Free Press –
Tribune Morning Call, Cardinal Rigali & Sex Abuse, Frank Licopoli & Windmills, Larry Handy & “ Fuzzy Math”
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Some of today’s topics are serious…others are humorous. You be the judge. There’s Frank Licopoli with a tongue in cheek comment about wind power. Larry Handy sent me two national stories about why “fuzzy” math may shortly be chucked form the classroom. Cardinal Justin Rigali, the leader of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, is sending mixed messages on sex abuse cases. And the possible sale of the Morning Call round out the topics.
Let’s begin with the serious.
From the business news desks at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and locally at the Morning Call, the investment community is predicting that the Tribune Company may be ready to sell its newspapers, television and radio stations…even its beloved Chicago Cubs. Why? Because Tribune stockholders want a better performance, higher share prices and better dividends.
That’s exactly what happened to the Knight-Ridder Company, which was forced to sell its newspapers including the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News. Both the Tribune and Knight-Ridder Companies lost control of its ownership. Knight-Ridder has already paid the price and the Tribune Company, which owns the Morning Call, may be next.
On a per thousand circulation basis, I think that the Morning Call is the most profitable of the Tribune chain which includes the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and Newsday. It would be a shame to see the Morning Call sold to a media company, which will slash its newsroom and double the advertising rates. But that’s what normally happens when a newspaper is sold to the ruthless.
I hope for the Call’s sake that either the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Newhouse family acquire the Morning Call. My first choice would be the Newhouses. There are no public stockholders in the Newhouse organization. Brothers Cy and Donald Newhouse own the newspapers, television and radio stations and magazines. So they don’t have stockholders and corporate raiders to worry about.
The Newhouse brothers own the Easton/Bethlehem Express-Times, the Harrisburg Patriot, and the New Orleans Times Picayune. I used to serve on a National Newspaper board of directors with Donald Newhouse and became acquainted with the family’s reputation for excellence. Incidentally, brothers Cy and Donald are among the ten richest families in America, according to “Fortune Magazine.” The Morning Call newsroom would finally feel secure with the Newhouses in charge.
By the way, you never hear gossip about the New York Times and the Washington Post either. That’s because they are closely held corporations. Family members run the companies, and they haven’t lost control of the stock.
Another good example of keeping the family in control of its newspapers is the Calkins organization. The family owns the Doylestown Intelligencer, Bucks County Courier Times and newspapers in Western Pennsylvania, New Jersey…and stations in Florida. Calkins may be too small to tackle ownership in the Morning Call…but it would be a spicy thought. Gary Shorts is the CEO of the Calkins organization. Guess where he was the publisher before the Calkins family lured him away? You’re right, the Morning Call.
Stay tuned…We’ll just have to wait
and see.
The second serious topic is the mixed signals that the Philadelphia Catholic leadership is sending to the world.
“In front of more than 300 Catholic priests from the Philadelphia Archdiocese, three people recounted in graphic detail how sexual abuse by clergy destroyed their lives and fractured their families,” Kathleen Parrish wrote for the Morning Call (Sept. 16). Cardinal Rigali called the meeting to acknowledge the suffering of the victims and give a voice and face to their stories.
But just three days later, according to the Associated Press (Sept. 19), church lawyers argued in federal court that sex abuse plaintiffs should not be able to sue the archdiocese because the statutes do not cover personal injury. What kind of message is that? I think it’s pretty obvious. It’s all about money. The archdiocese is desperately trying to protect its assets.
Cardinal Rigali would be on much higher ground if he threw his weight behind legislation to end the statute of limitations for sex abuse claims. The Catholic lobby has those bills bottled up in various state legislative committees. And as long as it does, the church will be suspect. It must be difficult to be a parish priest these days.
And now for some
fun.
Frank Licopoli always has an interesting view. The Quakertown resident was looking at a family scrapbook and spotted a photograph of a windmill pumping water from an artesian well. The photo was from 1896. Maybe we should build windmills to create energy, he told me. Why not put them next to the library in Memorial Park, he asked facetiously?
Perkasie recently received a grant to try wind power. Could it save 10 percent of its energy costs?
But, Licopoli was plenty serious about America’s dependence upon Middle East oil…and how that helps terrorist organizations in league with Middle East countries. “We need to quit buying foreign oil,” he observed. “Every time you fill up your gas tank, you’re helping the terrorists.” Licopoli is dead right.
Item.
Larry Handy must be chuckling. For years, the Pennridge retired math teacher has been arguing that “fuzzy math” does not prepare public school students properly. Kids can’t multiply, divide, add and subtract in their heads, he says. Several Quakertown families have asked Superintendent Jim Scanlon to survey math teachers to determine whether “Integrated Math” should be dropped?
Handy sent two recent articles from the New York Times (Sept. 13) and The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 12) which urge public schools to return to the memorization of basic math facts.
“In a major shift from its influential recommendations 17 years ago, the National council of Teachers of Mathematics yesterday issued a report urging that math teaching in kindergarten though eighty grade focus on a few basic skills,” the New York Times report began. “Almost a quarter of American college freshmen take a remedial math course, according to the National Science Board.
“If the report, “Curriculum Focal Points,” has anywhere near the impact of the council’s 1989 report, it could signal a profound change in the teaching of math in American schools. It could also help end the math curriculum struggles that for the last two decades have set progressive educators and their liberal supporters against conservatives and many mathematicians,” the article continued.
I wonder how the Quakertown and Pennridge school districts will handle this news. Both use the Integrated Math system. Didn’t the Bethlehem and North Penn school districts abandon “fuzzy math” months ago? Quakertown and Pennridge may be next. Stay tuned.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith
PS. Next week, I’ll have a comment about women’s colleges, which are throwing in the towel…(going co-ed)…and what Barry Goldwater’s granddaughter had to say about his core beliefs. They don’t square with the GOP of today. Finally, if space permits, I may add a thought about the Swingers Club in Coopersburg. The borough meisters have lost their sense of humor.