Free Press –
Local Elections, Open Space, Keegan Willow Tree
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Before I get to the November 6 local elections, I have a few preliminary thoughts. First, Lois Keegan called me a few weeks ago about the willow tree, which graced the Keegan property in Haycock Township. A few months ago, I wrote about her husband, Bob, who is a famous “Berggeist” sculptor. Berggeist means mountain spirits.
The Keegan’s live on Cider Press Lane where I used to frequent when Matt and Kay Clark lived there. The Clarks were close friends of my parents. During World War II, Matt Jr. and I often played airborne soldiers in their huge cantilevered barn.
Incidentally, Jeff Marshall of the Heritage Conservancy wrote about the Keegan’s barn. Marshall identified it as a “Schweitzer” barn in his “Barns of Bucks County.”
When the Clarks lived there, the farm was called “The Willows” because of the willow trees, which surrounded the house. Lois Keegan called me with the sad news. “The willow tree is gone,” she began. “It just decided it didn’t want to be in the ground anymore. The tree just quietly lay down.”
I’ll bet that tree was 100 years old. It hung over the house when I was a kid, 60 years ago. Alas, nothing is forever. “When it’s time, it’s time,” my late father used to say.
Item.
As the football season winds down,
here’s my favorite gridiron story of 2007. It was so unusual that it made the
New York Times (Oct. 30). Coming from behind, “Trinity University (Texas) won,
28-24, [over Millsaps College, Mississippi] on the final play by completing a
forward pass and then scoring after 15 lateral passes that zigzagged across the
field, taking 62 seconds to cover the 60 yards to the end zone,” the
Item.
I was amused by the endorsement of Republican Presidential frontrunner Rudy Giuliani by TV evangelist Pat Robertson. Surely you remember Pat Robertson. He and Jerry Falwell opined that 9/11 happened because God was angry at America for its tolerance of abortionists, feminists, and homosexuals!
In recent years, Robertson has called former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke divine punishment for dividing God’s land [in Palestine]. Robertson has also recommended the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The Robertson endorsement must mean that both Giuliani and Robertson are in a death spiral. We’ll see.
And now to
business.
Harry Fawkes, the Chairman of the Bucks County Republican Committee, has four years to rebuild his machine. In a razor thin victory, the Republicans held on to their majority position in the courthouse. However, four years ago, the GOP’s margin was a comfortable 11,928 votes (according to the Inquirer’s report of November 8). This year, it had fallen to only 1,484.
The Republicans easily kept the four row offices (Register of Wills, Treasurer, Clerk of Courts, and Coroner). You faithful readers know that Harry Fawkes enjoys my suggestions. Republican County Commissioner Jim Cawley will be ready for a second term in 2011. His fellow Republican Commissioner Charley Martin will probably call it a day when his term expires.
So, the GOP will have to find a new Commissioner candidate to replace Martin. If I were Harry, I’d build the candidacy of either Mary Smithson (Clerk of Courts) or Dr. Joe Campbell (Coroner). Both have won their offices handily and are popular with the voters.
In Montgomery County, it was a similar story. Like Bucks, the Republicans kept the courthouse but it was far from a slam-dunk. Democrat Joe Hoeffel placed second of the three Montgomery commissioner seats. So did Democrat Diane Marseglia in Bucks.
But in Montgomery County, which has a stronger Republican edge in voter registration, the nine row office elections were a disaster for the GOP. Democrats won five of them.
Next year looks pretty bleak for Republicans in the four suburban counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery. Bucks voters know how to split their ballots. They voted for Republican Congressman Jim Greenwood and Democrat Al Gore in the 2000 presidential race.
The entire country is angry at the Bush administration’s performance. I doubt that any Republican presidential candidate stands a chance next year. What’s more, 2008 won’t be fun for Republican congressional, state representative, and state senate candidates in Bucks either. If they stumble, it will be interesting to see how 2009 shapes up in the county and local elections.
At the local municipal level, Republicans did well in Bedminster, Bridgeton, Dublin, Durham, Haycock, Milford, Perkasie (except for the second ward), Richland, Richlandtown, Silverdale, Telford, and West Rockhill.
But it was a different story in East Rockhill, Nockamixon, Quakertown, Riegelsville, Sellersville, Springfield, Tinicum, and Trumbauersville. Democrats either won or shared council, mayor, and supervisor seats with Republicans.
In the school district contests, Palisades, Pennridge, and Quakertown Republican school directors will share power with the Democrats.
I live in Quakertown and follow the municipal elections more closely. Three of the four winners will be new to the council when it takes office in January. Edward Scholl and Michael Johnson are Republicans; Michele Scarborough’s a Democrat. Republican Jim Roberts had no trouble winning reelection and ran second to Scholl. The borough council will have a slim majority, 5 to 4. It was not easy being an incumbent in Quakertown this year.
Finally, let me comment on the resounding victory for open space. The $87 million bond issue referendum won by a 3 to 1 margin and had wide support in every one of the 54 Bucks municipalities. Both parties endorsed the referendum. The only organization, which failed to support its passage, was the Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce. Fortunately, the rest of the Bucks Chambers of Commerce passed favorable resolutions.
Here’s how the $87 million will be spent: $26 million to municipalities to preserve open space; $25 million for farmland preservation; $18 million for county parks and recreation acquisitions; $11 million to preserve natural areas; and $7 million for accessing the Delaware riverfront.
The key to the victory was the leadership of former Bucks Commissioners Mike Fitzpatrick and Andy Warren, plus former county judge Hart Rufe. They were joined by a committee composed of some of the most respected names in Bucks County.
Open space requires no new school buildings, water and sewer lines, and highways. Keeping it from the hands of developers and the macadam, which follows, is a noble mission.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith