I announced, in beginning this blog, that it would be about not only politics in Bethlehem and its surroundings, but also about life. And, in this case, about death.
This is about Alfreda--not her real name. I hesitated whether I should use her real name or not. Certainly many people will remember it--at least the first name, which was all I ever knew. At least, if they jog their memories. Maybe. I don't expect I'll be sued, one way or another; it's a question of paying her the honor of remembrance, but adding to that a slight veil of posthumous privacy, if possible.
Alfreda was a street person in Southside Bethlehem. By the time I knew her she must have been on the street a long time, and was obviously being eaten by the effects of her alcohol addiction. Yet she still gave the impression of being destined for better things. This was far more than can be said for her companion, who I'll call Jack.
My acquaintance with them must have occurred in the early '90s, a long time ago now. I know this because at the time I myself was a tobacco addict, to the extent even of smoking on the streets. Alfreda and Jack were bold enough to cadge cigarettes from me all the time. It must have been a big disappointment to them when I almost miraculously managed to quit.
After that I did not see them very often, although I cannot remember why--certainly I still lived in the neighborhood.
Then, one January morning--just about this time of year-- I decided to take a walk around the block. Along the way I stopped to glance at the paper in an "Express-Times" vending machine.
At first I was puzzled by the bizarre headline. "Burning Woman Runs To River," it said.
What could this mean? I began reading the story's lead, and was sent reeling. Then, soberly, I bought a paper and retraced my steps. Along the way, I stopped at the house of a friend.
"Alfreda is dead," I said, shoving the newspaper at her.
What had happened to Alfreda was this. She and Jack had bedded down under the Hill To Hill Bridge, as they often did. It had been a freezing night; but they had alcohol in some form, they had cigarettes, and it seemed they had some rough bedding.
At some point the bedding and Alfreda's clothing caught fire. She raced to jump into the river, where the additional shock of the cold water must have killed her instantly. That--if it happened that way--was the only merciful part.
For a long time police helicopters patrolled the Lehigh River between Bethlehem and Easton; but it was many days before her body was found, washed up against the New Jersey bank of the Delaware.
There was a memorial service at St. Peter's Lutheran Church. And there was something of an outpouring of feeling for this woman nobody had been able to help, for whom the stars remained forever crossed.
Not her fault, either. We know enough about addictions today to know that a strong will is often not enough to break the bonds they forge.
The moral, I suppose, is: Always be ready to extend compassion. You may need it next.
Rest in peace, Alfreda.

Could it be that the Bethlehem Area School Board feels almost forced to destroy Broughal Middle School because of its policies in other areas? It's a thought that has occupied my mind since my attendance at the board's recent, nasty meeting on facilities.
Here's how I see it working.
At the meeting I attended last year--the one that was so clearly in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act--the board performed an amazing feat of contempt for public opinion. That is, having a vacancy to fill, they filled it with a man who had recently been rejected by voters of both the Republican and Democratic parties. I do not wish to say there is anything wrong with this gentleman; history is replete with examples of fine, civic-minded candidates for various offices being rejected by the electorate.
But as a rule these same people are not immediately returned to office. They must first convince voters that they are in line with public thinking. Mr. Joseph Heske,which as I recall is the name of the old-new board member, clearly did not go through this process. One can only wonder what indispensable contribution his board colleagues believed he could make, that would justify flying in the face of the citizenry.
At the meeting at which he was appointed, several other candidates made pleas for their own appointment. If memory serves, at least two or three were Latino leaders, with very fine credentials. I did not get the impression they were given serious consideration. There was at least one non-Latino candidate with excellent credentials--I believe it may have been a popular local businessman named Dave "Lump" Sanders. My apologies if I have left anyone out. I did not expect that, several months after this meeting, I would be aggravated enough over school affairs to be mentioning what transpired there in a blog.
My theory is this: that Broughal parents were implicitly promised a new school building, with all the latest bells and whistles, as a way of compensating for board guilt over failure to appoint a qualified Latino to the board.
I could be wrong about this, and maybe somebody can prove it to me. And it should be said that board members might be a little reluctant to appoint another Latino after the Uriel Trujillo appointment of a decade or so ago. Mr. Trujillo, a young and attractive lawyer, gave promise of becoming a charismatic leader of the community. Maybe he
is, somewhere; but not in Bethlehem. Once appointed to the board, he seems quickly to have lost interest, stopped showing up at meetings, and did not run for re-election.
Maybe it was just not his ideal venue for public service. That does not mean other Latinos might not thrive on the school board. Why not try one?
What troubles me is that the Broughal parents have been "sold a bill of goods" about old school buildings. I grew up in a small town where there were nothing BUT old schools. We had neighborhood schools, named after wards, in the town; one-room schools (where I spent most of my early education) in the country, and a big, gray granite high school building that, as far as I know, is still there. It looked as if it dated back to ancient Rome.
These old schools were not designed to degrade or demean us. We were not a minority, either; we were all there was.
We were expected to make do; and we did. Many of us succeeded in winning the oportunity to attend distinguished colleges whose campuses were absolutely strewn with fine old buildings--buildings like Broughal; or, if you like a different style of "old," buildings like those of the original Lehigh University campus, right across the street from the threatened middle school.
Our school district produced nurses, teachers, at least one Navy jet pilot, a manufacturer, a real rocket scientist (Dr. Lee Gaumer, a specialist in rocket fuels.) The famed abstract expressionist painter Franz Kline also spent a few years in our high school, and ilustrated our yearbook.
In short, our little district, without money for bells and whistles or modern buildings, did rather well for its children and their futures. I believe the Bethlehem Area School District, in a refurbished school, can do as well for the children of Broughal.

My attendance at the recent facilities committee of the Bethlehem Area School Board left me not very hopeful about the survival of Broughal Middle School--although I am going to do my best for the fine old building.
I was, however, absolutely convinced that,if the school board is to function in the public interest, it needs much more public oversight than it has likely been getting. This idea was confirmed when a friend of mine, intelligent and civic-minded, turned out not to know how school board members are chosen. The process of school board elections evidently has become as arcane to the citizenry as the election of judges.
Considering how much influence these chosen few exert on the life of a community, directly or indirectly, it ought to be known who they are and what they stand for. I know they are not paid, not even the relatively nominal sum Bethlehem city council members receive. They are awash in papers and hedged about with regulations; and I know at least three who have quit in utter frustration after a term or two. n.
Nevertheless, there still are plenty of people who hunger for the job. Under these circumstances, it would be well if the public knew what the motivations of each candidate are.
Last Tuesday I felt that we, the citizens who had come to speak on the Broughal issue, were facing a rather dysfunctional group of public officials. Mr. Amato, the committee chairman for the meeting, began by megaphoning (figuratively speaking) his disapproval of those who had come to speak for Broughal. This was only his first round. Other people also were vociferous in their opinions. Citizens came close to being accused of being liars; for some, the line may have been crossed. Most insulting, from my point of view,was the insinuation that the Broughal advocates "cared more about an old building than about the children."
Board members also attempted to browbeat their own colleagues. It was like the British Parliament, minus verbal elegance.
Dr. Haytmanek, the school board president, simply sat there, for the most part. Likely this was because it was Mr. Amato's meeting, not his; and intervening would have constituted a breach of Roberts' Rules of Order--but then, everyone else seemed to have thrown RRO to the winds; and what would one more violation have mattered?
I do wish to compliment the board members who seemed to be trying to do their duty against the uproar. There were two of them.
Wouldn't it be nice to vote them some company next time?