Free Press – July 6, 2006

Sines, Quakertown Band Concerts, Bob Leight, Quakertown Union, YMCA New Head Quarters, New York Times

Dear Friends,

Good morning. Yesterday, Americans celebrated the anniversary of our Republic. Two days earlier, the United States Supreme Court rebuked the Bush administration for abuse of power, demonstrating once again that the founding fathers knew what they were doing when they created checks and balances between the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

In a bit, I’ll tell you why the New York Times is right and the administration wrong when it criticized the newspaper’s decision to inform its readers about the government’s surveillance of bank records.

Before I do, there are several local items of importance. Linda Cooper is a thoughtful friend of ours. She sent an Email suggesting that residents should patronize the hometown stores. Referring to Quakertown’s water and sewer project, she wrote: “Let’s give our Quakertown merchants a hand getting through what surely will be a rough few weeks by buying ahead of the road work…or rushing back to buy just after it ends.”

I thought of Linda as I read the story of Sines 5 and 10 and the possibility that it may close its doors forever. “S.O.S.” reads the big sign in the front display window…Save Our Store.

“For 30 years, [Bill] Harr has owned and operated the store, along with his wife Marlene, begun by his grandfather Howard Sine in 1912, and passed down to him by his mother,” Toni Becker wrote in the Free Press last week.

“His three grandchildren are set to be fifth-generation owners, but if sales don’t pick up by this coming Christmas, Sine’s will close its doors for good,” Becker continued.

Mighty Betsy and I stopped in for lunch the other day. I had a delicious cheeseburger and a glass of Root Beer from the 90-year-old wooden barrel. We visited with patrons sitting on the stools at the counter. It was like old home week. We saw Jeff Naugle (Naugle Funeral Home), Reds Worthington (who served as a Quakertown councilman for decades), and Barbara Naumann who told us that she’d been a customer since age 5!

We talked about the Quakertown we knew growing up. “Do you remember Weida’s, Holsinger Upholstery, Shelly’s, Fritz’s and Kaisers Bakeries, Hinkle and Biehn, Quakertown Drug, Hillegasses, the Weiss stores, The New York Store, Deaterly's, and grocery stores like Cassels, Sernoff, and the B and O,” several customers asked? Yes, I replied and more. Alas, all of them are gone.

Fortunately, we still have stores, which have been serving customers for many decades. Benner's Hardware, Dimmig's, Kulp’s Jewelry, and Moyers Shoes come to mind. Forgive me if I forgot someone. Anyway, it would be a shame to lose any of these businesses and the only way to keep them here is to patronize them.

The super sized merchandise marts and food emporiums don’t give a hoot about the local people. All they care about is driving mom and pop stores out of business. You and I can do something about that.

By the way, Deanna Mindler, who presides over the Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce, told me that Sines is holding an open house on Monday, July 17 from 4 to 6:30. We’ll be there and hope that you will be too.

Item

The Quakertown Band will hold nine free concerts this summer. It’s their 129^th season. Here’s the schedule: July 9 at Lenape Park (Perkasie) at 4 PM; July 19 at the Quakertown National Bank at 7; July 25 at Menlo Park (Perkasie) at 7; July 30 at Warrington at 7; August 9 at Trinity Lutheran (Quakertown) at 7; August 13 at Silverdale Park at 2; August 16 at St. John’s Lutheran (Richlandtown) at 7; August 20 at Quakertown Memorial Park at 6:30; and September 17 at Lenape Park (Sellersville) at 12:30. The programs are varied and the musicians are professional. You’ll be impressed.

Item.

I’ll visit the stories about Dr. Robert Leight returning to the Quakertown School Board; the unionization of Quakertown Borough employees, and the possibility of a new home for the YMCA next week.

And now for the main item.

“President Bush condemned as “disgraceful” the disclosure by The New York Times, and other newspapers of a secret program to investigate and track terrorists that rely on a vast international database that includes Americans’ banking transactions,” Sheryl Gay Stolberg reported for the Times (June 27).

Right wing Congressman Peter King (R- N. Y.) suggested that the Times be investigated for treason.

I call this “red herring” story a case of shooting the messenger. “Only people with short memories think the articles told al-Qaeda anything fundamentally new about U.S. anti-terrorism efforts,” the Philadelphia Inquirer lead editorial reported (June 28). “After 9/11, federal officials raced to microphones to detail how the United States would follow the money trail to thwart terrorist cells.

“The offense for which Congressman King [and the Bush administration] and others would prosecute journalists is revealing classified data,” the editorial continued. “Surely you can see what would happen if this tactic became the norm; Governments of either party would be tempted to classify massive amounts of data- in a bid to avoid oversight, criticism and accountability.”

I’ll close with this item from the Inquirer on June 27. “The government would like us to publish only the official line, and some of our elected leaders tend to view anything else as harmful to the national interest…Editors start from the premise that citizens can be entrusted with unpleasant and complicated news, and that the more they know the better they will be able to make their views known to their elected officials.”

The New York Times was correct when it wrote (June 27), “The Bush administration was adopting a strategy of “shoot the messenger” in trying to avoid Congressional oversight of the financial tracking program.”

The recent Supreme Court decision reminds us to be wary about administrations that overstep their authority. It’s all about the abuse of executive power.

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith