Public debate drove American House story

An advertised swingers’ party scheduled for July 19 at the American House Hotel in Hamburg was canceled almost as soon as our report on the controversy surrounding it in The Hamburg Area Item had gone to press Monday.

A website for the Berks Area Lifestylers, the group who had scheduled the party, blamed the newspaper in part for their decision to call off the event:

This is for YOUR protection, and for the American House's protection. It seems that SOMEONE had informed the Borough Council, the local paper and the local news media of our party, and the council decided they wanted to have a State Trooper posted inside the bar to "monitor" our party. Also, with the media being made aware of the party, we are sure that hey would be posted OUTSIDE of the bar with cameras.

As we have ALWAYS felt that our guests' privacy is of the UTMOST importance, and that we do not want to have the owner/workers of the bar to have to undergo any undue stress, we felt that our only option was to cancel this party for the benefit of all ... We apologize to everyone for this."

In fact, the decision to print anything about the party in our paper was not an easy one.

In the end, our decision to intrude and report on an essentially private event was driven by Hamburg borough council president Tammy Wilkinson who made the party and her opposition to it an issue of public debate.

In a response to criticism from Wilkinson run in its entirety in our story, American House Hotel owner Christopher Madara explained:

The American House Hotel is happy to be in Hamburg. The people of this town have shown such support for the local business men and women, especially myself. The town has shown me that an entrepreneur like myself can conduct an honest business and not intrude on people's privacy.

I have booked several parties at my hotel. They range from Christmas parties, wedding receptions, wedding rehearsal dinners, class reunions, baby showers, bridal showers and occasionally a private party. For each affair my staff will accommodate each guest to the best of our abilities. We will not violate anyone's privacy, because that is against the law and as such we will not tolerate any guests that choose to break any laws of the local, state or federal governments. The public, whatever their personal preferences may be, are welcome at our establishment as long as they can follow these rules.

Whether a private party at a local hotel or the business practices of any other local entrepreneur should be regularly scrutinized and perhaps even attacked by local elected officials is something for voters to decide.

It is the job of newspapers to see they have the knowledge with which to make those decisions.

Join our community!

I received an e-mail yesterday from Stephanie Bill of the Boyertown Optimisits cheerleading program.

The group’s website defines its mission:

The Optimist Club of Boyertown is a youth service-based
organization serving the Boyertown community for over 50 years. Chartered by Optimist International in 1954, the Boyertown Optimists’ main purpose is to provide an outlet for the youth of the community to participate in organized athletic and community-development programs.

Stephanie e-mailed to ask how the club, which, in addition to cheerleading, includes programs for basketball, football, boys’ and girls’ lacrosse and softball, could have its website listed in one what we like to think of as the hottest little corner of the Internet: the Community Contacts section at www.berksmontnews.com.

Actually, getting listed is pretty easy. If your community organization has a webpage just send me the url or link. I’ll take care of the rest.

By getting a link on the site, your organization can:
• Let others in the community and outside know more about your group and its activities
• Drive more traffic in the form of visitors to your website
• Create connections with other local organizations also listed on the site
• Put your organization before the readers of all nine of our Berks-Mont Newspapers who visit our site every week for local news and other content

If you have a group or organization active within the coverage area of The Boyertown Area Times, The Community Connection, The Southern Berks News,Westside Weekly, LaVoz, The Hamburg Area Times, The Kutztown Area Patriot,The (Quakertown) Free Press or The Saucon News please consider contacting us today.

Above, another type of community gathers to celebrate the annual Boyertown Sidewalk Expo.

Be our eyes and ears in Oley

Berks-Mont Newspapers is on a mission—a mission to find community columnists.

Our local quarterly newspaper, The Oley Valley Sentinel, has already been mailed out to local residents with a preview of this year’s Oley Fire Company Peach and Ice Cream Festival August 9 (See photo from the 2007 festival above.)

And we’re hoping to recruit a new stable of local community writers to be a part of our next issue.

Berks-Mont Newspapers is looking for five committed columnists from the sentinel’s coverage area to create quarterly columns, about 800 words each, for the communities of Oley, Pike, Ruscombmanor and Alsace Townships and the Oley Valley School District.

Ideal candidates will be residents of each community and well connected with local residents. We’ll look to you to provide important community news and events and to be ambassadors for our newspaper.

Other opportunities for freelancing may also arise. If interested submit your name, contact information, resume, and writing or photography samples to shessinger (at) berksmontnews (dot) com.