When Colonel Benjamin Franklin came through Bethlehem in the mid-1750s, following the massacre at the Gnaden Huetten mission some 30 or so miles from the town, he found the Moravians armed, as we sometimes say, to the teeth. In his "Autobiography" he is somewhat flippant about the situation, especially since the British Parliament had only a few years earlier granted the Brethren exemption from bearing arms on the grounds that they were pacifists. He observed that either Parliament was mistaken in the Moravians' actual stance, or the Moravians themselves were.
But in this case Franklin might have spared his wit. Faced with the threat of death, the settlers of Bethlehem had merely discovered that they were "self-defensists." It was a rational decision, and one that most of us would make. Even Franklin, who did not set out to be a military man, and who returned to peaceful pursuits as soon as he could, had made that decision. He was never a pacifist; but he WAS a self-defensist.
The episode is a reminder that this city, which set out to be a place of peace, seems to have been involved during most of its history not with peace, but with a sword. And, Biblically, this is just.The Child born in the original Bethlehem said he himself had come to bring not peace, but a sword.
So, when it was a little settlement, Bethlehem was drawn into the French and Indian War, then into the American Revolution. Much later, when it was a formidable steelmaking town, it was drawn into the great wars of the 20th century. Down in what is left of the Bethlehem Steel complex there is a giant gun from the battleship USS Mississippi, a gun fired in anger more than once, a gun that helped win World War II in the Pacific Theater. That gun was made in Bethlehem, together with many other giant guns and formidably tough armor plate for ships.
In some ways that gun is much more representative of Bethlehem--a tough town of self-defensists--than is the giant,lighted star on South Mountain, also made with steel from the local plant.

During the early days of the South Bethlehem Historical Society I had what I still think is a very good idea. Why not bring the city together by a giant walk that could raise people's consciousness of their common heritage--and more than that, raise a little money for the historical organizations that would theoretically run the event. Other organizations, too, might raise a little money for their purposes by selling souvenirs along the way.
I visualized the walkers starting off near Donegan School on the South Side, and going to Burnside Plantation, the city's historic early American farm on the North Side. For obvious reasons, I began calling the proposed walk "South Side to Burnside."
The project got nowhere, for a number of reasons. At the time, Burnside was a relatively new acquisition to the historical landscape, and there was no path through to it from the Tannery area.
Too, believe it or not, computers were not all that available at the time. So the bookkeeping and other record keeping for "South Side to Burnside," while not impossible, would have been burdensome. But I am afraid that what seemed most in play were the old divisions that have for so long torn apart the people of the Christmas City--and which now seem multiplied and intensified. Only the Sun Inn Preservation Association, of the several North Side historical organizations, was interested in the idea.
But now--or soon--might be the perfect time to carry it out. Computers ARE available, the Burnside path IS open--and the need for something unifying seems greater than ever.
It wouldn't even matter if the route of the walk ran from Burnside to South Side.

Rumor has it that the turbulence that still boils in the city over the gambling issue is the brainchild of the Rev. Gordon Mowrer, member of City Council and former mayor of Bethlehem. But who could prove such a thing? And who would want to? Can it be believed that such a man, who has the confidence of so many of the city's voters (and at one time had the confidence of a majority of them), would be willing to tear the civic fabric to tatters for any reason? Especially when it seems likely to be so hard to mend?
Let us hope this has been the furthest thing from his mind.
When ideas like this are matters for public speculation, it's Hallowe'en every day. And yet that is the way things are these days.
Persistent rumor has it that some opponents of gambling mean to disrupt the Oct. 17 meeting of the South Bethlehem Historical Society. Although the meeting will feature developers Mike Perrucci and Barry Gosin of Bethworks Now, it is not about politics but about possible historic preservation. SBHS members would not, as far as I know, even think about disrupting anyone else's meeting. They hope no one will disrupt theirs--especially since the venue for discussions on gambling has now moved from Bethlehem to Harrisburg.

Although I have little time to read, I have heard that Lehigh University's President Gregory Farrington has resigned. (Or...? Perhaps he was not successful enough in pushing the Lehigh University board's agenda. Who knows?)
I have been waiting for the Lehigh agenda to be revealed. Ever since I first came to Bethlehem, more than 30 years ago, Lehigh has been advancing on the South Side, bit by bit. Even before that, really. A friend of mine who has literally grown up on the South Side remembers the destruction of a neighborhood with shops, homes, a church (Moravian, no less), and a synagogue. Her family thought their own home would be next; but so far it has survived.
I can't prove it, but I believe Lehigh would dearly love to plow down the entire neighborhood and install a research triangle analogous to that in North Carolina. Inconveniently, much of the business district is a Historic Conservation District, and there are citizens who take this fact seriously. They worked hard to bring it about.
President Farrington will be remembered for his demand that the Bethlehem skyline be cleared of "scrap metal." He meant the five majestic blast furnaces of Bethlehem Steel, believed to be the the last of their kind in the world. He can be replaced; the blast furnaces cannot.

Today, while I was waiting halfway up somebody's telephone tree, I heard over the phone line a Don Cunningham radio commercial. "I did it for Bethlehem, I can do it for Lehigh County!" he was shouting.
Many of us who saw him in action here in Bethlehem believe he did it TO the city, not FOR the city. And that, fellow Lehigh Countyans, is what we have to fear.
I do not take this stance lightly. I am a proud, lifelong Democrat, a former committeewoman who, as a student, got to shake hands with both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. I have arrived at the point at which I believe both parties have gone very far astray from any concern about the well-being of the American people.
I will never stop voting; and you shouldn't, either. It may not seem like MUCH of a weapon against political excess, but it is a weapon nevertheless. For me, the difference from before is that in the future I will vote for the candidate for each office who most seems to have the people's and the nation's welfare at heart. Call me a swing Democrat.
What I have to say next will not come as any surprise if you've been following along.
I do not plan to vote for Don Cunningham for Lehigh County Executive.