, it is hard to recognize and emotionally […]