Perfect seasons

No, I'm not talking about the New England Patriots. Doesn't it seem like they're in the Super Bowl every other year? I know they're not, but it sure seems like it some times.
Anyway, I'm talking about the Norristown Area High School boys basketball team and the Methacton High School girls basketball teams.
These two schools are on a roll to say the least.
The streaks started me thinking about all of the great athletes to come out of our area.
I can name a few, but I was hoping for a little help.
Let's get off politics for a couple of minutes and talk sports.
Who do you think is the greatest athlete to come out of Montgomery County?

Caught in a different Trappe

Two wrongs don't make a right. I thought it was wrong for former councilman Mark Carrig to stay on after he had moved out of town and he eventually did the right thing and resigned.
Now council has appointed solicitor Bob Brant to the zoning hearing board, if my source is correct, and not the planning commission. Either one doesn't really matter for the point I'm trying to make. First, I don't know Mr. Brant. I'm sure he's a fine person, but he also happens to represent a real estate investment company that proposed an 88-townhouse project to council.
I could be wrong, but it certainly sounds like a conflict of interest to me. And you know what they say about the appearance of a conflict.
If there's some kind of 90-day probationary period for commissioner members I would suggest council reconsider the appointment.

The truth certainly didn't set us free

The truth of the matter is we don't know what possessed Jim Matthews to sidle up to Joe Hoeffel. Jim knows exactly why he did it and maybe some day he'll let the rest of us in on it. We know he wanted to appoint his own solicitor. He got his wish. But other than that, is being chairman really that much more prestigious than vice chair, which is what he would have been had he stayed true to Bruce Castor? And, if he would have allowed Bruce to pick his own solicitor he would have been chairman.
I asked you guys to send me a note or two on what's going on with appointments in your townships. I basically heard from Whitemarsh and Lower Providence.
Some people, read Republicans, in Whitemarsh is a little upset that Sean Kilkenney was appointed solicitor out there. Personally, I don't know Kilkenney, but I have seen his name pop up as solicitor in a few other municipalities and I'm wondering how many he can take on before he's spreading himself too thin. You'd think he'd have his hands full with Norristown alone.
Speaking of solicitors, Lower Providence is on the verge of changing theirs as well. Folks out there are upset with a new appointment to the zoning hearing board, and now they're getting a new solicitor.
The year's starting off with quite a bang. Stay tuned folks.

The moment of truth

The moment of truth is almost upon us. Montgomery County commissioners will reorganize next week and as we've reported in The Times Herald, Republican Jim Matthews has formed an alliance with Democrat Joe Hoeffel to wrest control of the county from incoming commissioner, and Matthews running mate, Bruce Castor.
Unless there's a last minute deal the Matthews/Hoefell duo will be running the county and Castor will most likely be spending more time at his law firm.
To those of you who donated to the Matthews/Castor campaign, if it were me, I'd be asking for my money back.
Look, this isn't really about some unholy alliance. There's a chance that Matthews/Hoeffel will do just fine running the county, but that's not the point. This is about all of the people who thought they were voting for a team only to find out one member of the team jumped ship right after pulling into the harbor.
There will be reorganization meetings all over the county next week. Drop me a line and let me know how you think things shook out in your town. Not that I'm implying that there's any kind of shakedown going on here, but, boy, won't it be interesting to see who the next county solicitor is?

Try, try, again

Man, take a couple days off and the barbs start flying (see entries in previous post). The talk around the water cooler is that Castor's not giving up on Matthews just yet. He still thinks he can talk Jim into forming an alliance with him, thus giving Republicans the majority they won at the polls. Hey, I'll take it. After losing five county row office seats to the Dems it would be nice to retain control of an office we actually won. And now that we're down to the end of 2007 will someone please tell me what the Dems in Congress did all year?

Doing my job, the sequel

About a month or so ago I blogged (or was it in my column?) about the possibility of Republican Montgomery County Commissioner Jim Matthews teaming up with Democratic commissioner-elect Joe Hoeffel, leaving Republican commissioner-elect Bruce Castor the odd man out. Well, it sounds like it is going to come to fruition. Not quite the way I predicted, which would have had Hoeffel being elected chairman and Matthews vice chairman, but if the reverse is true does it really matter?
You know what really matters?
That this is just another sign the Montgomery County Republican Party has more splinters than a termite could handle in a month.
I don't know folks, perhaps it's time for someone to step up and take the reins away from the Asher/Davis duo.

Just doing my job

We would all like to think we make a difference when we go out of our way to do something for someone else. It's good for the soul.
My job is to try to make a difference every day.
Sometimes I think I do, and sometimes I'm not so sure.
When I started blogging about Trappe I did so because I thought what I had heard was going on was just plain wrong.
I don't know if Mark Carrig resigned because we started putting pressure on him to do so or if he was just waiting to sell his house in Trappe.
I don't know if Stewart Strauss wasn't appointed to the seat left vacant by Carrig because I uncovered what was going to happen before he was able to pull off his coup d'etat, or he just decided he didn't want to play the political game any more.
I might never know.
I am certain of one thing, though. I was just doing my job bringing these things to light, but I would like to think I made a difference.

Trappe Time

This is the moment of truth folks.
Trappe Council is poised to appoint a new member this evening.
Mark Carrig resigned so there is a seat available.
Obviously the appropriate thing to do would be to appoint the top vote getter in November's election, but I just don't think that's going to happen.
If you go back in time with me to just a couple of months ago I told you what I thought was going to happen.
Stewart Strauss is the president of Trappe Council. He will resign tonight and he will then be appointed to the seat vacated by Carrig.
I said it two months ago and I'm saying it again today.
I would like to think that it's not going to happen. I'd like to think that the remaining members of Trappe Council will do the right thing and put the top vote getter from the most recent election into the seat.
I'd like to think that, but....

The Trappe is set

None of us really know the future, or do we?
It appears as if everything I wrote about is coming to fruition.
Not because I'm some kind of psychic, but because when someone lays out a plan and executes it properly the future isn't such a mystery.
The good people of Trappe have had a resignation on council, and just last night council started looking for a replacement.
How many days, or hours, do you think it will be before the president of council resigns so he can be reappointed to the seat?
Remember folks, this is your town, not the town of the few people you chose to run it for a short period of time.
If you don't want this to happen, make sure it doesn't.

Methacton Madness

What in the world went on Tuesday after the Methacton School Board meeting?
I've seen the video tape. A visibly upset Jim Van Horn, that's school board president Van Horn, is seen coming full steam at the camera, which I'm told was operated by perennial pain in the side of Van Horn, Jim Mollick.
Van Horn can clearly be heard saying that video taping after a meeting is over is a no-no. The next thing you see is the camera going haywire so we're not real sure what happened next.
Van Horn has simply said he was not charged with assault by state police and he won't comment further.
I had a couple of voice mails waiting for me Wednesday morning when I got in. One person was absolutely appalled at what she called an 'unprovoked attack'
Lower Providence Supervisor Craig Dininny said Van Horn should resign.
From what I saw on the video tape, whether an assault occurred or not, Van Horn should be able to have a little more self control. He's a public figure, and has been one for some years. I agree with Dininny to a certain extent. Van Horn should step down, at least from the president's seat. I don't know if he needs to resign, but the president's gavel should be passed along to someone else.

Trying to decipher Norristown code report

The consultant's report on the Norristown code enforcement department is finally out.
I was under the impression is was going to be out a while ago, but, as they say, better late than never. Or is that really the case here?
The report tells us the department is in disarray. We knew that didn't we? The report tells us the department is understaffed. We knew that, too, didn't we? And the report also says the department needs a true leader.
Ah, now we're getting somewhere. Just what happened to the leader of the department?
Where is Charlie Sweeney?
Last I heard he was waiting for another hearing on whether he's going to get his job back.
Where was that little tidbit in the report?
We know something happened to cause Charlie to be fired, but what was it?
I can certainly understand the idea behind the report was to determine all of the departments faults and attempt to move forward in a positive fashion to create a department that will run smoothly and efficiently in the future.
But what about the past?
I'm still under the impression that Charlie was fired for doing something he was told to do.
I'm also under the impression that Charlie was told to do something for a Montgomery County mover and shaker and when the favor didn't go as planned the hammer came down on Charlie.
Now I don't know how productive all of this is in moving the department forward, but I do know that exposing past practices will go a long way in assuring the people of Norristown that those practices no longer exist.
We all remember the FBI raid, don't we?

I want to be elected

OK, not really, I just couldn't think of a catchier headline for today's entry.
We're off and running toward the finish line, though, and I wanted to let everyone know I'll be here all night dropping you a line from time to time as I find a race that catches my eye.
I'll start the ball rolling with telling you that I was duly impressed when I went to vote at First Baptist on Burnside Avenue in West Norriton and nearly 150 people had already passed through. That's a big turnout for our little precinct. I hope it's a sign of a great turnout.
What's going on where you are?

Weekend update after the weekend

Sorry about that folks. I know I said I was going to start doing a weekend update on Fridays, but I just got way behind the 8-ball and couldn't get out.
Anyway, this is (and I know I've said this before but I'm serious this time) the last time I'll address the alleged charge to Trappe Borough for putting borough contact information in the Collegeville/Trappe Heritage special section. I didn't a little investigative reporter. I was a cop reporter in a former life, you know. The money that shows up on the Trappe books is for an ad they took out in the section; not for the listing.
There are bigger fish to fry.
For now though, I want to get back to Norristown and find out where in the world that code enforcement report is. It's like trying to find Carmen Sandiego for Pete's sake. Or for you older folks, Waldo.
Anyway, There was a report, but they didn't like it, or couldn't understand it so they sent it back and now there isn't a report.
What I'm hearing is they didn't like what was in the report. Apparently some higher ups were getting raked over the coals. That's why it was sent back, not that they couldn't understand it. Now they want a 20-page report instead of the 70-page original. How do you do that? A consultants work isn't up for editing. It is what it is.

No, No, No

No, we didn't charge Collegeville and Trappe to put their listings into our recent Collegeville/Trappe Heritage piece.

No, I don't know Mark Marino. I think I shook his hand for the first time last Monday and said hello to him, but in my book, that doesn't mean I know him.

No, I don't allow every post to go through.

Now I feel trapped

The role of your local newspaper is to be a watchdog. That's what we do. For some reason the discussion on whether a Trappe councilman still lives in the borough has turned to what business is it of the newspaper or of mine.
This is what we do folks. We also try to clear up misconception.
First, I do not know Mark Marino. I think I met him for the first time the other day, but I certainly don't know him. I do know Mike Marino.
Second, I live in West Norriton, if it really matters at all. I'm not an elected official.
Third, and while I know we haven't done such a great job of it lately, we do cover Trappe. In fact, there was a terrific Collegeville/Trappe Heritage tab in last Saturday's (Oct. 6) paper.
And finally, this isn't so much clearing up a misconception as it is an attempt to put this issue to bed, so to speak. We've done our job. Now it is up to the residents of Trappe.
This is the role of your local newspaper.

Trapped again

Well, I sent a reporter out to the meeting. Check out tomorrow's (Sat. Oct 6, 2007) Times Herald.
While no one on council admitted to living in another municipality apparently a gentleman did get up and ask that if there were to be a vacancy on council he had just the man to fill the seat.
Come on, now, this isn't rocket science. Does the councilman, Mark Carrig, live in Trappe or not?
If you'll just sign on to the blog and say you live in Trappe we'll let the issue drop. That is, if that's not your townshouse sitting vacant like everyone seems to think it is.

Weekend Update

Wow, did I touch a nerve in Trappe, or what?
Some of you came to the blog for the first time so I want to clear up a couple of things.
First, I don't respond to every post. I post things up to get the conversation going. I can't
respond directly to posts even though I would like to talk to a couple of people from Trappe
who are really upset about the whole ordeal, so call me or drop me an e-mail at shuskey@timesherald.com
Second, yes, I am the editor of The Times Herald.
And, third, I'm willing to discuss any post at any time with anyone. My number is on the Web site
under contacts.
By the way, we're publishing a really nice piece Saturday on the Collegeville/Trappe area. Pick up The Times Herald and check us out. For those of you who are unfamiliar with us I think you'll like what you see.

I hear there's going to be some drilling out in East Norriton next week. Apparently, Wood's is going to be closed for the day so some testing can be done.

We're still working on that code enforcement report. Don't worry, we don't give up.

That's about it for now. Have a great weekend. I hear it's supposed to be really nice out.

Who am I?

I didn't think I would have to do this but after a recent post about Trappe Borough someone wrote in to ask who I was and why was I hiding my identity behind a blog.
For those of you who don't know, I am Stan Huskey, and yes, Stan is my real name. Actually, it's Stanley, but only my mother calls me Stanley.
What I thought was really hilarious was the person calling me out signing his or her name as anonymous.
I just thought that since the blog was on the Times Herald Web site and I'm the editor of The Times Herald it was obvious who I am. You know who I am now, so, who are you?
Never mind, I really want to clear up the impression that I, or the public might be concerned about Trappe Borough councilmember Mark Carrig's marital status. I don't care, and if the quote is accurate from the last blog, he's right, it isn't any one's business.
However, it is our business if Carrig doesn't live in Trappe. That's the only point I was trying to make, well that and what sounds to me like good old backroom politics about to take place in the Trappe.
Some else suggested a debate. There's no reason for a debate. It is what it is. If Carrig doesn't live in Trappe he should resign from council. Period.

Trapped in Trappe?

Or should I say shafted in Trappe. Listen to this. What I'm hearing is Trappe council member Mark Carrig doesn't live in Trappe anymore. He's still on council, but that doesn't seem to bother too many people, because, like I said, he's still on council.
Now comes the shaft. Here's why he's still on council and here's how it's going to go down. At least this is my take on it. Remember, you heard it here first.
Council President Stewart Strauss lost the primary. He's out come January. He doesn't want to be out so he's going to resign. Then Carrig is going to resign, and then Strauss is going to get himself appointed to Carrig's vacant seat, giving himself two more years on council.
So, if you live in Trappe, do you feel a little trapped right now by the people running the show?

Weekend Update

I received a voice mail earlier this week from a woman who said that Norristown State Hospital was closing, and that Building 51, where they house criminals with some sort of social disorder, was going to be privatized.
What I've found out so far is that about half of that is true, or at least could be. The state is looking for a private company to take over Building 51, but the part about the rest of the hospital closing down doesn't seem to be true. I spoke with a local state Senator who said he was assured by the head of the Department of Welfare, which oversees all state hospitals, that simply was not going to happen. Apparently privitization has been happening at other locations around the state.

We're still pushing for the code enforcement department report. We've been told it is still in draft form and that we will get a copy when it is complete. Once again, that simply doesn't make sense.

And completely from left field, or at least the end zone. What was Donovan McNabb thinking when he said black quarterbacks in the NFL are held to a higher standard? Dude, you flubbed a pass that my mother could have completed. No, not the one to end the drive at the end of the game, the one right before it where the guy was unbelievably wide open and the ball was thrown about 10 feet away from him. Your timing was about as good with that pass as was your statement. I know it was made well before the game, but why did you have to make it at all? You blew it, McNabb, just say so and move on to the next game.

You want a racial issue to sink your teeth into Donovan, do a little reading on the Jena 6.