Sayso

Sunday, March 02, 2003     Page: 1B

HOW THOUGHTLESS are the people with the snow blowers that put the snow on
other people’s property? Don’t they realize that they have to get rid of the
snow as well? Thank you.
   
MOBILE HOME buyers, beware. Be prepared when you decide to buy. They can
sucker you in in a heartbeat. Even try and get it in writing, especially if
you are renting your lot. They’ll give you one price but they don’t tell you
how much it costs for hook-up fees. They tell you one amount, but it changes.
They’re bad, real bad. Thanks.
    ELAINE CURRY HAD a lot of nerve writing that letter to the editor
criticizing Sue Schaeffer’s letter. Elaine Curry tends to forget that she is a
public official and anyone has the right to write a letter stating their
opinion without getting criticized or attacked by an elected official. Curry
should have politely explained the reason behind the review of intensive
scheduling. I hope other members of the public are not discouraged by this and
will continue to speak out.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sue Schaeffer is a parent and member of BoardWatch, a
citizens group. Elaine Curry is a member of the Hazleton Area School Board and
chairwoman of the Secondary Education Committee.
   
YOU KNOW, I realized here over in the Southside a lot of people put a lot
of faith into what this Seeker guy has been saying. You know he’s been doing
this for about three or four years now. I think the Times Leader should run
everything this Seeker guy has ever said and let the people decide if this
person or persons are inside Democratic majority and they know what’s going on
in the McAdoo Borough. And as for Kline Township, well, how can they know
about the Republicans in Kline Township and the Democrats in McAdoo? Is it one
person or is it a group of many people? I think the Times Leader should run
all the Seeker’s articles and let the people decide who they think the Seeker
is. I think it’s a bunch of people who want to change this community because
this community is rotten.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: As we noted about two years ago when someone made the same
request, we generally don’t reprint SAYSO calls. However, we would be willing
to pursue a story on the Seeker and his or her prognostications if he or she
would contact us. We’ve invited the Seeker to contact us on at least two
occasions, but never received a response. How about it, Seeker? Give us a call
at 459-2005. We promise to keep your identity a secret.
   
IS SAMMY SCALLEAT the same person that Dr. Shepperson caught having the
U.S. News and World Report mailed to his home when he was on a sabbatical
leave? Quite interesting.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Scalleat is the director of federal programs and
guidance in the Hazleton Area School District. Superintendent Geraldine
Shepperson said a board member questioned an agenda item on payment approval
for subscriptions. Shepperson said she didn’t have details, but checked and
found that one of the requests was for a subscription to the USA Today
newspaper for Scalleat. Scalleat was on sabbatical at the time and the
subscription was being sent to his home. The School Board by a 6-3 vote denied
the request that the district pay for the newspaper subscription. Scalleat
responded to this call and several others that follow by saying: “I think
it’s obvious that all of the statements to which you are asking me to respond
come from a single frustrated individual. Although I could answer each of them
and continue to belabor the point, I think it’s best if I follow some advice
given by a friend. And that is, don’t get into a urinating contest with a
skunk unless you’re prepared to smell like one.”
   
SAM SCALLEAT, WHAT an example of an educational leader. He hasn’t taken a
course, he can’t supervise his teachers, he can’t evaluate his teachers, he
doesn’t have a certificate.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: Superintendent Shepperson said Scalleat has a supervisor of
guidance certificate and can only evaluate guidance counselors. She said that
under federal Title I guidelines, “you don’t need to be a school professional
to coordinate a Title I program.”
   

   
SAM SCALLEAT, HAVE you ever made a personal long distance phone call on
School District time? Have you ever put personal mail in the district mailbox
for them to put postage on? Have you run your private businesses from the
school district?
   

   
PLEASE FIND OUT if Sam Scalleat took a leave of absence and never had to be
replaced. That’s how little work he does.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: Superintendent Shepperson said Scalleat took a half-year
sabbatical in the 2000-2001 school year and another half-year sabattical in
the 2001-2002 school year. She said she, director of curriculum Deb Carr and
other administrators “did what had to be done” in Scalleat’s absence.
   
SINCE WHEN DO health teachers in the Hazleton Area School District have an
aide to assist them? Tammy Skoteck, who taught elementary swimming for the
first half of the year, had a swim aide to assist her with the children in the
locker rooms and to be an extra pair of eyes in the pool area. Mrs. Skoteck,
who now teaches health to the seventh grade, still has an aide for four and a
half hours a day. Do all seventh-grade health teachers have aides? Or is it
just Mrs. Skoteck?
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: Superintendent Shepperson said all swimming teachers in the
elementary schools have a swimming aide, and only during swimming season. She
said there are swimming teachers and aides at the Freeland, Heights,
McAdoo/Kelayres and Valley schools. Shepperson said no teachers have aides in
health classes.
   
I WOULD LIKE TO know what the McAdoo plows are doing on the state highways
when they have to clean their own streets. Their streets are deplorable, back
alleys, you can’t even get out to go to work, you can’t go up and down the
streets, but they’re out doing the state highways. Of course, our mayor got
out, thank God.
   
A SAYSO CALLER said to fix the fax and the phone lines in the Arthur Street
school in the fall. Why not fix them now? We need to have those things fixed.
By saying wait until fall, caller, you are showing your true colors.
   
THIS CALL IS to set the record straight. This call is on behalf of federal
programs director Sam Scalleat. The truth is that Sam has done an excellent
job and is an asset to this district.
   
SINCE THE SECRETARY in the borough of McAdoo was able to find this
so-called porn on the computer, I think what they should do is, once the
police come in, they should investigate all of those McAdoo employees who have
access to that computer, including her. And then maybe they should check other
records too, because if this is going on and they try to set up an
ex-employee, I think maybe they should file charges against the people who are
trying to do this because that’s what it appears to me from what I’ve read. I
think that there’s a little bit more to it than what they’re doing. They’re
trying to cover something up.
   
IT’S TUESDAY, 10 a.m. The streets of Kline Township are horrendous. The
plows have done nothing, have not tried to do anything. All they’re doing is
making a bigger mess. They have left piles of snow in intersections where
people are getting stuck. I have this on video tape. Yes, I do, and I’ll give
it to you. Let me say this much: don’t blame it on the snowfall as much as the
stupidity of our three supervisors. … That’s right, the last snow storm, the
loader broke down, the plow broke down. The brand-new plow that they spent all
of this money on that we needed broke down, and guess what, they didn’t get
them fixed. We have $150,000 surplus; they don’t get things fixed. We have 75
percent of the citizens in Kline Township are 55 and older. These people have
been paying taxes for a long time, a lot longer than you’ve been arrive, Mr.
Francis Patton and Carmen Cara. They deserve better. It’s about time the
people in Kline Township wise up and get rid of you idiots and put in some
people that can do the job. It’s a shame that Tony Morelli passed away
because, I hate to say it, this would have never happened if he was still a
supervisor.
   
I LIVE IN KLINE Township on First Street, and I was driving down Market
Street and I got stuck in the intersection of Market and Second Street. If it
wasn’t for the young man who was shoveling his snow, I wouldn’t have gotten
out. He told me the plow driver left it that way. These plow drivers are
terrible. We need to do something in this Township. We need new supervisors
who know what they’re doing.
   
THE CABLE COMPANY should put back the same channels that they had before.
All the good channels were taken away from us. They claim we are getting more
channels. All we are getting is junk.
   
WHEN THE SAYSO column fist appeared it was both interesting and
entertaining. Calls were made with intelligent questions or comments
concerning many subjects of interest. The SAYSO columns has slowly degenerated
to calls that include personal attacks on physical appearances, which I find
cowardly. The editor or whoever is responsible for selecting the calls to be
printed should reject any that include insults of this kind. Don’t we all
dislike the bully’s mistreatment of others? It causes pain and anger to the
victim. Why would mature adults stoop to that level under the mask of
anonymity? Is it because they have nothing to love about themselves and they
have a lack of self respect? Try sticking to the facts only.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: We tend to agree with you regarding personal attacks on
personal appearance. We normally do not print such calls, although we admit
that a few made it into SAYSO columns in the past. You make some other good
points as well. But when you suggest sticking to the facts only, remember that
SAYSO is an opinion column. And some people tend to interpret facts
differently than others. We do try to ensure that any statements presented as
fact are true. But the majority of SAYSO calls are opinions.
   
I CALLED BEFORE, a couple of months ago. I work up at the Hazleton General
Hospital. Girls in (name of department deleted), keep a stiff upper lip, it’ll
get better. We see what’s happening. Their morale is so low in that
department, I just wish you all well. I understand people get jobs, lead
clerk, or whatever they call that, boss or supervisor, and you have no
experience. That girl that got that job should not have, no way. You guys are
doing a good job except for a few pieces of dead wood who are nothing but
brown-nosers.
   
I THINK I finally realized what sheer gall is. I had my car parked in front
of my house. I shoveled my way out on Monday morning to go to work, got to
work, came back later in the day to find that a neighbor had parked in my
spot. I had to park two blocks away on one of the side streets. Then, later in
the day, the neighbor pulled their car out of my space and put two folding
chairs where their car had been. Keep in mind, they did not shovel the space
out, they just kind of adopted it or laid claim to it. I think what I’m going
to do this summer is every day I’m going to park my car in front of their
house and see how they like it.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: What your neighbor did sounds very inconsiderate. But your
plan for the summer seems spiteful. Don’t you think it would be more
neighborly and mature to talk to your neighbor about parking in the space you
shoveled out? Also, keep in mind that setting out chairs in a parking space
might be illegal in your municipality. Why not call and ask your local police
department and ask them for a recommendation on how to handle it. We would be
curious to know their response.
   
I THINK PEOPLE in West Hazleton need to start attending council meetings
and we need to take action against our council members. What are we paying
taxes for? The streets are a mess since the snow and nobody plowed. It’s now
Wednesday, they’re still a mess. Allen Street, a main route in West Hazleton,
is a mess. There are cars parked illegally, not being ticketed because we
don’t have a police force to enforce the parking laws, and, on top of that,
the borough workers don’t even know how to plow correctly. They need to go to
Hazleton to learn how to plow intersections because they certainly don’t know
how to do it here. And I’d also like to know who is taking our tax dollars.
So, please attend the next Borough Council meeting.
   
I’VE BEEN LISTENING to a lot of conservative commentators on TV and radio
talk about how Clinton neglected the military for eight years and put it into
a bad spot. Yet our military toured through Afghanistan in a couple of weeks.
And now I’m watching a newscast that talks about all our new miracle weapons
that our military has at its disposal, the new E-bomb, which uses an
electromagnetic pulse to knock out all enemy electronics, satellite-directed
bombs, and the Patriot missile system that actually works. When were all these
weapons developed, tested, and purchased? Does anyone out there actually
believe that this was all done in the last two years? Sounds to me like
typical, conservative talk-show propaganda.
   
IF THE CITY OF Hazleton would take a small Bobcat loader or a small
payloader and just go around from intersection to intersection and trim back
the corners that were left behind from the plows, it would make driving in
Hazleton 100 percent better, safer and easier to get around. Even the school
buses might be able to negotiate some of these intersections.
   
I HAVE TO HAND it to the city of Hazleton, they really kill me. They’re
downtown with all their equipment, clearing their precious parking meters that
they could make a little bit of money of the people. And all through the city
all the intersections are piled with snow. It’s a safety issue. But I guess
for the city of Hazleton money comes before children and people’s lives.
   
WELL, I CAN see it didn’t take too long until Mr. Donald Leshko, councilman
over in McAdoo, starting his antics with Kathy Barletta again, cleared her
(coffee shop) parking lot with borough equipment and it was a little after 5
o’clock on Tuesday morning. The people of McAdoo ought to wake up. Bye bye
now.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: Barletta responded: “That is a lie. My lot was cleaned by a
private hauler. It was done the night of the storm, Monday. Sorry, misinformed
again, McAdoo readers. … (Leshko) came in for a cup of coffee after work,
but that was it.”
   
I’M CALLING TO say that many of us truly miss the broadcast of the Sam
Liguori polka show that was taken off the air a few weeks ago of a local radio
station. Mr. Liguori and the polka show was on Saturdays and Sundays on radios
all around the Hazleton area and I’m sure all around Northeastern
Pennsylvania. We enjoyed the music he played and the way he presented those
tunes. Sam, thanks for quickly responding to my many phone calls and requests
over the years. A few of these special birthday requests I have taped and even
now, as I call SAYSO, in the background, I can still listen to your quality
broadcasts. Mr. Liguori, I thank you and I’m sure many other residents around
the area thank you.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: Bill Waschko, a former Citadel radio employee said Liguori’s
polka show was on WAZL and simulcast on up to four Citadel radio stations
including WARM until the stations were put up for sale.
   

   
PEOPLE SHOULDN’T BE upset with the high price of gasoline. Whenever you
fill up, just think of it as making a donation to the president’s re-election
campaign.
   
THESE PROTESTERS that are protesting the war against Saddam and they think
George Bush is the next Hitler and all these statements that are coming out,
number one, I have not seen one of these protesters say that Saddam Hussein
has got to disarm. I have never seen one of the protesters ever say that he is
torturing the people in Baghdad. I have not seen one person say that he has
any sympathy for the rest of the world. And, according to the news that I
heard last night, all these protesters are making Saddam Hussein’s heart pound
with glee whenever he finds out how the world feels about him. Number one, did
anyone do their homework on these protesters? Because I did. The Worker’s
Party of the World formed these protests. The Worker’s Party of the World is
known as the Communist Party. And people go to these protests, they don’t know
and they don’t study who they’re going to support. They better start looking
at what they’re doing, because they don’t know what they’re doing.
   
WHAT IS WRONG with the School Board in this area? Are they crazy? Over
$12,000 it cost them last year to go to a conference. What did they get out of
that conference? Did they present bills to the board? Did they present bills
to the taxpayers? I would like to see those bills at a meeting. Now it’s going
to cost the tax payers $11,000. (School Board President) Mr. (Sean) Shamany,
you are only out for yourself, not for these children, and not for the
taxpayers.
   
I’M READING IN the paper about the $11,000 trip that’s going to cost
taxpayers and last year it was $12,000. I would like to know something and
(School Board member) Mrs. (Carmella) Yenkevich, I’d like you to get the
figures. How much did it cost the tax payers when Steve Hahn went on his trip
to Florida? Get those figures, get those papers out and let’s see, let’s
compare apple to apple.
   
I JUST HEARD the name of a school board candidate who is running in this
election who was arrested several times for DUI, plus he was accused of
(another crime). Is this the kind of people we want on our School Board? I
don’t think so.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you give us the candidate’s name and any other
information you might have, we’ll check it out.
   
I SAW PICTURES of the Arthur Street Elementary School, which was recently
renovated. Comparing the Castle to Arthur Street School, I can not imagine
renovating Arthur Street and bypassing the Castle. Talk about poor judgment.
Men running for school directors should take a test which would show how
intelligent they are.
   
THE PERSON WHO called complaining about teachers being greedy by getting
their master’s degree is obviously all wet. Education is probably the only
field of endeavor in which a person with years and years of experience and
many post-graduate degrees and credits is considered a liability and is soon
targeted for dismissal or retirement. In medicine or in law, people look for
the people who have most experience or most training. In education, again,
it’s more of a liability. If this person really feels this way about teachers
getting training, they should write their state legislators to have something
called Act 48 repealed. This is an act which was passed with the Ridge
administration which requires teachers to receive additional training at the
taxpayers’ expense. School districts sometimes have provided training. Other
times they have to pay for the teachers to get training through universities,
colleges or other sources. This is proving to be a major disaster and a major
burden in terms of paperwork and expense. This person should also realize that
teachers now face many problems that weren’t in existence years ago. They have
to deal with students who never would have been allowed in a classroom years
ago, and they have to deal with students who have problems that would have
been unheard of years ago.
   
MAYBE THE PERSON who’s complaining about the teachers and their master’s
degrees should go back, get their GED certificate, get a college degree, and
become a teacher. If you think those people have it so easy, why don’t you
join them?
   
I, TOO, HAVE paid close attention to the Times Leader SAYSO column and I,
too, have noticed that the Seeker’s words have always been true. Now there’s
one thing I’d like to see, and this goes for me and a few of my friends, we’d
like to see a reprint of all the Seeker’s predictions on the McAdoo Borough
and Kline Township. We think this man knows more than many people even think.
You should reprint them, Times Leader. Do a special thing on the Seeker.
   
I THINK THE people in the McAdoo Borough are starting to get some brains
and starting to realize what’s going on in this community. And it’s about time
that they start pointing fingers in the right direction. The Democratic
majority has destroyed our community. They’ve plunged us into debt so far it’s
impossible to get out. Now they’re preying on the older people who are locked
into their homes and have nothing else to do but pay for the sewer authority’s
mistakes.
   
ONCE MORE, MR. Editor, you have drawn your own conclusion. Many people have
been right and have been calling and telling you that you should keep your
stupid comments to yourself. Well, once more, I must say this: You should keep
your stupid comments to yourself. I did not, in any way, shape, or form, say
that George W. Bush wanted the attack on the World Trade Center. I said that
he allowed it. The people were sacrificed. Do you understand what that means?
I don’t think you do. And I think you should research the investigations that
other people have done on this. There was confidential information, there was
points that made to the fact that the World Trade Center would be a target
once more. Once more, I will say, those Americans were sacrificed for George
Bush’s political agenda. Now, Mr. Right-Wing Republican, print that.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sorry if we missed your point. Our logic was as follows:
When someone allows something to happen, it’s either because they want it to
happen or don’t care if it happens. It sounds like you’re saying Bush could
have prevented the attack if he wanted to. We would be happy to research the
investigations you refer to. Just provide the source and we’ll read them.