The Daily Overload

The Mercury makeover

2009-09-25T18:01:00.000-04:00

We’ve been working on some changes here at The Mercury — a redesign planned to be unwrapped to readers on Wednesday.
Some months ago we decided we were about due for an upgraded look. Like a person wearing a hairstyle that went out of vogue in the ’70s, a newspaper can find itself showing age instead of style. We decided it was time to try on a new look and update our appearance.
Call it a makeover.
The process became a collaborative effort of editors, photographers, artists and circulation managers. Our goal was to create a new look that was clean, appealing, and up to date. We also wanted to better showcase what we offer every morning to our readers -- the news, sports and opinions of your community that you can’t get anywhere else.
Readers tell us that The Mercury is an important part of their lives. We’re not a national news Web site or a field of commentators that reflect one ideology or another. We provide those services, but our greatest role — our reason to be — is to connect with the community of readers throughout the tri-county area.
In embarking on a redesign, our goal was to display and demonstrate this connection, highlighting the local coverage of news and sports that no one else can provide.
Our redesign features a new nameplate on the front page, variations in typeface in some headlines, and some content changes, including the addition of more coverage of the growing performing and fine arts venues in the region, more pictures of people at social and cultural gatherings, and more local news in the Business section.
During the past week, we offered a sneak preview to several groups both within and beyond The Mercury, and they liked what they saw.
We also learned a few things about ourselves.
“I like to see a preview of what’s going to be inside,” said one reader. So, we’re adding a photo each day into our front-page index.
“Too much color before, but now it’s too plain,” said an inside observer. We put our Mercury brand symbol back in blue and gold.
“A calendar would help me know what’s coming up next,” said a group member, reacting to the new Social Connections picture page of events. We’ll get working on compiling a list of dates for social and club functions.
“You can do away with stocks altogether; I want to read news about local businesses,” said a former borough official. We are scaling our stocks listings to an abbreviated format with graphics reporting to allow more columns of local Business news.
“I like to have a place to go to see what sports are on the air today and what’s coming up for the rest of the week,” another reader told us. We’re putting together a graphic listing to highlight that information on page 2 of Sports each day.
Our Focus groups of invited readers, advertisers and community leaders provided some lively discourse on topics that we discuss internally, too.
The value of Sound-Off versus the risk, the eye appeal of photos, the importance of local voices, and the watchdog role of a local newspaper were among the topics addressed along with color and content critiques.
One of our visitors reminded us that The Mercury was founded and has followed in a tradition of crusading local journalism.
This is the newspaper that headlined “Nixon carries Pottstown” though John Kennedy won the election, that cleaned up fire codes, streamlined government, rallied support for flood and fire victims and sent a message to Harrisburg, all in the interests and for the betterment of the communities we serve.
In addition to unwrapping a new look to The Mercury on Wednesday, we are printing a special section of front pages through the years.
This 32-page section, “Mercury Milestones,” will be included in Wednesday’s editions showing the evolution of our front page with history-making headlines from 1931 to the present.
We have been your newspaper since Sept. 29, 1931. That hasn’t changed. We’ve just dressed up a bit for the 21st century.
Change isn’t once and done, it’s an ongoing process. So, let us know what you think. We welcome your suggestions to better serve you.
Be sure to pick up Wednesday’s paper and check it out.

You spoke, we listened: The TV book is back

2009-09-13T01:03:00.000-04:00

Notice something different with The Sunday Mercury delivered to your doorstep or driveway today?
Or, perhaps we should say something familiar that’s returned after an absence?
Today’s home-delivered editions of The Sunday Mercury include “TV Book Plus,” a complete section of TV program listings, games and features to replace the former TV book, “Channels,” that was phased out of publication last year.
The new book will be offered to home subscribers today and next Sunday as a trial and will then be available to purchase as part of the home-delivery package each week. The book is making its return just in time for the season of fall premieres.
We’ve been in business here at the corner of Hanover and King streets for 78 years since the publication of our first edition on Sept. 29, 1931. I’ve worked here for almost half that number of years, and I’ve been involved in a number of changes both in content and emphasis during that time.
Whenever we change, there is always something that some readers miss. I have learned over the years, for example, that fiddling with the comics selection is not to be treated lightly - for many people, it’s like removing a family member from the kitchen table.
A redesign to upgrade the look of the paper can be a disaster if people find the typeface more difficult to read. And, taking away a favorite feature is viewed by some readers as a plot to take happiness out of their lives.
As a newsperson, I need to be reminded from time to time that many people buy a newspaper for the comics, the puzzles, obituaries, advertising inserts and SoundOff -- all things that have little to do with the energy and effort we put into news and sports coverage of the community.
But, that’s okay. The more time a reader spends with our paper, as in doing a puzzle or combing store specials listings, and the more smiles we bring through a favorite comic or local witticisms, the more important we are in your household.
That daily connection is what matters.
The other downfall surrounding change is knowing when it’s time to reevaluate and freshen up. As we celebrate our 78th year this month, we are looking at ways to become more relevant, more appealing and more useful to you, our readers.
The return of the TV book to The Sunday Mercury is just one of many changes we’re planning this fall to update and improve your community newspaper.
Many readers have told us they missed having a TV book, even though we expanded our daily listings. The listings were not all that was missed, you told us. The TV crossword and TV trivia were important and entertaining, too.
You spoke up, and we listened. The newly designed TV Book Plus includes not only a crossword but sudoku puzzles. The book features a celebrity Q&A, extensive movie and sports highlights, and soap opera updates.
The grids are easy to read and include day, night and late-night listings.
The book is back. We hope it finds a home with you.

Thank you, Spring-Ford newspaper club

2009-06-02T12:20:00.002-04:00

A belated thank you to the fifth and sixth grade students in the newspaper club at Spring-Ford High School.
During a week when I endured a more-than-usual share of criticism and complaint in the editing of this fine newspaper, these students reminded me of the joy in writing and planning community news coverage.
I was invited to join their end-of-year pizza party and discovered through their enthusiasm that newspapers matter more than many of us acknowledge. Their questions and their insights -- "Do you put out a newspaper EVERY day?" "Does anyone ever say something you wrote made a difference in their life?" "What do you do when nothing's going on, how do you find news?" "Do you ever get to have a party?" -- were amazing to me.
I wish I could bottle their enthusiasm for my work and store it for a rainy day.

Politics by attack

2009-05-22T16:20:00.000-04:00

Results in the Pottstown primary election Tuesday held some surprises as well as some expected results. But one of the expectations -- that candidates and their supporters behave with respect and maturity -- left us wanting.
Politics in this town is becoming increasingly personal and divisive. The factions no longer fall strictly along party lines. On Election Night, there were at least five different alliances gathering separately -- three groups of Republicans and two of Democrats.
In some cases, individuals who worked together on campaigns in the past this time attacked each other in published comments, conversation and at the polls.
The rhetoric became so severe at one polling place that first a sheriff’s representative was called and then the local police department to warn a former public official that her strongly worded opinions were getting close to voter intimidation.
The attacks were often not sanctioned by a candidate or a party, but were lodged on a battlefield of personalities. On Election Eve, campaign signs for both Pottstown Democratic mayoral candidates were shredded, apparently by supporters acting without the candidates’ knowledge.
In another case, signs with one person’s name and a hash mark through it appeared overnight throughout town in what can only be characterized as a personal smear campaign.
More than one faction tried to use this newspaper as a battleground as well, dropping off photocopies of old news articles, calling with tips, and emailing messages about candidates’ relatives, business dealings and suspected motives.
“You owe it to Pottstown to report on this ...’’ or “You need to look into this ...” were then followed by innuendo that we were choosing sides by not reporting on unsubstantiated rumor or half-truths.
Even news photos taken at a borough council meeting or the recent neighborhood cleanup were seen as favoring one side or another.
Some of this was not new. Hard-fought local elections are bound to result in disagreement about the handling of a campaign by supporters, candidates and the press.
But, a difference this year -- and a signal of a disturbing trend -- is the increasing willingness to hide behind anonymity, to act under the cover of night instead of speaking opening and acting in daylight.
Enter digital communication, and the ripples threaten to become a tidal wave.
The Mercury Web site, www.pottsmerc.com, is intended to be a place where readers can interact electronically and add their feedback to the news online.
What we witnessed in this election is that some people found a way to take advantage of that opportunity by posting comments that would otherwise never pass a newspaper litmus test of legitimacy.
The commenting function of the Web site became a spot to park candidate endorsements on every local news story, regardless of topic. A clever way to get a message out there, but a little conniving as well.
Sound Off is the print version of Web comments, also unsigned and also inherently susceptible to being abused.
Both features, as well as letters to the editor and our ongoing news coverage of local issues, are intended to spur public debate, to involve citizens, and ultimately result in people working together toward better communities. The ability to have an opinion printed or posted online is a right of free speech that we uphold as critical both to this democracy and to the sharing of ideas within our community.
But when those voices become mean-spirited against other individuals, when the forum is about personalities instead of issues, when debate becomes attack, the community as a whole suffers instead of prospers.
This is not a new message, but it bears repeating: Pottstown does not do itself any favors by continuing down a path of divisiveness and attack. In an election, it’s bad politics. In a community, it’s bad form.

Pottstown is music to my ears

2009-05-11T15:18:00.005-04:00

The past four weeks I have enjoyed different but equally delightful events right here in Pottstown -- all of them noteworthy and exemplary in a town that bemoans its fate more often than it celebrates.
The discovery that there is much to enjoy here is not new, nor do I claim credit for it. And, it is sad that every time we find ourselves enjoying life in our town, we feel compelled to note it as a wildly counter-intuitive proclamation.
"Pottstown IS a nice place"
"Pottstown DOES have a lot going for it."
"I wasn't AFRAID or BORED here."
When the time comes that the "discovery" appears foolish because of course this is a wonderful place with a lot going on and no good reason to be bored or afraid ... that's when Pottstown will have overcome many of its shortcomings.
Until then, I must tell you about Saturday night at Sunnybrook, my second Saturday night at Sunnybrook in a month, as a matter of fact. My husband and I attended the Spring Pops Concert of the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra, a tribute to the music of the big bands.
We first had dinner at That's Italian, the charming and popular BYOB at the site of the former Blossom restaurant on North Charlotte Street, where I had Chicken Francese with homemade linguini and the best red sauce I have ever enjoyed in a restaurant. I tried, for once, not to eat more than a loaf of their homemade bread before we headed to Sunnybrook for the concert.
The dance hall at Sunnybrook became a concert hall for the symphony, which delivered under guest conductor Jack Moore a musically entertaining and elevating experience.
At intermission, the ever-enthusiastic Bill and Sue Krause took us on a tour of some of the renovated corners of Sunnybrook we had not yet seen. Like most longtime area residents, we walk into the entrance remembering proms, weddings, holiday dances, class reunions, Bobby Rydell and Brenda Lee, family brunches, and afternoons at the pool, but even a newcomer to the region with no history here would have to be impressed by the ballroom and grounds.
Several weeks ago, we spent a Saturday night with family and friends dancing to the Fabulous Greaseband at Sunnybrook. And, on a Saturday night in between, we enjoyed a downtown dinner at Henry's on Charlotte Street just off High.
Henry's, as its loyal following of regulars are quick to attest, is a find among restaurant lovers. We were not disappointed. The food and the atmosphere are out of the pages of a guide to restaurant gems in any city -- but it's right here.
Lots of things are right here, and they're well worth staying in town to enjoy.

The risk of helping others hits close to home

2009-04-24T13:56:00.000-04:00

My first front-page byline as a Mercury reporter was a story about a boy named Bobby Cook. Bobby Cook was a 4-year-old local boy battling leukemia. I was assigned to write about his illness, the difficulties of his family to pay medical expenses and his desire to vacation in Disney World.
Bobby’s grandmother owned a Pottstown luncheonette, and she had started a fund among her customers to send Bobby on the trip of his dreams. The cause came to the Mercury editor’s attention, and he assigned me the job of writing stories and inviting readers to send in money for the Bobby Cook Fund.
We collected checks and cash, turned it over to the family, and I chronicled for the front page Bobby’s departure from the Reading airport to Florida. The tale was one of those heartwarming stories that instill some humanity into the pages of our newspaper.
During those same early reporting years, The Mercury published another series of stories about the plight of a local family whose mother was suffering from a serious illness. We chronicled the father’s efforts to provide for his ailing wife and take care of their children. It was a poignant and sad tale of struggle, misfortune and the devastating effects on a family wrought by illness.
We started a newspaper fund to help the family, and donations poured in. Each day, a reporter was assigned to write an update about the fund and remind our readers of this family’s need.
But then we learned the truth about this particular family. The mother was ill, but the father was not struggling to provide for his children. Rather, he was using the money solicited and given in good faith to fund a lifestyle of expensive gifts for a girlfriend, and jewelry, hotels, dinners and gambling for himself.
The Mercury was then, as it is now, the kind of community newspaper that wants to help the downtrodden of the towns we cover. We want to believe that when people tell us their stories on the record and for publication that we can trust they are telling us the truth as best they can.
This experience hurt us as a staff and hurt our credibility. From that time on, we vowed to never collect money again for an individual. We will publicize a fund and tell a story of someone’s plight, but only if a fund has been set up independently of us. We will inform readers of that fund, but not solicit their generosity.
The exception is Operation Holiday.
We began Operation Holiday in 1991 to help children in needy families enjoy gifts and food at Christmastime. The fund has raised more than $1 million and has provided food and gifts for thousands of area children, averaging 400 children each year in as many as 175 families. Although our news staff coordinates the list of recipients, we partner with other social service agencies and accept their recommendations of deserving and needy families.
Each year, dozens of people call us and ask to be put on the “Santa-Christmas-Holiday” wish list. People write letters, call, come in the front door and tell us about themselves or their daughters or their brothers or their grandchildren, pleading, sometimes in tears, for help.
We say no. We tell people that they must go through an agency who can verify their circumstances before we will consider them.
In the 10 years that I have supervised the Operation Holiday list, I have made two or three exceptions to that rule. One of them was this year.
Jenna Esslinger wrote a letter asking us to publicize a spaghetti dinner fundraiser being held on her behalf at the Birdsboro Sportsman’s Club. She said she suffered from amyloidosis and was struggling as a single mom to pay medical bills and provide for her two young children. She fit the criteria for Operation Holiday and since there was already a fund established independently for her at Sovereign Bank, I made the decision to add her to our list. She was interviewed for an on-the-record story by a reporter, and we were aware that The Reading Eagle newspaper had also done extensive interviews with her for a column and video on their Web site.
When the Operation Holiday items were distributed, Jenna Esslinger came in as requested to pick up two $75 gift cards for gifts for her children. But when it was time to get the food, it took four phone calls over two days to get a response. That concerned us.
Then, about a month ago, a detective called to say she was under investigation for charities fraud. Last week, she was arrested and charged with misappropriating $12,000 by publicly claiming an illness she did not have.
Like that story of the philandering father three decades ago, our trust – and the trust of our readers – has been violated. As a result, there will be no more individuals or exceptions on our list in the future.
Of the $12,000 Jenna Esslinger collected, only $150 was from Operation Holiday, and as gift cards, it may have been for gifts for her children. We don’t know. But we are concerned that by publicizing her story, we added to her alleged crime.
The greater victims in this travesty though are the people who have real needs, but whose stories will not be believed and whose trust will not be honored in the future.
Helping others always carries with it the danger of helping those who take advantage. Sadly, we have learned this lesson yet again.

Lots to bark about

2009-04-20T18:11:00.004-04:00

Saturday's Bark for Life at Sunnybrook was delightful. Absolutely delighful.
I saw friends, former co-workers, and the women I have come to know as the force behind Pottstown's million-dollar miracle. Ruell Johnson, executive vice president of the American Cancer Society, visited from Atlanta, and I boasted about Sunnybrook's dance floor, springtime in Pennsylvania, and the friendly, positive atmosphere surrounding the Bark for Life.
Our town, with 500 dogs leading the way, was on its best behavior Saturday.
For more on this celebration of four-legged life, read Monday's editorial and see more photos.
And don't forget to vote in The Mercury's Top Dog contest. Cast your votes with a ballot available at The Mercury offices and drop off your cash or check payable to the American Cancer Society. The dog getting the most dollar votes wins a front-page feature in The Mercury and a bag of gifts. All proceeds benefit Relay for Life.

Just like Charlotte

2009-04-15T12:15:00.004-04:00

I've been too busy to blog ... where have we heard that before?
But, the truth is we're all on information overload and struggling with the time it takes to digest it all.
Last week I attended a fascinating half-day seminar offered by a media consultant on the tools available to get more of your information out there. I learned about an Utterli Delicious array of tools that could help me Tweet and Googlemap my way through cyperspace -- but by the end of the afternoon, I was reminded that I had a paper to get out (that DAILY lament again ...) and so was detoured on the web map.
The notion of endless web-building through the universe and becoming "of the web" not on it is wonderful and exciting. But exploring takes time.
And, I have a daily paper to get out.
I made a vow to myself though to get with the program. So watch for me in Twitterspace sometime soon.
I promise.

Rooting for the 'Cats with eyes on a Tar Heel

2009-03-30T17:22:00.010-04:00

Like many Philadelphia area residents, I'm a Villanova basketball fan. They're always the team with the heart, the spark, the special quality that makes people smile when they win. While I don't join in the March bracket-Madness, I think college basketball is one of the most entertaining and unpredictable sports, and Villanova with Scottie Reynolds doesn't disappoint.

But Saturday night's upcoming matchup will be a little tricky for some people in this area. We want our Super Nova to blaze, but there is a particular North Carolina starter that we also claim as our own.

Tar Heels Number 22 Wayne Ellington grew up in Amity Gardens and played for Daniel Boone Area High School as a ninth grader before transferring to Episcopal Academy, where he shone in the classroom as well as on the court.

With this week's appearance in the Final Four, I am reprising a blog entry I wrote a year ago.

Saturday night brings the best of both worlds: Favorite Philly college team plays favorite hometown high school hero. That's why they call it madness.

Like every sports mom, I have sat through chilly spring evenings watching T-ball, on hard bleachers cheering through basketball, bundled against the fall winds during football, and idled away the time against a wall during gymnastics and ballet classes.

My sons both dreamed of being NBA stars until they stopped growing several inches shy of 6 feet. They have long since moved on to pursue other dreams.

While that is the case with most sports moms and future sports stars, there are some right here in our own backyard that keep growing and keep honing their skills until they're on the way to superstardom. One of the starters in the Saturday night Final Four showdown is one of those young men, an NCAA star who once ran up and down the court at Amity Elementary School, then just another player on a youth sports team, albeit the tallest kid on his team and the highest scorer.

Wayne Ellington is introduced when he takes the floor as number 22 for the North Carolina Tar Heels from Wynnewood, Pa., a graduate of Episcopal Academy and one of the most promising prep players in the national class of 2006.

But long before moving to the Main Line, he lived here, went to Amity Elementary, and then started showing his basketball potential in Daniel Boone Middle School and as a freshman starter for Daniel Boone High School before transferring to Episcopal.

Ellington was in fifth grade and my son Scott in fourth, playing on the same team. He was already a class act, playing with grace and talent, and their team under Coach Ferris was undefeated that year.

But, sports moms have seen lots of class acts give up the game or discover other pasttimes or move on to other things in life. It is still rare to know someone who played with your own kids to reach the elite group of Final Four teams or the NBA.

When Ellington is introduced at the start of a game, when he scores at a crucial moment, I have a proud flashback moment.

He was the tall 10-year-old playing forward when my scrappy 9-year-old brought the ball down the court and passed it to him. Inevitably, Ellington would pass it back and give the little kid a chance to score. Like I said, a class act that we will be watching Saturday night against a classy team. Plenty to smile about in this Final Four.

True-crime novel brings back memories

2009-03-20T12:31:00.003-04:00

“You should write a book.”
As a former courthouse reporter, I have heard those words more than once when recounting news events I have covered.
There was the murder trial for a babysitter who scalded to death the child of an up-and-coming Philadelphia TV broadcasting personality in Phoenixville.
The Spring City teen who set her family’s house on fire and then watched while flames raged, killing her parents and brothers inside the home.
And, there was the gang of thieves who stole tractors in southern Chester County, fenced them in the Pottstown and Boyertown areas, and along the way, murdered six people to prevent them from testifying.
The news story of Bruce, David and Norman Johnston was book material from the beginning.
Thirty years after covering the murder trials, my friend and former reporting competitor Bruce Mowday has finally written it. “Jailing the Johnston Gang” is a 252-page true-crime story that includes “how a stream of stolen goods and a gnawing fear of law enforcement grew to envelope the Pottstown area in a saga of five murders.”
I wrote those words in February, 1980, as part of a news story in The Mercury that focused on the northern connection of the Johnston gang. The story was part of six weeks of trial coverage in Ebensburg, Cambria County, where the case was moved because of too much publicity here.
The Johnstons’ story first made headlines in regional newspapers in late August, 1978, when young Bruce Johnston Jr., 19, and his girlfriend Robin Miller, 15, were shot in an ambush at the Miller home in southern Chester County. The story had Bonnie-and-Clyde drama and made headlines in the city papers and The Daily Local News of West Chester, where Mowday was the courthouse reporter.
At the time, I also covered Chester County courts for The Mercury, a reporting concentration mixed in with Pottstown schools and general news writing assignments.I traveled to West Chester one day a week to cover county commissioners meetings and pick up on any juicy court news or lawsuits. If a trial involving a local person was going on, I shifted into everyday coverage for the duration.
I recall reading every word of other papers’ coverage of the Miller murder, looking for a local angle to tap. I didn’t have to wait long. A few weeks later, I answered the phone in the back row of the newsroom receiving a call from Lt. Richard Weimer, commander of the Avondale barracks of state police, asking for The Mercury’s help in getting information to the public about a Pottstown area fencing ring linked to the Johnstons.
“The area we are investigating is like a wheel with the borough as the hub,” a state police investigator told me. “We are going into the townships around Boyertown, Oley, Birdsboro, Limerick and in northern Chester County.” Investigators had already recovered $90,000 in farm implements, and police wanted people to know they were knocking on doors of area residents, looking for more.
The Johnston brothers used the Pottstown area as a market in which to sell their stolen goods. Edward H. Otter, formerly of Douglass (Berks) Township, testified at the Johnstons’ 1980 trial that he had been fencing stolen goods for them for about 10 years. They first met at a Stowe auto body shop and had in common a love of fast cars and easy money.
The Johnstons used a group of teen-agers they called “the kiddie gang” to steal lawn tractors out of barns and garages in the rural area of southern Chester County, and the older brothers then transported the tractors to Otter and others, who sold them to neighbors and friends. One of the fences worked at the former Firestone plant in Pottstown. It was common knowledge around the area that if you wanted a good deal on a John Deere tractor, Otter and his associates could get it for you, Otter testified.
After the Miller ambush murder, state police investigators, the Chester County detectives and the FBI formed a task force and closed in on the Johnstons. A team from the task force spent weeks tracking down stolen goods around the Pottstown and Boyertown areas, recovering tractors from homeowners throughout the region.Mowday’s book, published by Barricade Books and available in area bookstores, is not the first mass-audience account of the Johnstons’ story. A movie, “At Close Range,” was made in the years after the trials, starring Christopher Walken as Bruce Sr. and Sean Penn as Bruce Jr.
In one of the first hearings I attended on the case in 1978, I witnessed a helicopter landing in the parking lot of a courtroom delivering the witness Bruce Johnston Jr. from the federal witness protection program. Johnston was brought into court with a coat over his head, flanked by armed federal marshals to protect against a hit. That scene opens the movie.Mowday’s book follows the concentrated effort of police and federal investigators that resulted in the unraveling of the Johnston gang. The story is more than a great crime-solving yarn, Mowday says. While the crimes committed by the Johnstons are captivating, the parallel story of how the law enforcement community worked together to bring them to justice is the greater message, according to the author.
Mowday conducted interviews over several years before writing the book, and he said every person involved remembers the Johnston investigation as the high point of their careers and the most interesting, involving work they have ever done.
I would say the same about my reporting career, a sentiment I share with Mowday. He was closer to the action than me, called out late at night by an unidentified caller, who said,, “They have one body out of the ground and hope to have three more by morning,” referring to a cooperating witness directing investigators to places where murder victims were secretly buried.
Mowday was such a fixture at all the trials that he had his own nickname to distinguish him from the two criminals with whom he shared a first name. There was Big Bruce, Little Bruce and Local Bruce.
I was just the girl form the Pottstown paper. My stories took a different angle, starring the local people and places on the northern front of the Johnston gang activity.
Details often hit close to home. Otter and another of the fences, David Schoenly, lived on the same road where I grew up. At the hearings and trials I was covering, witnesses described murder threats and plots that took place at the kitchen table of a home a mile from where my parents lived at the time.
Testimony that the payment for shooting a 16-year-old boy between the eyes was getting the killer’s car fixed “at a Gilbertsville body shop” was unnerving. David and Norman Johnston were convicted of killing five witnesses. Both are serving life sentences in Pennsylvania prisons. In 1999, Norman Johnston escaped from the state prison at Huntingdon, using tools smuggled into him from the outside. He was on the run 18 days before being captured back in Chester County where it all began.
Bruce Johnston Sr., the gang ringleader, was convicted of killing six people. He died in 2002 while an inmate at Graterford prison.
The personalities and the timeline of the Johnstons’ crimes were great fodder for news stories – perhaps not the most important, but certainly the most captivating I have ever written.Great fodder for a book, too.“Local Bruce” took 30 years to get it done, but he still beat me to it.
That’s what good reporters do.

“Jailing the Johnston Gang: Bringing Serial Murderers to Justice” is available in area bookstores or from the author Bruce Mowday at mowday@mowday.com or 610-873-0727.

Notes from the blogosphere

2009-03-18T14:20:00.004-04:00

Sunday, March 8, 9:37 a.m., Joe Zlomek, who is prolific in his blogging on Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick, writes an e-mail to me: ... "just a personal note to say your column today was eloquently written and very well said. Keep up the terrific work!"
Wednesday, March 18, former Mercury reporter Mike Hays comments on his last day in the newsroom with a blog post on What'sthe422.com: "One of the last things I read on Sunday, March 15, was the final edition of the Rocky Mountain News. The paper’s goodbye to Denver served as a sobering reminder of what this region stands to lose if its major daily paper suddenly folds."
Both comments were in reaction to my recent column about the closing of The Rocky Mountain News, the Denver, Colorado, tabloid shuttered due to falling revenues and competition from the Web, and my personal feelings about the ongoing importance of The Mercury to the Pottstown area.
Joe Zlomek and Mike Hays are both former colleagues, one my boss and the other my employee, and both are refugees from the newspaper business who are channeling their passion for newswriting into blogs. Both admit they are not making any money on the Web and acknowledge that they come from print journalism backgrounds and remain fans and advocates of journalists writing in print as well as online.
The dilemma here, for people like Zlomek, Hays and me, is that newspaper owners failed to think through the quandary of providing online information free on the backs of more profitable print products. Online news needs the credibility and financial stability of print to survive, but as free competition for readers, it erodes that stability.
The online medium is not self-sustaining. A stellar year in online advertising sales will barely pay the salaries for a handful of reporters. Hence, people like Hays and Zlomek work for nothing. Lots has been written lately about this dilemma. Some folks think newspapers should sue Google and Yahoo every time our independent reporting is hijacked. We could be like the music industry and win large anti-pirating settlements while changing the industry to a subscription service for online news, much like online music downloads services followed when the music industry drew a line in the sand.
But the future hasn't happened yet.
In the here and now, people like me, Zlomek and Hays are all rooting on the same side, even if we come at it in different ways. The importance of local reporting is critical to democracy. How that is accomplished may be evolving, or it may be just settling into a viable but scaled down business model. Who knows.
Regardless of the outcome, I find the examination of the importance of this business refreshing.
I now get letters that begin with "I know you have a lot on your mind, but would you consider ..."
or "I know how important your newspaper is to this town, so I would like to ask ..."
I received many comments, many e-mail messages and many sincere compliments on my recent all-Mercury Opinion page on Sunday, March 8. The reaction to my column and to other postings on this blog reinforce those strong sentiments.
Whether online or in print, this business is a gratifying, worthwhile venture. You can trust us -- all of us -- to keep the faith in local reporting alive.

Getting a kick out of life

2009-03-18T12:45:00.003-04:00

Kochise, who lives with his owners Rob and Katie of Pottstown Karate Club, is an intelligent, well-behaved and wonderful dog. And, he knows news.

Thanks, Katie, for sharing this photo with your friends at The Mercury.

Telling your stories is our privilege

2009-03-06T13:46:00.006-05:00

I expect not to cry at work. As a female manager in an office with glass walls, it’s important to keep emotions in check.

On Tuesday I broke this rule, and sat here, tears welling up in my eyes and spilling onto my desk. I was reading the final edition of The Rocky Mountain News, the Denver, Colorado, tabloid that was founded in 1859 and closed last Friday. The final edition, 120 pages of newspaper lore, opinions and tributes tugged at the chords in my heart already strung a little too tight from recent events.

***

On Saturday, Feb. 21, the news was revealed that the company which owns The Mercury had petitioned in a New York court for reorganization under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy laws.

The mood here was not as somber as I would have expected. In contrast, we learned that the reorganization plan acknowledges the value of our community newspapers as ongoing businesses. No one wants to shut us down.

“We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before,” said President Barack Obama a few days later. Substitute “name of company” for “name of country,” and the message was pretty much the same.

But before the weekend was over, the owners of the once-venerable Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News also filed for bankruptcy. And, before the week was out, in a city halfway across the nation, a bastion of journalism ended with the final edition of The Rocky Mountain News.

***

The final edition of what Denver readers call “my Rocky,” was brought into our newsroom by business editor Michelle Karas whose sister lives in Denver.

The paper touched me emotionally because it is similar in many ways to The Mercury in its personality, emphasis on compelling photos, and spot-news courage. My tears did not spring from a fear that the same fate awaits my newspaper. Rather, they came from a place shared with Rocky columnist Tina Griego, whose final column was headlined “This is what has called my heart.”

“I’ve never forgotten that teacher’s question: ‘What calls your heart?’ ” wrote Griego as she explained to readers what had brought her and sustained her in a business that has become less rewarding as years have gone by.

Her column, like many of the words written by The Rocky’s last and loyal writers, emphasized the breeding of newspaper people, offbeat and unusual, first and always storytellers. They call it “ink in the blood,” or “something in my DNA,” but whatever it is, when I read the headline: “Rocky staffers jolted by the news; then there was a paper to put out,” I understand the moment in a way that people outside this business cannot.

We live in a different world, and yes, while it is trying and stressful some days, it remains a world of great privilege. This honor, this opportunity to tell the stories of our communities, to be the watchdog of wrong and sneaky actions, the chronicler of children’s achievements and adults’ tribulations is what drives us.

This privilege is a theme that echoes through The Rocky’s last 120 pages. The paper’s storied history offers tributes to journalists whose names are no longer on the roll call of final employees -- the photographer who died in a plane crash while capturing the gold of aspens on film, the young reporting talent killed by a hit-and-run drunk driver, the sports columnist who wrote volumes during a long career.

The edition highlights the photos and words that brought the paper four Pulitzers in this decade and ends with the musings of an editor whose only regret is that he will have no successor.

A full page advertisement from competitor The Denver Post is blank except for the words “Today Denver is at a loss for words” and “– 30 – ”, the symbol known to old-school newspapermen as signifying the end.

***

Since the news of our parent company’s Chapter 11 filing became public, many have asked us at The Mercury how we’re doing. Phone conversations, e-mails, acquaintances at the coffee shop inquire, “Is The Mercury okay?”

In reply, we explain that the financial reorganization of our corporate owner is separate from the day-to-day business of this newspaper, but that doesn’t answer their questions. They just want to know that we’re not leaving town. (We’re here to stay, thanks for asking.)

Their queries, couched as if checking on the health of an old friend, are warm and welcome reminders of our place in the lives of the communities we serve.

An architect or a homebuilder will influence a choice you make once or twice in a lifetime. An automaker or your investment advisor may attract your attention a dozen times or so. But a newspaper – this newspaper – is invited into your home every day.

This creative piece of work shaped daily by The Mercury staff is read, treasured, and enjoyed in more than 20,000 homes and businesses every day.

Every single day.

The privilege of participating in that daily experience is no less humbling for me than when I first walked into work in this building some 34 years ago.

John Temple, the editor of The Rocky for the past 11 years, writes in his final farewell that above all else he was honored to have been part of a newsroom of professionals, to have joined in a collaboration that rose above the norm, to have been afforded the opportunity to tell the stories of the city of Denver.

I hope to never write a Final Edition editorial. I plan for The Mercury to be around a long time. I expect not to cry in my office.

But, this is what has called my heart, and I am here for the duration whatever that future brings. Rest in peace, Rocky. Your community will miss you.

Educating newspapers

2009-02-27T18:43:00.003-05:00

In celebration of Newspapers in Education Week and Read Across America Day, I offer this priceless image sent to us from St. Mary School in Schwenksville.

Second grade students at St. Mary School, under the tutelage of teachers Denise Sozda and Kim LaGuardia, have recently started utilizing the pages of The Mercury to augment their education curriculum. The NIE Breakfast series is educational and perfect for young readers. Most recently, the children read “Class Pets: Survival School” by Frank Asch.

Thank you, Jane Perkins, for sending this to us and making my day.

Signs of Progress

2009-02-20T15:47:00.002-05:00

In this year of economic doom and gloom -- job losses, mortgage foreclosures, firms scaling back and closing shop -- and a national mood of depression, the Pottstown area is not the place you would expect to find growth and vitality.

But here, amid the bad news, are positive business stories about healthy sectors of the economy. The Pottstown area is still a place of progress, as The Mercury’s annual edition of that name proves.

The photos and stories in The Sunday Mercury annual Progress edition, to be published Sunday, show a retail boom coming to the region, a major renovation of the community’s hospital, the opening of one new convention center and exciting resurrection of another, and manufacturing -- of chocolate! -- that has withstood the tests of time.

The Upland Square shopping center in West Pottsgrove is changing the face of Route 100 and bringing to the region a major retail center featuring Target, Best Buy, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and a Chili’s restaurant, to name just a few.

The 640,000-square-foot project at Route 100 and State Street is projected to open this summer, creating at least 1,000 new jobs.But, Upland Square is not the only construction going on.

At Pottstown Memorial Medical Center -- the borough’s largest employer with 1,200 workers -- a major renovation and refurbishment is under way, expanding and adding new health-care services and specialities. Among the changes are a new endoscopy suite, wound center, and expansion of the psychiatric unit. The Center for Bone and Joint Health has been expanded to handle an increase in hip and other joint replacements, with a new specialty in ankle replacement.

The maternity unit has been renovated, and digital mammography added for easier archiving of mammogram records.

Although not newly built or renovated, an East Greenville facility is worth of celebration for 70 years of processing chocolate. The Blommer Chocolate Co. plant employs 225 people and is responsible for processing about 50 percent of the cocoa beans in the U.S.

The business is family-owned, and as Stephen Blommer, vice president of operations, says: “Chocolate’s way more fun than anything else.”

These are just a few of the stories of business health despite the ailing economy. The tri-county area shows signs of progress, and that in itself is a positive sign.

How to save my newspaper

2009-02-18T10:51:00.004-05:00

The "Time" magazine cover story, "How to Save Your Newspaper," by Walter Isaacson caught my eye because the headline was not "the demise of newspapers," nor did it ask the question, "are newspapers dying?" It didn't bemoan "the future of newspapers" or analyze "how newspapers got in the hole they're in today."
Isaacson, of course a former editor, writes that the irony in the struggles newspapers are facing is that more people are reading news -- yes, even young people -- than ever.
They're just not paying for it.
This has been my argument for some time. The shift in newspapers is not that we have become less relevant or less interesting or less important. But, because of the alternatives on the Web, what we offer is available at no cost. In fact, we are now in the trap of making more available online -- for free -- than in print for 75 cents.
(I will point out that newspapers are still the biggest bargain around. You can't get a good cup of coffee for 75 cents, and a cup of joe can't make you smile, inform you, forecast the weather, or tell you who died yesterday. That 75 cents lets you cut out the honor roll for your refrigerator, save the sports photo, and clip the recipes. Worth every penny.)
But back to more available ... I have a few fans out there who would like me to write more columns for the newspaper, but instead I write this blog. Other blogs, most more popular than mine, provide opinions and information beyond what we have room for in the print editions. Online is a larger vessel to hold what we have to say, and of course, that is its attraction, as people can search and find what interests them.
Isaacson writes that it is important for journalism to have paying readers, not rely solely on advertising for revenue. He is right: If we become a "free" environment, our responsibilities to serve readers are cheapened. What we should be looking at, Isaacson writes, is a way to let people pay for the information they get as they get it.
His lament: "... we have a world in which phone companies have accustomed kids to paying up to 20 cents when they send a text message but it seems technologically and psychologically impossible to get people to pay 10 cents for a magazine, newspaper or newscast. "
Newspapers matter. The question is: How do we quantify the value?

Newspapers are on to something

2009-02-17T12:34:00.005-05:00

Newspaper editors are on to something.
And, it's important.
It is that what happens in Harrisburg has more to do with your lives than what happens in Washington, D.C., or even in Pottstown or Spring-Ford, and more often than not, what happens in Harrisburg is not good for you.
The state capital is where the Legislature does business, and that business determines the taxes you pay -- including the onerous property tax bill that comes from your local school district -- the traffic you face, potholes you endure, and job opportunities you don't have.
Some newspaper editors have been on to the racket going on in Harrisburg for some time. (See my colleague Tony's blog for an eyeful ... )Others are just catching up. Editors at Pennsylvania's mid-size dailies have come to realize that being the watchdog of our local school boards and borough councils is not enough. The real stuff -- tax reform, attracting new business, fixing roads and bridges, restoring train service to our towns -- depends on state legislative action.
Editorial writers throughout the Commonwealth are taking note that there's more talk and more wasteful spending than there is action on the state front. The Mercury was among the first of newpapers to pick up on the brazen legislative vote now known as the pay-raise fiasco. Our campaign in the summer of 2005 to "send a message to Harrisburg" proved beyond a doubt that residents of our towns understand that actions an hour's drive up the turnpike make a big difference right here.
We have criticized, cajoled and chastized state lawmakers, but our drumbeat of editorial opinions has not made much of a dent. We have printed so many cartoons on state government drawn by free-lance artist Alan MacBain that the lawmaker featured has his own identity. We call him Rep. Harry Combover.
Pennsylvania has the most expensive state governing body in the nation -- spending an appalling $340 million a year while everyone else slashes expenses and tries to make ends meet.
The theme of legislative glut is catching on among newspapers throughout the state. We frequently print shared views, some from our sister papers in the Journal Register News Service and others from The Associated Press, that demonstrate other voices are joining in the protest against legislative spending.
The Scranton Times-Tribune recently published a three-part series on the topic, and the Harrisburg Patriot-News does an outstanding job of uncovering legislative foibles and waste.
Several years ago, the Opinion page in a newspaper like The Mercury was the domain of local issues only. But, in recent years, with the outcry for property tax reform amid skyrocketing school taxes, we have made it our job to lead the charge for a more efficient Legislature in Harrisburg -- a group that does the job of governing, reforming laws, and improving the quality of life in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania's Legislature is big, expensive and ineffective. Newspapers have figured out that what's wrong in state government affects what's right in communities. Change will only occur when voters figure it out, too.

Hot dog!

2009-02-12T11:56:00.003-05:00

And while we're on the topic of the value of newspapers in daily life ...

The Sunday Mercury Business section last week featured a story on the Philly Hotdog Cafe, a business which opened last summer in the Shoppes at Limerick on Ridge Pike. Sunday afternoon, the shop had its "best day" since opening eight months ago. Patrons reported people waiting in a line of about 30 people for a "hot diggity dog." And what was everyone saying to one another?

"I saw this place in The Mercury and thought I'd check it out ..."
Newspapers matter.

Newspapers matter: Part Two

2009-02-11T11:18:00.003-05:00

This picture tells the story better than words about the continuing importance of newspapers. At Tuesday's PAC-10 boys basketball championship game, Owen J. Roberts fans came with cheer cards in hand to root on the Wildcats. The "cheer cards" were actually saved from editions of the special Thanksgiving Day section in The Mercury in November that promoted the 50th anniversary game of the OJR-Pottstown football rivalry.
Be a fan. Buy a newspaper.

Read a newspaper today

2009-02-09T14:29:00.004-05:00

"More people will read a newspaper today than watched Sunday's big game."
That statement was the centerpiece of full-page ads that appeared in many newspapers, including The Mercury, last Monday, the day after the Super Bowl.
"With 100 million daily readers, newspapers are a tremendous scoring opportunity," read the ad placed by the Newspaper Project,.
People depend on newspapers, reads the NP slogan.
That was on Monday.
On Friday, the saying on my desk Freedom of the Press calendar read:
"The difference between blogging and reporting is like the difference between songwriting and karaoke ... The blogosphere is a symphony -- no, a cacophony -- of tunes. But, you need someone to write the original notes. That is what reporters should do." The quote was from Chuck Raasch of USA Today.
In the middle of the week, a letter to the editor from The Morning Call in Allentown came to my attention. The letter writer was a South Whitehall Township resident who wrote that when time came to renew his home delivery to the Call, he considered saving some money and getting the news online.
"But, then I read an article that made me reconsider. It was how the newspaper used freedom of information laws for two years to pursue the release of the autopsy of a slain Easton police officer," wrote Donald DeCray Sr. "Without an independent newspaper, who would have had the money to pursue this cause? Who would have been the watchdog for the public's right to know?
"Bloggers are no replacement for our local newspaper and reporters. Someone must pay the reporter who goes to council meetings, board meetings and investigates our public officials. We need newspapers to keep all levels of government honest. ... And that is why I decided to renew my subscription," the letter stated.
On Thursday, Mercury reporter Evan Brandt was at a Pottstown School Board meeting in which The Mercury was mentioned more than once -- our coverage, our opinions -- noting among other things that the sheer number of stories written on the Pottstown elementary schools question proves the saga has gone on for too long.
Then, on Sunday, a member of my church stopped me on the sidewalk to comment on a recent editorial or two that I have written.
There are days when this feels like a thankless job. But last week was more typical, demonstrating day after day that our work matters.
Every Monday, I know the words and pictures produced by the staff of this newspaper start the week for more than 20,000 households.
I am fairly certain that more people in this town read The Mercury today than watched the Grammy awards Sunday night.
I know there is much written and said about the demise of newspapers. But, I know with as much certainty that we are as relevant to our community as ever.
Newspapers are vital to your town and your community.
Depend on it.

"Dear Dingbat ..."

2009-01-16T12:31:00.002-05:00

Among the more interesting letters that crossed my desk this week was one from a reader that began:
"An open letter to His Excellency B. Hussein Obama and also to the editors of the once noble and honorable newspaper the Pottstown Mercury which by its violations of the First Amendment of the Constitution under dingbat Nancy has regulated this once honorable paper to trash status akin to the Communist Manifest."
I guess this person thinks I'm a dreaded Liberal. And, I guess he has a low opinion of the president-elect as well.
Dingbat Nancy ...hmmm.

Brains are buzzing

2009-01-13T16:20:00.005-05:00

The stars are aligned for a news week bar none. Our headline writers' brains are buzzing, as we plan an incredible week of news and sports coverage.
On Tuesday, Barack Obama will be inaugurated the 44th President of the United States, the first African-American. There are endless parallels being drawn to Dr. Martin Luther King, whose birthday will be celebrated Monday, and to Abraham Lincoln, whose call for a new birth of freedom is being echoed.
On Saturday, President-elect Obama will leave by train from Philadelphia, following the route taken by President Lincoln to his inauguration in Washington. On Sunday, more than a dozen local churches will come together in a communitywide celebration of the life of Dr. King.
Every day this week and continuing through the weekend, The Mercury is featuring local involvement in the buildup to history in the making. Staff writer Carl Hessler will be in Washington for coverage of the supercharged atmosphere in the nation's capital. Watch for live coverage from D.C. every day beginning Monday.
Tuesday's paper will include a 16-page special inauguration day section for use in schools. This Newspapers in Education feature will include background on the road President-elect Obama has followed to the White House.
Wednesday's Mercury will be a special commemorative edition of inauguration coverage. Staff writer Evan Brandt and photographer John Strickler will be on a bus of Pottstonians headed to the capital, recounting their reaction to this milestone marking the start of an era of hope and change.
And speaking of hope and change ... how 'bout those Eagles?
The Birds are in an NFC championship game Sunday, and The Mercury will feature a 12-page special Game Day section previewing the matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. Monday's paper will feature complete game coverage.
The coming week has so much news, it may be more than we can print. So, check out this Web site too for online extras. The Mercury -- in print and online for you.

Singing the recycling bin blues

2009-01-13T12:28:00.004-05:00

The invasion of Pottstown has begun.
Residents are being wrestled to the ground, overcome by the invaders’ weight. Homeowners are being held hostage on their properties, as the strange beings block gates and clog alleyways.
The creatures, propelled by wheels, race out of control on inclines. They line borough sidewalks in a show of solidarity, displaying their bold colors and proud insignias.
An army of aliens? Urban gangs -- gasp! -- come to wreak havoc on quiet suburban streets?
No, just a new line of recyling bins to hold down costs and reduce the universal waste stream.
The 65-gallon recycling bins -- 7,776 of them -- were purchased by the borough with a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection and the proceeds of a contract with Waste Management for Pottstown Landfill leachate treatment.
Council approved the enhanced recycling program to reduce trash disposal costs and give residents an opportunity to recycle more goods with ease.
The large toters on wheels allow borough residents to put all recycling -- cardboard, paper, newspapers, seven types of plastic, bottles and cans -- into one container. Technology utilized by J.P.Mascaro, the borough’s trash collection vendor, does the separating after the haul has been picked up and compacted.
The recycling initiative is one of the most forward-thinking and beneficial programs this borough council has approved.
If more of the 10,000 tons of trash the borough throws away each year is diverted to recycling or composting, the tipping fee Pottstown pays will go down. That in turn can lower the trash bills sent quarterly to borough property owners.
The bins are user-friendly with pictures of recyclable dos and don’t for the homeowner, and are large enough and mobile enough to accommodate household recycling without carrying overflowing bins to the curb.
What’s not to like?
Well, this is indeed Pottstown, where giving residents $100 bills might prompt some to complain there’s no place to spend them. The fuss over the blue bins last week came to council, where council President David Garner engaged in some trash talk of his own, “ ... if people can’t follow this, it’s a sad statement on the people we have in this community. I just shake my head.”
Councilman Steve Toroney noted that the recycling bins are a solution to rising trash pickup costs. The more people recycle, the less money will have to be spent on landfilling trash.
“With trash, you pay for the pick-up and the disposal,” he said. “This year, the price went up by $5 ... it will keep going up and the only way we can control our own destiny is to recycle more.”
The blue bins are the borough’s bid to make that happen.
The borough has indeed been invaded.
The culprit? Common sense.

A year of less brings more

2008-12-26T16:26:00.000-05:00

The contributions came from near and far.
One local couple, who wished to remain anonymous, gave $10,000. Others -- some who gave their names and some who didn’t -- gave $1,000 or more.
Many people, honoring loved ones living or lost ones living only in memory, gave $10s, $20s, and $100s.
Gifts came in cash, in change and in checks. They were accompanied by notes, cards and preceded by phone calls asking if they could do something more specific than their monetary gifts.
This year’s Operation Holiday was phenomenal in scope and need. The stories of families beset by illness, loss of jobs, and increasing costs of food and fuel were poignant and often heartbreaking.
Contributors made it also phenomenal in money raised. In a year when everyone’s budgets are being stretched thin, many, many local people found room in their hearts to help those less fortunate and dug deeper to give more.
Operation Holiday this year raised $58,123.20, an amount that exceeded by far last year’s total of just over $44,000 and was the highest amount of the past five years.
In this year, when businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits are struggling to balance their budgets, Operation Holiday had one of its strongest years in memory.
The difference perhaps is that Operation Holiday is not a charity -- it is instead an experience of neighbors helping their neighbors. And so, when neighbors are most in need, those who still have a little left over give generously.
The Mercury has never set a goal for Operation Holiday, but has raised between $40,000 and $70,000 every year since its inception in 1991. Every penny raised goes to help local families with children. The program from identifying families to recordkeeping to food ordering and purchasing of the gift cards is handled by employees of The Mercury, their families, and volunteers.
Employees of local service agencies -- case workers, Head Start classroom teachers, and others -- assist with identifying families and distributing food and gifts. School volunteers help with packing; Mercury drivers man the delivery vans.
This year, food and gift cards were delivered to 151 families with 416 children. Boscov’s stores provided a generous discount allowing the gift dollars to go further, and Weis Markets donated managers’ time and dollars along with delivering the food.
Behind the scenes of the Operation Holiday stories of need and photos of food being packed in Mercury vans are the stories told in notes received, both from those who give and those who receive.
“We read the Operation Holiday stories ... and try to teach our daughter to help those less fortunate,” wrote a family in a card sent with their gift. “When we emptied her piggy bank, she wanted to contribute half to the fund. We also wanted to match her contribution.”
“I no longer work in Pottstown but want to do something cause I have many memories tied to the area,” wrote another.
“Thank you for all your hard work in this huge operation ... Happy holidays to all!” wrote another.
Some have asked that their donations be earmarked for the boy whose piggybank was stolen, or the mother whose family lost belongings in a fire, or the woman evicted from her apartment after losing her ability to work due to a crash injury, or the young father suffering from cancer and unable to buy gifts for his daughters.
These requests were honored with specific Operation Holiday distributions.
Cards and letters are also received from those who appreciate the help of Operation Holiday.
“We appreciate the help as this year has been a difficult one for us. I can not wait to see the children’s smiles,” wrote one mother.
“The food and gift card will help us so much this year,” wrote another. “We appreciate all that you do for us.”
Several families this year discovered they were on the Operation Holiday list in duplicate under different relatives’ names. Both returned the gift cards and food to be redistributed to other needy families on a waiting list rather than keep the extras.
The joy in giving and humility in receiving were felt in abundance in this difficult year.

Of libraries, Lower Pottsgrove and newspapers

2008-12-22T15:35:00.003-05:00

At a time when many are questioning the future and the value of community newspapers, a local answer to those questions unfolded last week in Lower Pottsgrove Township.
The township commissioners reversed themselves and amended a decision to cut funding in half to the Pottstown Public Library. Commissioners announced they would restore the $60,000 annual contribution to the library in response to concerns of township residents that the allocation was being cut.
The commissioners were able to maintain their budget plans of no tax hike in 2009 but give the library the second half of its allocation in January to keep the township share at $60,000.
Commissioner Jonathan Spadt said the board received unprecedented feedback from residents once word got out that the library contribution was being cut.
“We’ve never had the type of feedback and the volume of feedback,” he said during last week’s meeting.
Board members had put together a preliminary budget for next year that cut in half several annual contributions to a handful of non-profit organizations, such as the Visiting Nurses Association and Lower Pottsgrove Historical Society.
Board members said that until people voiced their concerns, they had little understanding about just how popular the library is with residents.
“The kids who I saw at the high school level, who said they use the library ... I knew I was changing my mind,” Commissioner Stephen Klotz said.
“Restoring this is one of the best things we’ve done all year,” Commissioner Tony Doyle said.
The feedback received by commissioners and their decision to restore funding came about because people let them know what was important -- but how would the people of the township have known what was being cut without the reporting of the local newspaper?
The proposed cut was included in a meeting report on the front page of The Mercury, followed by editorial opinion and then by letters to the editor,including a published statement from the Pottsgrove School Board about the value of a public library.
The importance to communities of the information and perspective offered by newspapers was illustrated by the Lower Pottsgrove reaction.
Townships and school districts will point to newsletters and Web sites as a means of communicating with residents, but it's not the same. A township Web site is there when you care to check it out; a newspaper is in front of you on the newsstand or your doorstep alerting you to the news of your town. You don't have to know something is important enough to seek out information; a newspaper gives the information and then tells why it's important.
Without newspapers, the news of a community will not be told quickly, openly or completely. A cut in library funding would occur unnoticed. And, the reversal happily accomplished last week by the Lower Pottsgrove commissioners would not have occurred.
Libraries and Lower Pottsgrove are an example of why newspapers matter.