More holiday week breaking political news.

This time its York Mayor John Brenner announcing he will not run for re-election next year.

Democrat Brenner said he wanted to give time for qualified candidates to consider running next year.

I'm scratching my head considering that when Brenner leaves office in January of 2010 an election year will be staring him in the face. Does he have plans for higher office? Brenner has many friends including Congressman Todd Platts? Does Platts have plans for even higher office in 2010 that may open up his seat for a Brenner congressional candidacy?

Talk on the street throughout the years has been that former City Council president and current member Cameron Texter has had an interest in being mayor.

Earlier this year Democrat Texter decided to leave his post as city council president amid difficulties in his marriage (a divorce case) and the investigation into bonuses given to State House staff members like Texter allegedly for political work.

Texter appeared to be moving away from the political life but he also drew attention by pushing a plan to term limit city officials earlier this year.

State Representative Bev Mackereth (R-196th District) will not run for re-election this year and resign her post November 30th to take a job in York County government.

Mackereth will become the Director of Human Services for York County Government on December 1st. She announced her move at a news conference today.

York County Republican committee people in her district will now choose the GOP candidate to replace her on the ballot this fall. Mackereth worked in county government before being elected to the State House in 2000. She spent much of her time at the District Attorney's office leading the victim witness program and child abuse unit.

She enjoyed the support of York County's GOP establishment and seemed to be a perfect example of the "moderate" spirit of that establishment. Mackereth publicly claimed to be unsure of her position on abortion, even though the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation questioning of her indicated a Pro-Abortion position. She also adopted no position on an amendment to protect traditional marriage in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, she has tried to skirt some tough issues including co-sponsorship of a 2007 seminar at West York High School by Lance Simmens, an aide to Governor Rendell who pushed the Al Gore position on global warming. Mackereth commented that the information was important to hear and there was a lot she didn't know about the issue.

Bev Mackereth also enjoyed the support of the liberal Pennsylvania State Education Association teachers union.

All that in a district that voted for conservative Pat Toomey over liberal Arlen Specter in the 2004 Republican U.S. Senate Primary in Pennsylvania.

The three top people in the Eastern York School District are in for big pay raises starting next month.

After a 90-minute private meeting called an "executive session," the board decided that Superintendent Darla Pianowski will get 141,240 dollars instead of the current 132-thousand dollars.

The Assistant Superintendent, Rita Becker, will get 115,560 dollars, instead of 108-thousand dollars. Meanwhile, the school district's Business Manager Teresa Weaver is getting a raise from 84,760 dollars a year to 90,693 dollars a year.

This is something to behold at a time when most people are not seeing such big pay increases, particularly those who pay the taxes in the Eastern York School District.

The new gambling money payouts in Pennsylvania will slow down property tax increases and cut taxes slightly for some taxpayers in Eastern and other school districts.

I guess that gave the liberal, tax and spend Eastern school board members the cover they needed for these big pay raises.

When word got out that the South Eastern School District was planning to buy a top of the line piano for music education in the district, taxpayers rose in protest.

Earlier this year specifications for a new piano were listed as the school district sought bids for musical instruments. The specifications matched those of Steinway Model D. The 97-thousand dollar model is used at the nation's top music schools like Yale and Julliard.

The school district moved money from its capital reserve in order to pay for the piano.

In the face of the protest, the school board chose to remove the piano from a list of purchases it approved.

Now the school board has tabled the issue, saying it will be addressed at a finance committee meeting expected in August.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the end with this issue. Will it buried and brought back, or will a more reasonably priced piano be purchased.

Attorney Daniel Fennick thinks the state's charter school appeal board will rule in favor of York's Lincoln Charter School parents, who want to open a new middle school in the city.

Fennick notes that over 3,000 middle schools in the state perform better than York City's, and 75 are worse. A ruling is expected July 29th.

Lincoln already operates an elementary school in the city which was established amid a blistering fight with the York City School District and its board. The school district has been constantly challenging the charter school. Lincoln had to go to court to force the York City School District to lower the lease fee for Lincoln's elementary school buiulding.

The application to open the new charter middle school in the city was rejected by the York City School Board 5-4. The five insider members of the board including president Jeanette Torres and vice-president Tom Foust voted against the application.

The four members supporting Lincoln were from the outsider racially based faction of the board.

Lincoln plans to make use of the former Ridge Avenue School in the 600 block of East Philadelphia Street, currently being used by Manito Day Treatment Service.

The school plans to open this year and with a favorable July 29th ruling will do just that. Teacher candidates are being interviewed now.

York County President Commissioner Steve Chronister has found over 600-thousand dollars to fund hiring 20 new sheriff's deputies. Commissioners voted along party lines 2-1 with Democrat Doug Hoke dissenting.

Next year its expected that more money will be poured into hiring 30 more deputies. The new sheriff's deputies will form a special unit that will be poured into high crime areas to help local police.

In voting no, Commissioner Hoke was concerned about deputies being used to supplement local police and wanted them put into "prevention programs." That's liberal speak for educational programs that will supposedly convince young people not to commit crime.

The hope of Commissioner Chronister is that court costs will ultimately be reduced because of his program spending millions of dollars that will include "prevention programs" along with the increased visibility of the deputies.

Crime needs to be fought. There's no doubt about that. But when one considers 'high crime' one thinks the City of York. Mayor John Brenner and other advocates of "Metro York" have been itching to create a Metro police department that would give the city police protection supported by county taxpayers.

Now it appears Commissioner Steve Chronister may be giving them that with his crime plan that uses county tax dollars to apparently provide more law enforcement for the cash-strapped City of York. In fact, 100-thousand dollars of aid for York City is in this plan to enable hiring of two officers who will enforce nuisance laws.

This crime program is something to think about and question as it moves forward. Is it bigger government, a bailout for the City of York in disguise, an attempt to use liberal methods ("prevention") that won't stop crime instead of enforcement (arrests)?

When Dr. Richard Nilsen got booted by the Dover CARES school board over the intelligent design issue, Nilsen found work as superintendent of the Eastern Lebanon County School District. His pay for the new job was over 130-thousand dollars a year.

Should it come as any surprise that when Dr. Michael Snell takes over as Central York School District superintendent next January, he will be paid 138-thousand dollars a year. That's pretty close to what Dr. Linda Estep will be making in her last year (estimated 145-150 thousand a year) at that post.

There are perks in superintendent contracts with school boards, too. Cars, internet service, travel expenses, etc. They are hidden from broad public knoweledge although an Altoona newspaper got hundreds of them from school districts across Pennsylvania last year and put them in a database online.

Cutting costs in education should begin with pay, perks and benefits. This is one of the real roads to authentic tax relief in Pennsylvania. Not the Harrisburg shell game of "eliminating property taxes" and replacing them with new income taxes.

The Springfield Township Board of Supervisors has approved the Dallastown School District's plans to build a new intermediate school along Susuquehanna Trail.

Taxpayers have been raising questions about the 60 million dollar plus project from the beginning. Springfield Township residents who live near the planned school were worried about getting out of their driveways with all the traffic. There were also concerns about losing land in front of their homes to improve an intersection.

In the end the township voted to approve a plan that includes some consideration for residents near the new school. Now the school district will move forward with building the a grades 4-6 school for 1,800 students initially and expandable to 2,000 students.

Unfortunately the taxpayers have very little say with their school board in the Dallastown School District with 8 out of 9 members appearing to be tax and spend, rubber stamp, businesss as usual types.

In Washington and Harrisburg, the House and Senate leaders know in advance how their members want to vote. Then they find the votes to pass the agenda and allow members who feel vulnerable to vote against it while allowing the legislation to pass.

Under this system, legislators can vote No to higher taxes and spending to pretend to the folks back home they are fiscally responsible.

In Pennsylvania it means the members with long term service take the hit for taxes and spending. Long-time State House member Bruce Smith voted for the controversial pay raise of 2005 and long-time member Steve Nickol voted for an income tax increase in 2003.

With the liberal DOVER Cares faction controlling nine seats on the Dover School Board, it came as no surprise that board member Bryan Rehm was able to vote no on the tax increase and higher spending in the new 2008-2009 budget. The budget was approved 8-1 and teachers union member Rehm gets to make people think he's against the taxes and spending. I doubt it.

But this is how politics works in Washington, Harrisburg and Dover.

Peter Alecxih bought land from the Kohr family in Lower Windsor Township that offered a perfect view of the Susquehanna River. Alecxih intended to build houses at Highpoint and make millions of dollars.

But York County's political leaders were scheming to build a "heritage park" on Lauxmont Farms land including Highpoint. York County, led by former commissioners Lori Mitrick and Doug Kilgore seized the land using eminent domain. This began a legal dispute over how much the land is worth that's now winding its way through York County Common Pleas Court.

In response to the land seizure, Alecxih sought relief through a 20 million dollar federal civil rights suit alleging among other things that the county gave him a lowball offer for his land.

Federal District Judge John Jones in Harrisburg has thrown Alecxih's lawsuit out saying it would prejudice the case now going on in the county court. A jury trial to determine Highpoint's value will be held next month.

A three member court appointed board has determined the value of Alecxh's land at 10.5 million dollars while the county has only provided 7.5 million dollars for his land.

Signs supporting the Wrightsville Boro Police have been moved from the front of people's homes and one boro council member says she received a threatening note.

Mel McDonald says she got a note saying the sign grabbing should stop "or else." McDonald says she doesn't want to eliminate the force, but keeping it will mean higher taxes.

The police department has been a source of contention between supporters of recently ousted mayor Steve Rambler and members of the boro council.

In the end, opposition from state senators in the Pittsburgh and Scranton area prevented a smoking-ban "compromise" from passing the state legislature last week.

The senators balked at Philadelphia getting exceptions to keep its smoking bans in place while their communities didn't.

A conference committee of legislators that included State Representative Ron Miller (R-93rd District) of York County cut the deal said to ban smoking in 95 percent of public places like workpaces, bars and restaurants.

The dealmaking looked like a charm and all legislators backed the ban from our area, but the fact that stricter laws in Philadelphia were allowed to remain in place upset lawmakers from other parts of the state that have similar ordinances.

Perhaps it should, since it looks like Philly political clout (Governor Ed Rendell, House Speaker Dennis O'Brien among others) is too much. Our legislators apparently showed they march in lockstep with Philadelphia interests and Ed Rendell by supporting this smoking ban legislation.

And we haven't even got to the idea that private owners of businesses should make the final decision about banning a legal product.

Government wants to ban smoking and at the same time collect more tax revenue from cigarettes. Governor Rendell's budget plan includes a ten cent a pack hike in taxes. The hypocrisy of politics and politicians is deafening.

In a 3-2 vote, the York City Council has decided that smoking will be banned at most city parks.

Originally Mayor John Brenner had urged a total ban, but the council amended the ordinance to exclude city parks that are sports sites (Veterans Memorial Park, Allen Park and Noonan Park).

The most recently elected council members, Carol Hill-Evans and Genevieve Ray, voted against the legislation. They said while they supported the legislation, they don't think it can be enforced. Ray said this is another law that will be selectively enforced or not enforced at all.

Under the legislation, the first offense results in a warning and the second in a 25 dollar fine.

Smoking bans are not my major priority for government, but it feels good to pass it. York City's consumate insider politician, Councilwoman Toni Smith, introduced and voted for the amended smoking ban. A cheap political move to attract some support.

Dawn Lindeman ran against Steve Rambler for mayor of Wrightsville in 2005 as the Democrat candidate.

Now she has been apppointed interim mayor to fill out Rambler's term until the beginning of 2010. The 5-1 vote at a contentious council meeting comes after York County President Judge Richard Renn ruled that Rambler was unable to serve as mayor because of his 1996 federal extortion convicton. Lindeman is saying she wants to keep the police department Rambler supported the creation of. Citizens have circulated petitions to keep the local department, which replaced contracted police service from Hellam Township.

The mayor supervises the police department, which has come under criticism from Rambler opponents for enforcing laws around bars in the borough. Whether the enforcement operations around the bars will continue with Lindeman as mayor remains to be seen.

I just took a look this morning at that list of 25 or 26 as they put it "most influential York Countians that the "York Daily Record/Sunday News" cooked up.

Not all are registered as Democrats, many are in fact Republicans by voter registration. But all are generally liberal in their attitudes or actions on public issues and far from the William F. Buckley or Phyllis Schalfly tradition of conservative thought.

In my estimation, the newspaper people have this fancy for a liberal point of view themselves and naturally pay attention to it and publicize the actions of liberal people. That brings me to the recent coverage of a man who is retiring and leaving York after 35 years among us.

Rabbi Irwin Goldenberg has been remembered for 35 years of leadership at Temple Beth Israel in York. His presentation of Jewish religion and culture to the greater York area provided a valuable service. As a member of the media during those years I can honestly say he worked hard to provide this presentation to the media.

But there's more to this story. That's the rabbi's dedication to liberal and left leaning causes in our area. Rabbi Goldenberg even joined the ACLU. His leadership in Planned Parenthood of Central Pennsylvania stands out along with a group calling itself the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. Rabbi Irwin Goldenberg can truly be described as promoting a "culture of death" in our community.

Rabbi Goldenberg was clearly seeing to it that a lot of young people like those who would sit while he told them stories would never be born. He also was glad to see explicit sex education presented to the young people of his congregation complete with all those methods of birth control (contraception).

Can we be proud that the Rabbi did a great job in cutting Jewish population as well as promoting population decline in general? That is an issue in the United States and other western nations right now.

I haven't had a lot of experience with Orthodox Jewish communties but the one thing I have noticed when I've come into contact with them is the presence of children and larger families. They choose tradition that can make the world a much better place than the liberal ideas presented by Rabbi Irwin Goldenberg during his 35 years among us.

Governor Ed Rendell appeared in front of a North York home on Tuesday to push his "energy plan." State Representative Eugene DePasquale (Democrat-95th District) arranged for the event.

Rendell wanted to get the point across that his plan would help when electric rates jump as much as 50 percent next year. That's when rate caps are taken off. He faces opposition from Republicans in the legislature. His ideas need to get past the GOP controlled state senate.

What are Rendell's plans?

First there's the 850 million dollar bond plan for energy alternatives like wind and solar power. Money is also to be handed out to buy "energy efficient appliances." Some ask who will get a big chunk of the money. Wind and solar power interests who may have a campaign finance link to Ed Rendell? Mr. DePasquale proposed this idea in the legislature. Is Eugene DePasquale financially linked by campaign contributions to such interests?

Then there's the "smart meters" plan giving you the "right" to have the meters installed. This is considered to be the first step to Big Brother having the power to shut off power to your home if you "use too much."

Then there's the bill to require biofuels to be produced and used in Pennsylvania? There must be agricultural interests lining someones pockets here? Biofuels have become a hot issue because its being alleged that higher food prices are the result of food being turned into fuel around the world. Ed Rendell and Eugene DePasquale apparently want to make your food prices higher.

The fourth part of the Rendell plan involves forcing utilities to buy electricity in ways that are said to reduce costs to consumers.

Republicans in the State Senate would seem to be wise to oppose Rendell's plans. Rendell is claiming that the GOP doesn't want to give him a "victory" in the legislature standing alongside an elderly resident of North York who the governor claims would benefit from his plan. Not if he has to pay higher food prices from the biofuels plan on top of his higher electric bill.

Rendell claimed he wasn't trying to push a program to make himself "look good" because he isn't running for anything again. That statement comes as political rumors have spread around that Rendell could be picked as the vice-presidential candidate of the Democrat Party this year. Also, its being rumored that Rendell may run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Arlen Specter in two years.

This show was very much about promoting Rendell, DePasquale and other liberal Democrat political figures in York. People are already upset about higher gasoline prices and the higher electric rates next year will create more anger.

In recent weeks we've gotten a barrage of school board votes on 2008-2009 school year budgets. You may think that's the final word on how much will get spent next year and what you're tax bill will be. But think again.

A key component is missing from next year's budget plans. The final amount of money coming from Harrisburg to fund local school districts will be determined in the budget tug of war between the legislature and Governor Rendell.

Rendell's administration thinks its got a final plan for distributing money from the slot machines. Its a plan that dumps large amounts of money on places that vote for Democrats. York City School District is getting over 500 dollars in gambling money per homeowner meaning no tax increase for city homeowners if the figure Rendell wants is approved.

But lawmakers could have a plan of their own in the end.

At the other end of the scale in York County is Central York School District where a 3 percent property tax hike is reportedly planned. That comes with a 113 dollar per homeowner giveback which is the lowest in York County. This figure means homeowners who have homes assessed over 226-thousand dollars a year will face a tax increase.

But politics in Harrisburg could change the figure and Central York School Board could make a surprise decision to change the tax increase in the days right before the July 4th holiday or maybe afterwards if there is a budget fight that drags on in Harrisburg.

Stay alert for final word on who gets a school property tax increase and who doesn't in the next month or two.

York County President Judge Richard Renn has ruled that Wrightsville Mayor Steve Rambler cannot hold office because of his 1996 federal extortion conviction.

Rambler says he will stay in office and fight the ruling in court.

York County District Attorney Stan Rebert says the ruling means Rambler should leave office immediately.

Wrightsville Borough Council has consulted with the borough's solicitor about the ruling and what it means. Word from the solicitor is that the mayor is not to perform his duties and if he is seen doing so, the District Attorney's office is to be contacted.

District Attorney Stan Rebert says that Rambler could be arrested if he continues to perform his duties. Wrightsville Police Chief Wayne Pearson passed the word from Rebert to Rambler on Friday.

The borough council plans to appoint an interim mayor at its Monday June 2nd meeting.

It took two years for this ruling to happen and it happened a few weeks after I took note of this matter being stalled. The controversy continues and I expect the conflict to continue in Wrightsville regardless of whether Rambler will continue to be mayor.

The paperwork isn't ready yet so there will be no special meeting in Springfield Township Tuesday night to approve building of a new intermediate school.

The supervisors next chance to take up the issue will be when they meet on Monday June 9th.

The Dallastown School District's plans to build the new school have aroused controversy over the 60 million dollar cost as well as to the taking of land to change intersections in the area. People in the area are also worried about how the new school will disrupt traffic.

There were petitions for lacrosse and against lacrosse, but in the end a new Dallastown School District budget was approved for the next school year. The budget adds nearly 100-thousand dollars for a lacrosse program.

Eight members of the board supported the new budget, with newly elected pro-taxpayer member Carroll Tignall Jr. casting the only "No" vote.

At least one district resident attending the school board meeting asked how there could be such increased spending in tough economic times.

The Dallastown School District budget for the 2008-2009 school year will be some 82.5 million dollars. Property taxes are rising 5.2 percent.

That's a hundred dollars of so more for homes assessed around 100,000 dollars and just over 200 dollars for homes assessed around 200,000 dollars.

With gambling money giving a 133 dollar break to qualifying homeowners this means generally that all homeowners who homes are assessed above 130-thousand dollars will get a property tax increase in the Dallastown School District this summer.

Another note, a special meeting is being planned for May 27th (the day after the Memorial Day holiday) in Springfield Township where supervisors may give final approval for the Dallastown School District to build a controversial 60 million dollar intermediate school.

The differences between the two factions of the York City School Board over reading and math in the district came out at a committee meeting this week.

The five member majority and the school administration want the word out that things are "getting better" in the district regarding test scores, but the people in the four member minority see things differently.

Officials from the school district administration point to a several percentage point increase in proficiency over a three year period ending in the 2006-2007 school year. Statistics were also cited for special education students in the district (they are 21 percent of the student population in York City) pointing to nearly 40 percent proficiency in math and nearly 30 percent proficiency in reading.

But the bottom line remains that York City School District is still around 50 percent in math and reading proficiency while other York County school districts are in the 80 percent range.

Parents are trying to establish new charter schools in the city but in one case the school board has turned down an effort to establish a charter middle school. That will lead to a costly court fight.

This show we've seen this week from the school board president Jeanette Torres, vice-president Tom Foust and the administration is part of their efforts to keep education competition out and create an image of city public schools that are "improving." School board leaders are buddy buddy with administration in promoting a false image of success in public school districts everywhere in York County and Pennsylvania.

Board member Sam Beard, who is part of the radical racially oriented faction of the school board, said he stands by his position that was criticized by the other faction.

Beard told the "York Dispatch." "We need to acknoweledge how bad our test scores are......Where is the accountability?....."

I don't agree very much with the racial faction, but on that point I can say Amen.

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Springettsbury Township Police say four white students used racial slurs and harrassed a black student Friday while riding home from the Central York Middle School.

The Central York School District called police to investigate Monday. The district says the students will be disciplined for using the words and harrassing the other student in accordance with the district's code of student conduct.

The police filed charges of harrassment, disorderly conduct and ethinic intimidation against the four students Wendesday. In addition, one student is charged with terroristic threats and open lewdness for making a gesture involving his genitals. The question on the table still remains are words a crime?

The school district is on more solid legal ground with less First Amendment protection for any student speech deemed to disrupt school.

I will take note that when students were angered by a "tolerance troupe" performance filled with racial slurs at Central York High School in the fall of 2006, the police were not called. Would what happened at that event qualify as harrassment and bullying because there's no doubt racial slurs were used? This was reported by the school newspaper at the time and the use of the racial language pretty much acknowledged by Central York High School principal Dr. Jay Butterfield.

Some comments have been posted with the news story of this incident in the "York Daily Record" claiming that black students who use slurs against whites are not punished.

The Central York School District's "cultural diversity" program involves training that tells school staff to see some things people do as not being wrong, but "cultural differences."

Its sad this incident happened, but its even sadder that words are a crime in this country. Today its these words over race tomorrow it may be words we use to defend Second Amendment rights for the right to life.

I have never hidden my view that those who speak loudest about "racism" and "hate" have a political agenda that uses race or other differences to create conflict. Those individuals are modern-day Marxists who have replaced economic differences with racial and ethinic ones to drive the world to the left.

The York County Community Against Racism group at first tried to stir up controversy about alleged racial profiling by area police. The police sat down with YCCAR and tried to placate them. One result was a joint effort by both the police chiefs and YCCAR to find new police recruits (obviously non-white ones who wouldn't "racially profile" people).

This defused the chance for a conflict, but may result in some lowering of standards for new police officers in York County, but that is not clear yet to me.

People whose real agenda is political (Marxist) need a fight to keep the "movement" going and try to extract more concessions that advance a society leftward.

Now we learn that Adrienne McNeil, executive director of YCCAR, has been protesting her treatment when she entered the Country Club of York last May for a meeting. She alleges that a "doorman" asked her "Ma'am, I think you're lost....Are you sure you belong here?"

The country club says no incident as described by McNeil occurred after they conducted an investigation into the matter and that her only encounter would have been with a female greeter.

McNeil contends she was degraded, demeaned and humiliated that night and as for the club, its in a state of "denial."

McNeil made this charge in an op-ed piece in the "York Daily Record" in February and in a news story that appeared in the "Baltimore Sun" last month. Her allegations were again dredged up in a detailed story in the "York Sunday News" yesterday.

The country club apologized to the Junior League about McNeil's expectations not being met after the league asked them to investigate the matter.

And on the night of the alleged incident a member of the management apologized to McNeil when she told her story.

And yet Adrienne McNeil is still upset with the country club saying she "would never support that organization again" and she doesn't want what she alleges happen ever "happen again to anyone of color."

Is this some sort of show to "keep the movement" going and keep the conflict going? It seems to me that Adrienne McNeil needs to get a better attitude instead of trying to play the "victim." If that's her agenda, I can only assume that she is indeed a modern day Marxist bent on creating conflict and "revolution."

York County Community Against Racism could use a name change to York County Community of Agitated Radicals in my humble opinion.

Ever since Stephen Rambler became Wrighsville's mayor after the 2005 election, there's been a conflict rising to the surface in the small borough along the Susquehanna River.

Wrightsville's political powers seemed in alignment after the election of Rambler with the powerful council president Walt Dixon and Rambler pushing through the re-establishment of borough's disbanded police department.

But opposition to Rambler was brewing and a complaint was filed with York County DA Stan Rebert to remove him from office. That's because Rambler pled quilty to federal charges involving using explicit pictures to coerce money from people.

There's a Pennsylvania law saying those convicted of high crimes and misdemeanors cannot hold public office. But the case is now tied up in court with no action to remove Rambler from office after he has served more than half of his term as mayor. Is this an indication that Pennsylvania's law to remove convicted criminals from public office is a symbolic law that has no teeth?

The new police department became a contentious issue with some saying it would drive up taxes and others objecting to early efforts to enforce laws around bars in the borough.

Last year's election led to ouster of Walt Dixon and the emergence of a new anti-Mayor Rambler majority on the borough council. The new council voted to remove Rambler from an office in the borough building and padlock its door.

Now the most recent move by council to ask for outside police departments to provide estimates on the cost of police protection. Its probably a prelude to a debate about how much taxpayers in Wrightsville want to pay for police protection.

The vote came after one council member was cited by police for his behavior at a convenience store in the borough last month. Larry Kirkessner Jr. believes he was targeted for political reasons. I have expressed concern that the department is a tool for Mayor Rambler and some unknown agenda that is unclear to me at this time.

What the future holds in Wrightsville remains to be seen, but expect a conflict of some sort to play out in the months and maybe even years ahead.

Late Monday night a motion was made by Wrightsville Borough council member Mel McDonald to write letters to the Columbia Borough and Hellam Township police chiefs to discuss police coverage in the borough.

The motion that passed 4-1 with one abstention was made after 11pm and after many residents had left the meeting. The people figured business was over since the council went into executive session after conducting earlier business. That's when the motion was made and the vote taken. Among those voting in favor of the measure was council vice-president Larry Kirkessner Jr. Kirkessner received citations in the mail last Friday from the borough police for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. The incident occurred April 12th at the Turkey Hill Market when he argued with a clerk over a nacho machine.

Police asked him if he had been drinking and Kirkessner acknowledged that had, but was not drunk. Kirkessner thinks the department has a vendetta against him because he opposes it.

The borough police department is just two years old, but was opposed by newly elected council members. If they can find a deal from the other departments, the borough police will be disbanded.

The borough council in Wrightsville has a new majority that has been in conflict with the borough's controversial Mayor Stephen Rambler.

Rambler says he thinks the new council is "out of control."

Rambler is also saying Kirkessner should not vote on police department matters because of the citations he has received.

At a Thursday night meeting council members heard from residents and some expressed the opinion afterward that the police department should stay, for now.

But a letter will go out from the council president to the neighboring police chiefs regarding service for the borough and its cost. This could lead to some sort of conflict with the Mayor who supports the police department.

The price of gasoline in the York area moved up to around 3.65 to 3.70 a gallon during the last weekend in April, then there was a drop off last weekend to around 3.55 a gallon.

Now the price is back up again early in this week to around 3.60 a gallon.

Watch out for later in the week. It seems that on payday Thursday, when a lot of people fill up their tanks, is the day when gas prices spike around York. Then they drop a few cents by Saturday.

By late Wednesday the prices had spiked up to around 3.70 a gallon. A sign of even higher prices on Thursday and Friday?

It turns out that prices dropped back on Friday May 9th to the 3.65 range.

We've all heard about our graduated federal income tax system that takes more money as your income goes up.

Now when it comes to property tax "relief" here in Pennsylvania people who live in more expensive homes and don't live in areas that vote for Democrats will get the short end of the stick.

The latest figures are out with the most money landing in the City of York where slots machine money will give a 522 dollar break in school property taxes for homeowers.

On the other hand, only 113 dollars goes to Central York School District homeowners and 117 dollars to York Suburban School District homeowners. That's because those two school districts are considered "rich."

Other figures include a 170 dollar break in the West York School District and 187 dollars in the Dover School District. The gambling money break in the Dallastown School District is 133 dollars, the Eastern York School District 141 dollars and the Northeastern School District 222 dollars.

The various school districts are planning to raise taxes in their budgets. If one looks at the situation in York County in general this will mean if you own a home assessed over 150-thousand dollars you are not getting any real kind of break on property taxes this year.

Statewide the average gambling money payout to school districts is 169 dollars, but the average in the Philadelphia suburbs that support Governor Ed Rendell and Democrats is 254 dollars.

When conservatives ran the Dover School Board, the annual budget was under 40 million dollars a year.

The third Dover budget proposed under the control of the liberal Dover CARES faction calls for spending 47.67 million dollars in the 2008-2009 school year.

That's a 20 percent jump in spending in three years.

The first reason cited by the school district's business manager for the increased spending and higher taxes is higher salaries.

Unlike the former conservative school board, the new Dover CARES board was willing to jack up teacher salaries by well over 5 percent per year and give generous hikes to other school employees.

There may be changes later for political effect as is often the case and money from Harrisburg could yet show up to adjust the taxes, but for now a 5.9 percent property tax increase is in store for Dover School District taxpayers this summer.

The Dover School Board of liberals doesn't care a bit about taxpayers.

For homes assessed at 150-thousand dollars a year there's a 157+ dollar tax hike next school year in the York Suburban School District.

That's the upshot of the 44 million dollar plus budget approved for the school district by the school board.

In the week before the primary election, there was fanfare from Harrisburg about "property tax cuts" coming from the slot machine money. But the system is aimed at "poor" school districts meaning areas that happen to vote for Democrats more than Republicans.

This Karl Marx type system of distributing gambling money means only 69 dollars for York Suburban property owners and 77 dollars for Central York property owners in "property tax cuts."

News reports say there is a .5 percent income tax in the budget for York Suburban residents. Many school district residents in York County are now paying a one percent school income tax.

The political insiders were able to win two Republican primaries for the State Senate in seats that included York County.

The 13th District GOP race ended with a win for Lloyd Smucker. Smucker ran strongest in Lancaster County and only picked up 43 percent of York County votes. Paul Thibault, who launched last minute negative attacks, ran a distant third. Reform conservative Steve McDonald came in third place in York County. McDonald ran second overall with 22 percent of the vote.

Running in second place in York County was York County resident Bill Neff, who used newspaper stickers on election day editions of York newspapers to call for York to be represented. Neff also ran ads on York radio. Interestingly enough, Mr. Neff was out of town on election day, he left on a church trip. Neff certainly did a "good job" of draining off York anti-political establishment votes that were evident in last years political primaries for commissioner.

In the 33rd State Senate District GOP primary, Rich Alloway, backed with massive liberal union contributions and the support of retiring pay raise Senator Terry Punt and other insider politicians, squeaked out a 34.1-32.8 percent win over conservative Jim Taylor. Taylor was some 300 votes behind Alloway. Taylor ran second in Franklin and Adams counties. He was third in the York County portion of the district won by Catherine Cresswell. Cresswell ran very strong in Adams County. She took over half the vote in her home county.

Retiring liberal Republican Steve Nickol had asked Mike Rishel to run to replace him in the 193rd State House District. Rishel ran well in the York County portion of the district (Hanover and Penn Township), but Will Tallman took a big majority in the Adams County part of the district. That translated into a win for Tallman.

This was Tallman's second run for the seat. Nickol beat him easily in the 2004 primary. In victory, Tallman praised Nickol, calling him a "fiscal conservative." Nickol voted to raise the state's income tax 10 percent in 2003.

Dr. Linda Estep is resigning as Central York School District superintendent effective December 31st and will retire after 37 years in education including 25 with Central. She will leave in the middle of a contract extension that ends in June of 2010.

In the 2006-2007 school year (last year) Dr. Estep's salary was over 142-thousand dollars per year. The process of finding her successor will begin later this year.

(COMMENT) What is triggering this decision to resign and retire is not totally clear to me. Dr. Estep is in the middle of a contract that still has more than two years on it. Her resignation will come as the renovation and expansion project of the new high school winds down with promises that costs will be contained. Is there more here than what we are seeing?

Based on her years of service Dr. Estep will receive a generous pension but there are indications that she has some future plans currently unknown to me. Estep has shown an obsession with the controversial topic of "diversity" and the notion of "white privilege" that she believes in the existence of. She has pursued a vigorous "diversity" policy as superintendent. Is there a news story in her future plans?

WHAT WILL HER PENSION BE? I ESTIMATE THAT IN THE NEXT YEAR OF HER CONTRACT SHE COULD BE PAID AROUND 150-THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR. WITH THE PENSION FORUMULA BASED ON 37 YEARS OF SERVICE IN PUBLIC EDUCATION IN PENNSYLVANIA AMOUNTING TO 2.5 PERCENT TIMES YEARS OF SERVICE, HER ESTIMATED PENSION IS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 135-THOUSAND AND 140-THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR.

Republican voters in York County were part of the process to select four delegates to the Republican National Convention. The four delegates represent the 19th Congressional District of York, Adams and Cumberland Counties.

Since 1994, Marilyn Gillispie, a pro-life activist within the GOP, has worked tirelessly getting herself elected to the GOP State Committee from York County and as a delegate to the GOP convention every four years.

Gillispie came out a winner again, picking up nearly 22,000 votes to lead the pack.

Gillispie finished first in York County, second in Adams County and fourth in Cumberland County.

The second place candidate, Dick Stewart, is from Cumberland County. He got over 18,700 votes. Stewart claims to be a conservative but is not considered anything other than a political insider by this observer. Stewart has been a close supporter of current "moderate" Congressman Todd Platts and his "moderate" predecessor Bill Goodling. Stewart ran a "conservative" candidacy for Congress that took out conservative votes from Charlie Gerow to help Platts win the 2000 primary.

Finishing third with just over 17,000 votes was Nancy Otstot of Camp Hill, Cumberland County. Getting the fourth slot was Muriel Anne Crabbs of Hanover in York County with over 15,600 votes.

Those four will serve as 19th Congressional District delegates to the Republican National Convention.

The primary election featured contests to elect Republican State Committee members from all over the state. In York County 17 candidates faced off for 12 seats.

In the end, eight of the 12 elected were members of the party establishment like Seth Grove, aide to Congressman Todd Platts, Dover's GOP insider Wayne Spangler, liberal Republican Nancy Blake and York County Treasurer Barbara Bair, among others.

Four of the 12 who were elected are part of a pro-life, non-establishment faction aligned with groups like York County Action and the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation. These groups have been supported by insider political money and the four will not always challenge the political establishment at state committee meetings.

Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds Steve McDonald hopes Republican voters will respond to his reform message in the 13th State Senate District tomorrow. He is telling voters that he is for Real Reform, a Real Conservative and a real Republican.

The 13th District extends from the City of Lancaster west into York County (including Wrighsville, Hellam, Yorkana, East Prospect along with Chanceford, Lower Chanceford, Lower Windsor, Hellam and Springettsbury Townships).

McDonald faces a York County resident Bill Neff, whose candidacy will not succeed other than maybe taking York County votes away from the other three candidates.

This Republican contest started because incumbent State Senator Gibson Armstrong, who supported the controversial pay raise of 2005, decided not to run again.

Armstrong and other elected officials have endorsed Lancaster County businessman Lloyd Smucker, who is seen as an insider business as usual political candidate by reform minded conservatives. Smucker raised taxes as a West Lampeter Township supervisor. He is spending a quarter of a million dollars or more on his primary campaign.

Also expected to spend over 200-thousand dollars is Paul Thibault, a former Lancaster County commissioner who portrays himself as a conservative, but who voted for a 28 percent property tax increase while in office. Thibault is supported by "moderates" in the Lancaster County GOP who have opposed Christian involvement in the party.

Meanwhile, McDonald is saying that as a state senator, he will not being taking perks, a pension or a pay raise.

There are 14 candidates for GOP voters to choose from on Tuesday to fill four delegate slots to the Republican National Convention.

The system was designed by political insiders to confuse people because it makes all candidates run uncommitted giving the insiders the opportunity to quietly push their candidates on the voters.

In this contest, longtime GOP state committeeman and so-called conservative Dick Stewart, is pushing three candidates including himself with a direct mailing. Stewart has been close to current Congressman Todd Platts and former Congresman Bill Goodling. Stewart ran in the 2000 congressional primary apparently as a means of taking conservative votes away from Charlie Gerow to help Todd Platts win.

Stewart, who introduced the state committee resolution for an early endorsement of John McCain before the early primary contests were over, wants Republicans to vote for him, Greg Rothman and Dave Buell as delegates to the convention. All three are from Cumberland County. A direct mail effort has been made on behalf of the three.

Meanwhile, longtime pro-life conservative GOP activist Marilyn Gillispie is on the ballot in sixth position. She is aligned with the York County-Lancaster County ACTION groups which espouse a pro-life position but usually align themselves with the political establishment in the end.

Gillispie is one of three York County residents on the delegate ballot, the rest come from Cumberand County where a strong anti-establishment GOP opposition exists.

One of the 14 candidates is recently resigned Cumberland County Commissioner Bruce Barclay, caught in the video sex scandal involving himself and other men.

And longtime conservative congressional candidate, now a political consultant, Charlie Gerow is on the delegate ballot. Gerow has been active in recent years in promoting the cause of the not-so-conservative William Scranton as a candidate for governor in Pennsylvania.

Ron Paul is still actively campaigning and his supporters are fighting the politcal establishment hard to win delegate spots. In Pennsylvania the Paul campaign says it has 63 candidates for delegate with 20 of them in leading ballot positions.

That means among the 14 there are four Ron Paul supporters. You may see his people at the polls promoting their slate of delegate candidates on Tuesday.

Also, you get to pick from 11 choices for four alternative delegate slots to the convention.

There are 17 names listed on the ballot for 12 spots on the Repulican State Committee from York County. In the end the six men and six women who get the most votes are elected. Four of the 17 candidates are running as pro-life, conservative ones. They are Marliyn Gillispie (6th ballot position), Daniel C. Bradley (9th ballot position), Bryan Sellers (11th ballot position), and Nancy Kilgore (13th ballot position).

These candidates are aligned with the insider conncected York County and Lancaster County ACTION groups. They are also linked to the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, which has supported insider candidates who are not pro-life in some recent GOP electoral contests in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, a longtime pro-life supporter in York County and previous state commitee candidate, Clark Focht, is urging voters to write-in his name for Republican State Committee on Tuesday. Focht says the GOP needs to clean up its act in Pennsylvania from politics as usual.

Clark Focht says he hopes pro-lifers and conservatives will come out and write-in his name for GOP state committee in York County on Tuesday.

Voters in Paradise, Heidelberg, and Dover Townships as well as Dover Borough in York County will have choices on the ballot for the 33rd State Senate District GOP primary this Tuesday. Retiring pay raise Senator Terry Punt is backing Rich Alloway as his successor. GOP senators from across the state are also pumping money into Alloway's campaign (SEVERAL 10-THOUSAND DOLLAR CONTRIBUTIONS) along with labor unions like the AFL-CIO and the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

The Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania group sent out a direct mailing last week to let GOP voters know about Alloway's liberal and insider political connections.

Alloway angrily responded calling the YCOP a "fringe group" that wants to "privatize Social Security." For the record, YCOP has no position on that issue but is committed to electing conservatives to office. Jim Taylor, Franklin County Republican Chairman is running as the conservative candidate in this race. He's being way outspent by Rich Alloway but is hopeful that his radio ads, direct mailings and door-to-door efforts will pay off on Tuesday.

State Senate staffer Catherine Cresswell is also running in this race on the Republican primary ballot. Pro-Abortion State Senator Jane Earll of Erie pumped 10-thousand dollars into Cresswell's campaign.

There's a big push on to fight crime in York County with the York Counts agenda seeking a unified police department and the York County Commissioners looking at a countywide anti-crime policy. One idea that's making the rounds in the city and surrounding municipalities is the idea of a uniform curfew law for those under the age of 18.

While the idea of an 11pm curfew seems to have wide support, objections come when the idea of a daytime curfew is brought. In West York, Mayor Samuel Firestone spoke in opposition to a daytime curfew saying truancy is a matter for school districts to handle.

Meanwhile when word came out that the idea was being considered in Manchester Township, a homeschooling mother appeared before the supervisors.

Anna Krout said that are legitimate reasons for children to be out in public during daytime hours.

The township's solicitor, David Keiter, noted that such a daytime curfew law may be unconstitutional and trigger a civil rights lawsuit.

Are the "brains" behind this "daytime curfew" idea in York County listening to that statement or do they have some other agenda besides preventing crime by "keeping kids in school." Or is the only kind of school they are interested in keeping kids in one that is not in the home.

Talk on the street is that Pat Toomey of the conservative economic action group Club for Growth and a former congressman is coming back in two years to face off against Senator Arlen Specter. The Republican US Senate primary in 2010 looks to be a rematch of the photofinish contest Specter won in 2004

With that in mind, Specter was been out hobnobing with conservatives like talking NFL football issues with Rush Limbaugh on the radio.

And this week Specter came to York to talk about a flat tax plan with conservative tax reform advocate Grover Norquist.

No need to worry about the details, its details enough to know that Pat Toomey and the agenda of Club for Growth are enough incentive to make Arlen Specter talk a conservative tune.

But I know Arlen will swing left again when general election time comes but first he must get past the primary. So (two years before the election) Specter uses another conservative (Grover Norquist) like he has used and co-opted people like Reverend Jim Nicholls and Ed Martino, among others here in Pennsylvania.

I'm not biting Senator Specter. I've seen this show before and I'm not fooled.

There's a contest to replace retiring longtime State Representative Steve Nickol in the 193rd District that includes Penn Township and Hanover Borough in York County, along with a portion of Adams County.

Candidates Mike Rishel and Will Tallman are facing off.

Mike Rishel has served as a Penn Township commissioner and appears to be the insider political candidate in this race.

Rishel says that liberal Republican Nickol, who voted to increase the state's income tax in 2003 and has a pro-abortion record as a legislator, suggested that he run for the seat in Harrisburg.

Rishel is campaigning on reforming property taxes, but is also supporting reform of the school funding system. He also has cited the "costing out" study that claims billions more need to be spent on schools in Pennsylvania. That would almost certainly require some sort of new tax structure to pay for it that would take even more out of our pockets. Will Tallman stresses the need to cut spending in education and elsewhere in state government along with any reform of property taxes.

Tallman ran against Steve Nickol in the 2004 primary as a pro-life candidate and stressed his Christian background.

For this campaign he's said to be working with political insiders. Tallman has taken the conservative edge off his campaign and this may prevent him from fully exploiting Rishel's obvious annointing by the political establishment.

I suspect the insiders who support Rishel have infiltrated Tallman's campaign and sabotaged it to enable a Rishel win.

When the Northeastern School District administration came up with a school calendar for the next school year (2008-2009) they made the President's Day holiday a snow make-up day. Martin Luther King Day was made a day off from school.

When school board member Joseph Griffith asked why the calendar was set up that way he was attacked by Northeastern School Board President Timothy Santiago. Santiago accused Griffith of being "insensitive." Griffith responsed that he wanted all holidays treated the same.

Now the school board has voted to do that unanimously and both Martin Luther King Day and President's Day will be days off from school.

The Mount Wolf Borough Council has voted 4-3 to tell the Pennsylvania Economy League its services are no longer needed.

The Harrisburg-based political insider group was giving the borough research promoting the idea of consolidation with East Manchester Township. Borough council rejected the idea by a 4-3 vote before and an effort was launched to try to change their minds, but it apparently has failed.

The consolidation scheme was orignally being sold to include Manchester Borough too but Manchester stayed out of the scheme. The bigger government crowd will not give up, they will come back again to try to do this, you can be sure of that.

Pay raising incumbent State Senator Gibson Armstrong has endorsed Lloyd Smucker as his successor in the 13th State Senate District GOP Primary.

Smucker's campaign spending report came out before the deadline last week with Smucker reporting some 246-thousand dollars raised, 121-thousand coming from his own pocket. Opponent Paul Thibault said Smucker was giving figures that contrasted with his early claims of 185-thousand raised. Details of who gave Smucker money aren't available right now.

Thibault told the media he has raised around 159-thousand dollars for his campaign, including a 38-thousand dollar loan from himself.

Former Lancaster County Commissioner Paul Thibault has been showing his reputation of feisty campaigning by attacking Lloyd Smucker, who is the insider candidate with the most money in the GOP Primary.

Thibault says Smucker cannot claim he's never raised taxes because of his record of voting for tax increases as a West Lampeter Township supervisor.

Thibault makes claims of being a conservative, but has a reputation as a GOP moderate who himself voted to raise taxes (in one case 28 percent) as a commissioner.

Smucker and Thibault both are running big television advertising campaigns.

Smucker is known to have raised at least 185-thousand dollars, giving him the reputation as the biggest insider candidate in the GOP Primary.

Thibault has also enlisted some insider support from former State Senator Noah Wenger and former State Representative John Barley.

Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds Steve McDonald is running at a real conservative candidate committed to reform. McDonald says that both Smucker and Thibualt supported more spending and higher taxes as elected officials.

McDonald has also pledged not to take perks like a car lease or a pension as a state senator.

Bill Neff of Lower Windsor Township in York County, who owns a locksmith business in Lancaster, is the fourth candidate in the Republican primary in the 13th District.

While being a mostly Lancaster County district, the 13th includes Wrightsville, Hellam, Lower Windsor Township, Springettsbury Township and other parts of eastern York County.

Candidate Rich Alloway has picked up an endorsement from the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

Alloway used to work for retiring pay raise supporter incumbent Terry Punt. Punt and two other state senators have each kicked in 10-thousand dollars apiece for his campaign. Alloway is endorsed by numerous elected officials and is seen as an insider candidate.

Meanwhile candidate Catherine Cresswell is upset over a letter sent to some Republican committee members in Adams County claiming she is a lifelong Democrat, a lobbyist and someone who gets money unethically from the State Senate.

Cresswell says she's actually a lifelong Republican and on leave from work for State Senate staff. Her husband, David Washburn, is on Democrat State Senate staff in Harrisburg and received a bonus.

Franklin County Republcan Party Chairman Jim Taylor is in the race running as a conservative reform candidate.

A fourth candidate, Robert Curley, pulled out of the race to run as a write-in for the Democrat nomination for the seat.

The 33rd State Senate District extends from Franklin and Adams counties into northwestern portions of York County including Dover.

There's been plenty of talk about how to distribute gambling money for schools with all those new slots parlors going up across the state.

The formula seems to be aimed at achieving a liberal agenda of throwing money at failing school districts in hopes of improving them.

That means the York City School District would get bombarded with lots of money from Harrisburg while districts outside the city would get less.

Now comes word from Harrisburg that Governor Rendell's budget plan is for 5.6 million dollars to be put into the York City School District. This is being touted as enough money to avoid a tax increase.

That sounds like good politics in an election year for a Democrat governor to throw money at an area that votes for Democrats. If Republicans fight them, the Democrats like Governor Ed Renedell and incumbent State Representative Eugene Depasquale of the 95th District can blast Republicans for higher property taxes.

The problems of education are more than money problems. All the money and hiring of additional unionized employees by school districts will not hit the mark unless parents and students are committed to education.

And even if parents and students are committed, education that is poliitical indoctrination and or incompetent given by school staff will also miss the mark of graduating students who can read and do math.

Word came out yesterday about the firing of York County facilities manager George Meshew. This kind of news usually comes out on a Friday in hopes the public doesn't pay much attention to it.

The commissioners decided to fire him a week before the news came out and won't comment because of privacy laws.

I don't know what to say but I will venture that reporters looking for answers may want to check if there has been anything going on in court that has Meshew's name on it and that would include federal court in Harrisburg.

I am vaguely aware that a former county employee has had a dispute with an ex-supervisor in the area of Mr. Meshew's responsibilities, but I am not certain it is Mr. Meshew who was the target of that complaint.

Cumberland County Commissioner Bruce Barclay resigned yesterday.

Barclay is a candidate for Republican Convention Delegate in the 19th Congressional District that includes York County. He is on the ballot for the April 22nd Primary.

Barclay's resignation is apparently because of a rape allegation by another man. His letter of resignation speaks of him being unable to continue in his position.

Barclay's resignation means that Cumberland County's five judges will pick a replacement and there is concern that a liberal Republican will be appointed to replace him.

One of the candidates being considered is Karen Gunnison. The GOP leadership backed Gunnison last year for commissioner with Barclay against another incumbent, Gary Eichelberger, in the primary. Eichelberger defeated her with the backing of Barclay.

That campaign was marked by controversy over Gunnison's backing for a multi-million dollar light-rail project for the Harrisburg-area.

York City School Board Vice-President Tom Foust spoke of the need for a "broad consensus" as he explained why the board is starting all over again in its search for a new superintendent.

Three candidates were under consideration, one dropped out. The two left from the first round now say they will participate in a new round with new candidates on the table.

What's obvious is that the 5-4 division of the school board extends to the search for a new superintendent. The five multiracial members being challenged by a racial faction of four black members.

One member of that faction made a spurious accusation about tainted peaches a few months ago and then more recently he accused another member of making a racist statement. Hiawatha Powell then called for Barbara Krier to resign from the school board.

An interim superintendent will likely be appointed since a new one will be selected by July 1st. I wonder if the board will be able to agree on even that.

After incumbent GOP State Senator Terry Punt apparently decided his pay raise vote would not allow him to be re-elected, the question on the table in the 33rd District was who would the political establishment push as Punt's successor.

It appeared the candidate was Punt's ex-legislative aide Rich Alloway and that hunch is confirmed by Punt's 10-thousand dollar contribution to Alloway's campaign. Alloway also has the endorsement of numerous elected officials plus additional 10-thousand dollar contibutions from the campaign committees of State Senators Jake Corman and Bob Regola.

Meanwhile, another candidate, Catherine Cresswell, who is on leave from her legislative staff job in Harrisburg, picked up a 10-thousand dollar contribution from the campaign committee of Republican State Senator Jane Earll of Erie. Earll is pro-abortion and voted against a traditional marriage amendment in a senate committee last month.

Running as an outsider candidate emphasizing term limits and reform is Jim Taylor. Taylor, chairman of the Republican Party in Franklin County, is running radio ads emphasizing that he is a conservative.

Robert Curley is also running an outsider type campaign with less money than the other three candidates.

The 33rd District includes northwestern portions of York County.

I often criticize York County school boards for being rubber stamps for administration dictates that often approve everything with virtually unanimous votes.

That hasn't been the case in York City lately with numerous 5-4 votes on issues, but its not a cause for celebration.

The conflict going on is one between typical liberal advocates of public education and a faction of racially motivated leftists who hold 4 of the 9 school board seats.

A few months ago, city school board member Hiawatha Powell produced containers of peaches used in school cafeterias that he claimed were old. He showed them to other board members claiming they had passed an expiration date. Truth was the date stamped on the packages was a manufacturing date, not an expiration date.

Now Powell has gone even more wild, with he and another member, Beverly Atwater,. claiming another board member made a racist comment and should resign.

The fellow member attacked was Barbara Krier, who used the term "you people" to criticize the four members who often disagree with the majority of five. The comment was made in a private executive session of the board.

York City School Board President Jeanette Torres defended Krier when asked by a reporter about the incident. She also spoke of "race problems" on the board with the need to meet needs of all students in the district, not just black students.

Powell told the reporter for the "York Dispatch" that Torres is biased towards Hispanic students.

Either Hiawatha Powell is again showing himself to be a not fully informed person or he is deliberately trying to intimidate Krier off the board so the left-leaning racist radicals can take over the York City School Board.

The solution to this dispute is not any kind of racial sensitivity training, but a firm assertion that real education must happen in York City Schools. Over half the students are failing to meet the standards for math and reading right now.

That must change and the radical racist leftists like Hiawatha Powell need to clear the deck and liberals need to change their prioities to focus on reading and math.

Former York County Commissioner Democrat Doug Kilgore says Sunnyburn Fencing based in his southeastern York home community did work for a neighbor of his and they did good work when several thousand feet of fencing was installed around 80 acres of Lauxmont Farms land seized by eminent domain.

But according to state law, the work valued at over 26-thousand dollars and done over a seven month period last year should have been put up for bid. All county work over 10-thousand dollars is supposed to be publicly put up for bid. But instead, 10 small payments were made for the work.

A memo from York County solicitor Michael Flannely says the way the fencing work was done raises the question of whether it was done to evade the public bidding process.

Current Republican Commissioner Chris Reilly says what happened "doesn't look good and it even smells worse" as quoted by the "York Dispatch." Reilly adds that it appears former commissioners Mitrick and Kilgore (eminent domain supporters at Lauxmont Farms) were determined to push the fencing through before they left office.

The county solicitor adds that criminal charges are would be difficult to file against Mitrick and Kilgore because they didn't vote to do the fence work. The dealing with the fence company was done by the county parks department.

York County District Attorney Stan Rebert says he will look into the spending if asked.

Stories like this one always come out right before a holiday to be buried and forgotten. Don't forget and do remember.

There's been a lot of "research" thrown around lately in the style of a manure speader.

The studies are designed to promote various agendas ranging from the shifting of school taxes to the York Counts agenda of eventually creating a super school district in York County.

The most amusing research I've seen describes the Central and Northeastern School Districts as the most "efficient" in York County.

This study is based on how much money they spend and test score results, but not on what kind of money they are spending and how they are taxing their residents.

Northeastern School District has been on a building frenzy in recent years and its property tax rates are notoriously high.

And then there's the Central York School District, where well over 200 million dollars of construction will have taken place over a ten year period that will end early next decade (2011-2012).

The big ticket items for all school districts remain the pay and benefits system, with the extravagent building costs being a secondary, but also expensive item.

More to come.......

A district justice has ruled there is enough evidence for a controversial former school principal and her ex-husband to face obstruction of justice charges involving a child sexual abuse case.

Joyce Royster and Edward Fullum will face the charges in connection with a case where Fullum was accused of fondling a seven-year old girl.

Authorities have recordings of phone calls between Royster and Fullum, who remains in the York County Prison.

At last week's hearing a Spring Garden Township detective testified that Royster told the mother of the alleged victim to "shut up" in his presence.

Joyce Royster served as a principal with the Central York School District for one year starting in 2000, then served in the York City School District until her retirement last year. Royster has made accusations of "racism" in York and now lives in western Pennsylvaia.

Fullum was initially charged in December of 2006 with molesting the child.

York County Commissioner Chris Reilly hoped to march in York's St. Patrick's Day Parade today with a group of 30 people who would hand out candy along the route.

But Reilly was told Wednesday he had missed a late February deadline for entering the parade. Reilly says he made plans to enter the parade in January and notified his staff by e-mail.

Its worth noting that recently retired York City Treasurer and Democrat Don Murphy is co-chairman of the parade. Murphy claims there was just no more room with 116 groups participating in the parade.

And so Republican Chris Reilly ends up being given the cold shoulder by the parade. Is this becoming a pattern where parades in the City of York have a political criteria for including or excluding people. The other example being Rev. Jim Grove who's excluded from the feminist-liberal organized Halloween parade.

The City of York keeps going from sad to worse with an apparently political agenda for parades that excludes people who have the wrong message or belong to the wrong political party.

Radio ads have sprung up on numerous stations in the area reminding voters they have to registered as Democrats to vote for Barack Obama.

Pennsylvania has a closed primary system and the deadline to switch party registration is March 24th.

So far this primary season Obama has done well in states that tend to vote Republican for president. Is it possible that he will do well in York County where Republicans usually win elections?

My instincts say the party establishment and York's dominant white Democrat population will prevail in giving Hillary Clinton most York County votes in the Pennsylvania Primary on April 22nd.

Under Pennsylvania's Act 1 law, an inflation index is set for every school district in the state and the districts are prohibited from increasing their spending over the inflation index.

But, the districts can apply to the Pennsylvania Department of Education using a long list of exceptions and get permission to raise spending over the index.

Many school districts in York County have done just that with five of them getting permission to hike spending in their 2008-2009 budgets over the limit.

The districts that will go over the limit with spending increases starting July 1st are Dallastown, Red Lion, Spring Grove, York City and York Suburban school districts.

So much for controlling public education spending.

If one is to believe the group that calls itself the "Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund" (where do they get their money?) York County State Representative Ron Miller (R-93rd District) is "waffling" on banning smoking.

This group has run print and radio ads urging Miller to push a total smoking ban when he and other legislators meet this week to come with new smoking ban legislation.

Miller says he's laughing at the ads because they are "factually inaccurate."

A smoke ban bill is expected to come out of the conference committee of state house and senate members this Tuesday, its just that Miller and his colleagues want to put in some exceptions to the ban. Miller says he's as concerned about the health effects of smoking and "second-hand smoke" as the group sponsoring the ads is.

The group running the ads wants a total ban everywhere that would take private business owners rights to decide about smoking away.

And I keep on asking who is paying for these ads and this "Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund?" Is it left-wing control types or insurance industry people looking at their bottom line?

A thorough investigation into who funds the "Fund" is in order. That includes who gives this group money and who gives the groups that give the fund money their money.

News reports claim that York County's Democrat Party is neutral in the presidential contest, but take it from my political experiences as an outsider that the deck is stacked against Barrack Obama's supporters locally.

York County Democrat Chairman Michael Johnson speaks of party neutrality but he is listed as a Hillary Clinton delegate on the ballot April 22nd.

Longtime York City Councilwoman Toni Smith is also a longtime Clinton supporter. She even took to the streets to support Hillary's controversial "health care" plan in 1994. And Smith knows how to use bareknuckled tactics against her opponents.

One of York County's few elected Democrats, State Representative Eugene DePasquale of the 95th District, also counts himself as a Hillary Clinton supporter.

No doubt these people will smile and make nice with Obama supporters, they want their support after its all over, but the Democrat inisders of York County will do everything they can to minimize the Obama campaign in York County and stifle its efforts.

The Hillary insiders have no doubt already infiltrated the Obama camp so they will know what his supporters in York County are doing. Perhaps you Obama people should do the same.

The Lincoln Charter School has been providing an elementary education alternative for students in York City, now the school wants to expand with a new middle school.

But the York City School Board voted 5-4 against their application for the school.

Now parents are starting a petition campaign to get the city school board to change their mind.

After the elementary school opened, the York City School District demanded a hefty lease payment for the district building being used by Lincoln. That led to a lengthy legal fight that the charter school won.

Its sad to see the arrogance of public education trying to block educational alternatives for children in the City of York. Failure is endemic in the York City School District with more than half of students failing to meet math and reading standards.

We've been hearing a lot about the York Counts organization and its desire to consolidate government in York County to supposedly save money.

But when it comes to education, a study done for York Counts puts new items on the table that will cost taxpayers more money.

The study involving interiews with local "leaders" came up with six "high priority" recommendations. They include creation of a countywide cyber school and expansion of preschool. Both those items will obviously cost more money and where do schools get their money from? You, of course. You pay taxes.

But there is some slicky tricky commentary accompanying release of the study. Dallastown Superintendent Stewart Weinberg spoke to the "York Daily Record" about getting "state funding" from legislators for the cyber school. But where does "state funding" come from? You, of course. You pay taxes.

School superintendents and their spin machines specialize in talking about "state grants," "federal grants," "state funding," etc. But its all your tax money in the end.

So York Counts fails again in the smell test when it comes to making government less expensive through having local school districts "cooperate."

This study is part of a fallback strategy by the York Counts elitists who know they can't push total consolidation now, but will pursue it in steps like the cyber school scheme and consolidating school calendars.

Synchronizing the calendars ought to be an interesting scheme in light of the story below.

Joseph Griffith is an Army veteran and Northeastern school board member who spoke out against the district's calendar for next year that make Presidents Day a snow make-up day and Martin Luther King Day a day off from school.

Griffith asked which holiday the school board members considered more important. He got no answer, but apparently the "York Daily Record" reporter covering the school board meeting wanted to suggest that Griffith showed "disrespect" by asking the question.

School board president Timothy Santiago disagreed with Griffith: "As long as I am president of this board, we will never consider having school on Martin Luther King Day."

Joseph Griffith was right to speak out against this school calendar and its up to Northeastern School District taxpayers and parents to let the board know exactly what they think.

Back him up and don't be intimidated. A holiday honoring America's presidents is certainly as worthy to be a day off from school as Martin Luther King Day.

But then comes the "York Daily Record" into the picture with an editorial calling for the holidays to be honored with "community service" by students.

That idea is in the news lately because Barrack Obama has actually suggested it as "payment" for higher education.

"Community service" by uniformed children was a staple of the Soviet Union and still is a reality for the communist nations of today (Cuba, North Korea). And lets not forget the Hitler Youth "community service" of the 1930's-40's in Germany.

Good is done in any community by the voluntary efforts of its people and not the coerced efforts of government to get anyone, especially children involved in "service."

The four Republican candidates in the open 13th State Senate District seat are off and running. Bill Neff from York County joins the three Lancaster County candidates Lloyd Smucker, Paul Thibault and Steve McDonald in the quest to win the primary on April 22nd.

Early news in the race included McDonald's announcement of raising 66-thousand dollars followed closely by Smucker's announcement of raising an astounding 185-thousand dollars for the race.

It appears that Smucker is the preferred candidate of political insiders in Lancaster County, although they are reluctant to openly endorse him, perhaps out of fear of making him appear to be the "incumbent politicians candidate."

One has to wonder what Smucker will owe all those people who gave him all that money.

Smucker, Thibault and McDonald all appeared at a Friends of the National Rifle Association banquet last Saturday in Lancaster, but Steve McDonald says the other two candidates have come out against Second Amendment rights.

McDonald says that Paul Thibault enacted a park ordinance as a Lancaster County commissioner that prevented citizens from defending themselves and their families on park land.

He also says that Lloyd Smucker, as a West Lampeter Township supervisor, has refused to repeal a township gun ban that prevents citizens from protecting themselves and families on public land.

McDonald says that both laws violate the US and Pennsylvania Constitutions.

Meanwhile, candidate Paul Thibault has called for immediate tax cuts in a mailing using "Conservative Leadership" to describe his candidacy. As a Lancaster County Commissioner, Thibault voted for a 28 percent property tax increase.

The 13th State Senate District includes Wrightsville, Hellam Township, Springettsbury Township and other parts of eastern York County.

Ten parents had questions for the Southeastern School Board on Thursday night about a student who was discovered having a "hit list." The list contained the first names of fellow students at South Eastern Middle School East and was discovered some weeks ago.

Parents are wondering why they weren't told about the threat and what the school is doing about it. The school district's lawyer, Brooke Say, spoke claiming that privacy laws limit what can be said.

She says the student found with the list is not attending classes. In addition, the district lawyer says the school system is cooperating with police "to the extent they can."

Stewartstown Police Chief George Cunningham says he is unable after consulting with various prosecutors and law enforcement, including the FBI, to find any law to prosecute the student under.

The school district says it took several weeks for a letter to go out to parents because lawyers and law enforcement had to be consulted.

(COMMENT) Public education showing its cumbersome, bureaucratic structure again and an apparent desire to keep quiet about potential security threats to students.

A few weeks ago the almost instant reporting on this page apparently triggered a quicker response from the Central York School District in regards to security measures taken following two fights at Central York High School.

Perhaps it takes quick and aggressive online reporting to get something out of public school officials determined to create a phony image of peace and quiet in their institutions called "schools."

For everything we read about in a local newspaper, there are a dozen or more things going on in public schools. Doesn't the public in general and parents in particular have a right to know the safety situation in "public schools."

In a close 4-3 vote, the Mount Wolf Borough Council has put on hold plans for a merger with East Manchester Township.

Council members don't think the time is right and see the merger plan as a loss for the borough of the ability to control their own affairs.

The combined borough and township would reduce borough tax rates but still keep them higher than the township's property taxes. The council members also noted that supposed cost savings of a merger are not as great as claimed by proponents.

The York liberal media establishment constantly touts the creation of bigger governments through the gradual merger of services.

A common mantra is that consolidation will save money.

I'm still scratching my head over the merger of fire and rescue services involving Springettsbury and Spring Garden Townships.

What gets me is that the merger plan includes three million dollars of spending to build a new fire station in Spring Garden Township's Tri-Hill area. Why not use existing stations? How does this "save money?

The special meeting of borough council in Wrightsville last Tuesday night was billed in a newspaper ad to be for discussing hiring a borough secretary and other business.

What came down was the council's acceptance of the resignation of police department clerk Bryan Rambler. Rambler is the son of Mayor Steve Rambler. Bryan Rambler was involved in a controversy last fall when State Police put Wrightsville police on probation because he had access to a confidential database used by police.

Council members and the borough solicitor said Rambler had been absent from his job for a long time and that allowed them to accept his resignation, even though he never gave them one.

Mayor Rambler said that his son has been paid this year, contradicting council's statement that his last paycheck was in September of 2007.

The council also agreed to pay over 1-thousand dollars in legal expenses for Mayor Rambler, who is fighting the council over their action locking him out of an office in the borough building.

Wrightsville Mayor Steve Rambler remains entangled in a legal dispute to remove him from office with York County DA Stan Rebert. The attempt to remove Rambler is based on his guilty plea to federal charges in the mid 1990's involving extortion and sexually explicit pictures.

York City Council shot down the proposal from outgoing councilman and former council president Cameron Texter to term limit city officials.

The vote was 4-1 with only Texter supporting his plan.

A common argument given by the likes of Councilwoman Toni Smith is that the voters would have their choice taken away from them.

My view is that incumbent politicians like Smith have the power to crush opponents insuring their continuous re-election.

They use city ordinances and laws against people who oppose them like former Councilwoman Vickie Washington.

People are even too intimidated to show up and raise questions at council meetings.

Meanwhile, as for Texter, we'll see what happens with him.

Is he leaving local politics to return later, or to face new challenges in his life?

One example being the continuing investigation into the bonuses that Harrisburg staffers of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives like Texter received during election years. It is suspected the "bonuses" were given illegally in exchange for political campaign work.

Meanwhile, York City Council has approved pay raises for the mayor. The raises begin in 2010 with the mayor's salary moving from $60,000 a year to $67,500. By 2013 the Mayor of York will be paid $75,000 year.

Sewer rate shock is hitting York County with a vengeance.

While large localities with their own sewage treatment plants (York City, Springettsbury Township) are seeing less than 10 percent hikes, the rates are doubling for many people in West Manchester Township.

Dover Borough just approved a 34.7 percent sewer rate hike.

Some small towns north of here face having to impose thousands of dollars in charges to upgrade local sewer systems.

A federal environmental mandate is forcing "cleanup" of the Chesapeake Bay. Its said that unless local sewage treatment plants increase their filtration, harm will be done to the bay and its underwater life.

The massive costs facing local governments in Pennsylvania have triggered a cooperative lawsuit seeking money from the state to pay for upgrading sewage treatment plants. Hanover Borough Council approved spending 2-thousand dollars to help fund the suit.

But of course, when one asks the "state" to pay for the costs, what is one really doing? I would say local politicians are passing the buck by passing the bill onto taxpayers statewide instead of local ones.

Its sad but true that local politicos are trying to take the heat off themselves by looking to a bigger pool of taxpayers to pay the bill.

This shell game doesn't get to even bigger ideas. Should taxpayers have to pay this bill at all? Is there really a need to have a 'cleanup' of Chesapeake Bay?

Many are willing to question the envionmentalist mantras about "climate change." We should question their "wisdom" about sediment and the Chesapeake Bay.

Let your federal officials take the heat over this, because its a "federal mandate" that is causing your sewer rates to jump through the roof.

Its an election year and it couldn't hurt. Don't ask for money from the federal government. Demand a change in this extreme enviornmentalist mentality that threatens our wallets, our jobs and ultimately the economy with its outrageous financial burdens.

Dozens of people attended the supervisors meeting in Manchester Township where a sucessor was chosen for the late chairman of the board, John D'Ottavio.

They came in support of the appointment of his widow, Rita D'Ottavio, to replace him on the board.

But when a motion was made by Michele Schanbacher to appoint her, no other member seconded it. Instead, board member Lisa Wingert moved to appoint Edward Dankanich to serve the reaminder of D'Ottavio's term until January 2010.

The board will now be headed by Wingert who will chair the board, with Schanbacher as the vice-chair.

(OOMMENT) The political insiders of Manchester Township have their way.

Will Tallman and Mike Rishel will face off in the GOP Primary for the 193rd State House District of York and Adams County around Hanover. The seat is open with retirement of liberal Republican Steve Nickol.

Tallman, who challenged Nickol as a more conservative candidate before, stressing his pro-life credentials among other things, is now running a more subdued campaign. Tallman says he has consulted with party insiders for this campaign (liberal ones I should say) and is praising Nickol now. Is this something that the party insiders have done deliberately to sabotage his campaign?

In my analysis Mike Rishel, who served as a Penn Township commissioner for 15 years and built a family business, is the insider candidate.

It appears the GOP establishment has infiltrated Tallman's campaign and will cause its failure on April 22nd.

The extension for filing that Governor Ed Rendell signed by executive order Tuesday enabled a Democrat to enter the race in the 193rd District with Neil Clifford. Clifford will face either Tallman or Rishel in the fall.

Two years ago, Republican Karen Emenheiser faced Eugene DePasquale. DePasquale was put in as Democrat candidate in the 95th State House District after the resignation of the payjack scandal tainted incumbent, Steve Stetler.

DePasquale, who was a York City official and a state official in Harrisburg as well as coming from a veteran Pittsburgh political family, defeated Emenheiser 59-41 percent.

Now DePasquale will face Emenheiser again this year. But the Emenheiser he's facing is Lon Emenheiser, Karen's husband. Lon Emenheiser filed as the only GOP candidate in the 95th District.

Emenheiser, who is a U.S. Air Force veteran, says the legislature has come up short on reform and needs to cut wasteful spending.

And I should note, that Mr. DePasquale has been good at publicity and grandstanding for proposals that go nowhere. Talking about them gets him attention and good feelings from people who pick up on his talking in the media.

Its the mark of a good, slick politician.

Places where students congregate before school were darkened Thursday morning at Central York High School. Students were sent directly to their classrooms when they arrived, there was no school breakfast and extra police were on hand.

The actions were triggered by a rumor that violence could break out at the school following two serious fights recently involving students and administrators.

School principal Dr. Jay Butterfield announced a power outage in the morning but later acknowledged that he ordered the lights turned off as a security measure.

Letters and e-mails were sent to parents on Friday by the principal, hours after this post first appeared online. The communications speak of precautions being taken and also of "rumors" of gang activity.

There's word that students are being dismissed in a staggered way, a few buses at a time picking up students in front of the school.

Talk on the street points to two groups of students who could be described as "gangs" being in conflict with each other in the school. One group of students who live in North York are fighting those who live in the Village East apartment complex.

(COMMENT) Public schools tend to deceive when something bad happens or they are afraid of something bad happening. Parents and students alike felt let down by the deception Thursday morning.

Standing behind the principal and apparently authorizing his actions is Central York School District Superintendent Dr. Linda Estep. Dr. Estep herself was implicated in deception a few years ago when she claimed a state law required the school district to construct a pool at the high school.

Things are calm now after yesterday's excitement and lets hope it stays that way.

But there is a sad "prevention" attitude playing itself out here driven by matters other than maintaining order. The days of corporal punishment and parental authority are over. Imagine the "lawsuits" or maybe arrests ("child abuse") if any troublemakers got a well deserved hit by school officials or even their parents.

As traditional values and structures are broken down by humanistic, liberal government power, you have anarchy. What comes after anarchy? Some sort of dictatorship.

Police have to be called when there's a fight at school nowadays because of the "child abuse" legalities involved. Many schools like Central York High School have a police officer permanently stationed there.

Families and schools can't deal with problems anymore, the liberal mentality leaves only police in the end to maintain order (a police state).

The original plans called for the new Spring Grove High School to cost 50 million dollars but, as often is the case, it will actually cost more.

That's the latest word from Spring Grove School District where's its said that 1.3 million dollars more than planned could be spent. The actual "extra cost" is said to be 500-thousand dollars for now since 800-thousand was planned for cost overruns.

When taxpayers money is involved, the costs always seem to go up and up and up.

Spring Grove taxpayers should stay tuned for more "costs" to be tacked onto the bill for their new high school just like other taxpayers in other districts have had to endure theirs.

Earlier this month, York City Council picked a new president to replace Cameron Texter. Now Texter says he won't run for re-election next year.

Texter's estrangement from his wife has been in the news during the last year, as well as an investigaton into whether bonuses given to Texter and other House staff members in Harrisburg were for campaign-related work.

The decision was announced by Texter as council members debated term-limits for city officials. Texter wanted a two-term, eight-year limit for all elected officials, with four years off before they could run again.

In the end, the council approved 3-2 an amendment making the mayor and city council members subject to a 3-term, 12-year limit with two years off before running again. Council President Joe Musso and City Councilwoman Toni Smith voting in opposition to that version of the term limit plan.

These developments are startling and unusual. It may be that Mayor Brenner will veto the idea giving Texter some fuel for political attack on the mayor. There are rumors of Texter wanting to be mayor someday. But a more likely scenario is that Texter is taking stock in the midst of his personal and professional difficulties.

By saying he is not running again, Texter also appears free to promote a salary increase for Mayor John Brenner from his current 60-thousand dollars a year.

The story of Cameron Texter will continue.....

The Dallastown School District keeps pushing for approval from Springfield Township of a controversial new 60 million school.

Taxpayers in general are blasting the waste of money and Springfield Township residents see a big dispution to their neighborhood from the proposed school.

Debate at a special meeting last Thursday night called by the township supervisors centered on highway changes associated with the new school. The school district is asking the township to pay 200-thousand dollars for a 'highway occupancy permit.' The school district claims its road construction plans will reduce traffic congestion in the area. The supervisors are skeptical about any "benefits" resulting from the road construction work and want the school district to pick up the tab.

That's something Dallastown School District says its unwilling to do.

Appearing at the meeting to push the new school was Ore Valley Elementary School PTO member Kim Linthicum. Linthicum spoke of overcrowding in the district's schools and is quoted by the "York Daily Record" as saying: "Take a step back and remember why we're doing this. This is about the kids." If ever there was a standard liberal tag line, its that one about doing things "for the kids." Sadly, our PTO groups in school district's are filled with such liberals.

Beyond that I want to note that Linthicum ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign for York Township commissioner last year. Her campaign was in opposition to a new housing development in the township. That's the problem with opponents of "sprawl" like Linthicum. They will oppose private development on open space but always support government development on open space ranging from the Lauxmont Farms eminent domain to new palatial school buildings.

And the old line about things being "for the kids" is wearing a little thin with taxpayers hearts, minds and wallets in York County.

The final vote to approve a controversial new contract for Dallastown School Superintendent Stewart Weinberg was a narrow 5-4 one.

The contract guarantees Weinberg 139-thousand dollars a year, with incentives to get 19-thousand more.

The "incentives" center around Weinberg reaching goals. The goals involve Weinberg's management-style and his ability to get along with parents and teachers. He's been criticized for a harsh style of management. A consultant has been hired at taxpayer expense to help Weinberg reach the "goals."

The four "No" votes include the new taxpayer-oriented member Carroll Tignall and two members that I rate as liberal tax and spend members, Michael Hady and Bonnie Lepson. The vote of Tignall is obvious, the vote of those I consider liberal is not. It may simply involve all the complaints they've received about Weinberg and their desire to please the apparently liberal critics. It may also involve the fact that on this page, I have tagged them as "liberal" and they want to try to beat that label by voting this way.

The situation in Dallastown is interesting and worth monitoring more closely in the months ahead.