In endorsing candidates for Bethlehem City Council--something it seems never to have done before--the Morning Call was once again its smarmy, duplicitous self. The incident suggests that Councilwoman Jean Belinski must be doing SOMETHING right, to have earned the dissatisfied attention of the Call and its owners--who I believe to be the Chicago Tribune at this point.
It also suggests that the Call cannot be relied upon for straightforward and honest local reporting. I suspect this is true throughout its circulation area, but of course to Bethlehem area residents the coverage of their town is most notable. And notably deficient. At least three Morning Call reporters, whose names will not be mentioned here, have been noted for distorting news out of Bethlehem City Hall. The misdeeds of one were so egregious that apparently he was fired. A sad fate, if true, but his own fault. The last time this writer heard of him he was working for Don Cunningham, who is trying to unseat the steady, reliable Jane Ervin as Lehigh County executive.
Speaking of steady and reliable, Jean Belinski has been a real people's advocate for all her years in public life. She has a way of tracking down information that People With Plans do not necessarily like. It was she who fought against the incinerator, who fought fruitlessly to save the landfill, who "blew the whistle" on what is happening at Bethlehem's magnificent and irreplaceable watershed. She is the one and only true environmental candidate in the field, and was endorsed by the Sierra Club in the primary. She also is someone who will go very far indeed to help the ordinary citizen. In short, she is a quality public servant, and should be retained.
More on this next time. Or: Why are they after Belinski?

It would appear that the St. Luke's Hospital spokesperson, Susan Schantz, said exactly what I THOUGHT she said about the Benet/Colby House matter. It doesn't make any sense at all, but that's okay. Or for now it has to be.
In a nutshell, she said the hospital applied for--and, unfortunately, got--a demolition permit for the house to hedge its bets, in case the borough of Fountain Hill exercised its prerogative to establish a historic district. In that case the hospital still would have its right to destroy the property "grandfathered in," so to speak, and could bring up the wrecking ball right away. It's heads, they win, and tails, the borough's heritage loses.
Ms. Schantz suggested, in a Bethlehem Press article, that there is still room for compromise. I've seen plenty of willingness to compromise among the citizens who are fighting to save the house, but so far little if any on the part of the giant institution that seems bent on destroying it.

I have had occasion lately to visit an old acquaintance--a giant 14-inch battleship gun from the USS Mississippi, currently stored on the old Bethlehem Steel site. It represents the historical period when Bethlehem impacted not just on its region, state, or even nation, but on the entire world.
It seems that day is past; but there are many of us who would like to see to it that it is remembered.
An email I just received from Republican write-in mayoral candidate Charlie Tommor indicates that he has a different take on how to accomplish this. Tommor is an engineer and an opponent of slots and casinos. He regards the Steel site as too valuable to be "wasted" on a casino and mall. Recalling the days when Bethlehem Steel made giant guns like the one I have recently visited, as well as armor and other irreplaceable defense products,Tommor would like to see its old location transformed into what he calls a "Living Museum," a modern era defense manufacturing plant where the weapons and tools needed to win our current war (he calls it "World War 3") will be made.
Although I agree with Tommor that we are indeed at war, and a highly dangerous war, I believe the tools to win it will be made in small, high tech, cybernetic or digital plants--whatever those terms might mean. To me, and I do not say this jokingly, they mean "incomprehensible." But I do not believe they will require anything like the same amount of space the old Steel plant required. Hopefully, in other words, we can have our new era defense and the old era's heritage as well.
If any reader wishes to know more about Mr. Tommor and his views, his website is at: www.tommor.org.

When the South Bethlehem Historical Society first suggested the idea of a historic district on the South Side of Bethlehem, we were told it would never fly. Too much of the South Side business district had been destroyed, too many holes poked in the overall architectural fabric for such amenities as parking lots and gas stations. We stopped concentrating on the undoable and concentrated instead on such things as historical markers--which were very doable, and perhaps in the long run helped make the case for the historicity of the neighborhood.
Time passed; some minds changed. And South Side merchants and residents were able to push through a historic conservation district to cover a significant part of the business district. But a heavy price was paid.
For one thing, the shape of the district was changed to accomodate a McDonald's restaurant that had found favor with Don Cunningham, then-mayor of Bethlehem and now candidate for Lehigh County executive. And, to placate some other politician, the beginning date of the historic conservation district seems to have been changed. This allowed a contractor named Posh to smash down a ramshackle but interesting corner at West Fourth Street and Broadway, and to erect a CVS drugstore on the ruins.
Fast forward to now. Now we finally seem on the verge of having the area win approval as a National Historic District, with special tax breaks available to building owners who want to improve their properties but keep the historic look.
It seems a good idea, long overdue. Only I can't help wondering what else will be destroyed to make it possible.

Situated in Fountain Hill, the tidy borough that lies next to the south side of Bethlehem, St. Luke's Hospital has for decades played a constructive role in the Bethlehem and greater Lehigh Valley communities. But in recent years it has begun to mimic the patterns of for-profit American corporations, acquiring, expanding, and destroying everything in its path that it considers an inconvenience.
Since it lies in a historically rich corner of Fountain Hill, this means that it has "taken out" a fair amount of heritage, including all vestiges of the spa that once stood on its present site. In the 1990s it destroyed Bishopthorpe, the once-elegant mansion which had been successively the home of a successful music merchant and of Fountain Hill's founder Tinsley Jeter, the site of a well-known girls' school and of St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing.
Now, it seems, the turn has come of the big yellow brick house at the corner of Bishopthorpe and Ostrum Streets. Once owned by the noted scientist Albert Colby, the house was the birthplace of the noted American writer and poet Stephen Vincent Benet, and this fact is commemorated by a state historical marker on Bishopthorpe Street.
This planned destruction is all the more evil since it is a known fact that St. Luke's plans to abandon its present quarters in the next few years, leaving them to house clinics and the like while it moves its real "business end" nearer to major interstate highways.
It clearly plans to leave its present neighborhood as denuded of meaning and character as possible.
The whole plan for the destruction of what is known as the Benet House has been carried out in the surreptitious, underhanded way that so often characterizes such plots. Frankly, there is little hope that the death sentence against the house will be reversed. But, if you wish to express your concern, disappointment, even outrage, here are some people to contact. Unfortunately, it has been impossible to find email addresses on short notice.
1.Richard Anderson, President, St. Luke's Hospital, 610-954-4907
2. Mayor Stephen Repasch, Borough of Fountain Hill, Phone 610-867-5875, FAX 610-867-7153
3. State Rep. T. J. Rooney, 610-882-1510
Please pass this on to anyone you know, anywhere, who may be a fan of Stephen Vincent Benet and his "Devil And Daniel Webster," "John Brown's Body," and other works.