Free Press –
Anselm Richards, Coopersburg Silhouette Showbar
Swingers, Bob Woodward, Woglom,
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Today, the main topic is a talk I heard last Friday by a young officer who returned from combat in Iraq. First Lieutenant Anselm Richards leads a tank platoon and is part of a National Guard troop, which I commanded 40 years ago. His assessment of the war is sobering. And it’s not good news for President Bush and the Republican members of congress.
But before I do, here are my thoughts about a few local issues.
First, there’s much talk about Quakertown Borough Manager David Woglom. Several councilmen have urged an investigation about Woglom’s management style and whether he’s adhered to the law involving bidding procedures. In addition, Councilman David Zaiser believes that the strong manager system, which voters adopted in a 1974 referendum, should be revised.
Friends, this is not rocket science. If the council thinks that Woglom has too much power, all it has to do is to provide more oversight. Quakertown doesn’t need a new form of government.
The only suggestion that I have to make local government more efficient is to merge Quakertown, Richlandtown, and Richland Township. But that won’t happen until the state legislature gets some courage. That’s unlikely, unless the public demands term limits. And because voters are fast asleep, legislators are perfectly safe.
By the way, you could build a case for voting against every incumbent, regardless of his record. The state legislature and the congress need a strong wake up call.
Second,
Third, the Bucks County Court will decide which of two plans is better for representation on the Quakertown School Board. Two of the three Richland Township Supervisors support the notion that nine directors elected at large [from the six Quakertown area municipalities] is better than the present method. At the moment, voters select three directors from three sub districts.
Supervisor Mike Zowniriw abstained claiming that he felt “bamboozled,” according to the Free Press (Sept, 28). In my humble opinion, having Zowniriw bamboozled is better than having him angry.
Personally, I like the at-large method. It works just fine in Bucks County where the three county commissioners are elected at-large…and the county population approximates 600,000.
Nonetheless, I doubt that the court will overturn the school district’s decision [to continue the three-district method]. It would be unlikely for the court to meddle with a local issue unless the petitioners can prove that the present system is harmful. Stay tuned.
Fourth, and speaking of local courts, did you see that Lehigh County Court Judge Edward Reibman ordered the Coopersburg Silhouette Showbar to stop operating a members-only sex club? According to the Morning Call (Sept. 30), the judge has put the Club Kama Sutra out of business. The owners counter the claim that the sex club is exclusive to members only.
Last week, Coopersburg officials shut off the water because the bill wasn’t paid. The borough fathers are clearly annoyed that a sex joint which offers 12 rooms, for couple swapping and anatomy exploration, exists in their midst. Those people just don’t have a sense of humor. What the council should consider is not turning off the water of Club Karma Sutra…It should turn off the plumbing of the participants instead.
And now to serious business.
Lt. Anselm Richards is a lucky fellow. He and his unit survived combat in the Ramadi province, one of Iraq’s hottest areas. His platoon’s mission was to patrol a stretch of the main highway from Baghdad to the Syrian border, just 60 miles away. That’s the route which most of the insurgents take to infiltrate Iraq’s porous border.
Richards says that the U. S. does not have enough troops to secure the border or the cities within Iraq. “Securing Ramadi has never been done,” he began. In addition, “there are insufficient helicopters to provide adequate reconnaissance.”
His assessment mirrors the book, which Robert Woodward has just written. The Washington Post editor claims that the Bush administration did not prepare adequately for keeping the peace once the military had won the war [in Iraq]. Unable to make an assessment on his own, Woodward writes, Mr. Bush caved in to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who insisted that the occupation could be done on the cheap. Our soldiers, 2,700 of them, have made the ultimate sacrifice thanks to that blunder.
Incidentally, Richards told us that there are not enough chaplains to go around. That was fascinating to me.
“Iraq is a land where the two main Islam sects hate each other intensely,” Richards continued. “Whether the administration wants to admit it or not, a civil war has broken out already.
“Iraq is an armed camp,” Richards added. It may take hundreds of thousands of troops to secure the borders, cities, and villages. That certainly sounds like what the Bush critics have been claiming. Woodward writes that the Bush administration is deceiving the American public. The President’s approval ratings coincide with the voters’ mistrust.
And that bodes ill for Michael Fitzpatrick, our local congressman from the eighth district. Fitzpatrick is desperately distancing himself from the President. Will his strategy work? We’ll just have to stay tuned.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith