Local News
Dahlkemper weighs in on health reform
MERCER COUNTY — As health care reform bills passed by the House and Senate are reconciled this month, Democrats are rallying for the final vote that could propel the legislation to the President’s desk.
While some of her fellow conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats voted against the House bill on the grounds that it cost too much, U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, Erie, D-3rd District, supported it.
On Thursday, she told The Herald that passing some type of reform is necessary and indicated she was likely to support a final bill being worked out by Democratic leaders of the House and Senate.
“We need to get something passed,” Mrs. Dahlkemper said.
Mrs. Dahlkemper, a freshman legislator who is running for re-election this year, offered her take on health care and other issues during a meeting with The Herald’s editors.
Mrs. Dahlkemper said she is concerned about differences between the House and Senate versions but said she can’t see any single issue that’s a “deal breaker.”
Among Mrs. Dahlkemper’s concerns: the Senate version of the bill dropped the public option, softened the House’s ban on taxpayer funding for abortions, and would pay for the plan by taxing so-called “Cadillac” health care plans, instead of a tax on the rich.
According to Mrs. Dahlkemper, the tax on high-earners would effect only those earning more than $1 million, which is about 247 of her 600,000 constituents. Meanwhile, people like teachers and others with generous health coverage may have their health care benefits taxed in the Senate version, she said.
She favors a public option, but said that if insurance companies can’t reduce premiums, the public option could be grafted back into the bill at a later date.
Abortion seemed to be more a sticking point for Mrs. Dahlkemper, who said she is working with anti-abortion representatives to keep taxpayer dollars from paying for abortions.
Mrs. Dahlkemper campaigned in part on her pro-life stance and supported the Stupak Amendment in the House version of the bill – the amendment preventing federal dollars from funding abortion in health care reform.
It could create a problem for Mrs. Dahlkemper if the final version of the bill takes a softer stance on federal dollars for abortion, since she also campaigned heavily on health care reform. She would not commit to whether or not abortion could sway her vote.
She did speak on the need for health care reform. She said there are plenty of “sad stories and tragedies” in her district because people have lacked health care coverage. She said many families are one medical emergency away from bankruptcy.
“It could happen to you, tomorrow, if you happen to have bad luck today,” she said.
Mrs. Dahlkemper acknowledged that the health reform bill would be a “Democrat bill,” but added that Republicans have put forward no meaningful reforms of their own.
Also Thursday, Mrs. Dahlkemper reflected on her first year in office, which featured important votes besides health care.
“There were no easy votes this year and not too many easy days,” she said.
Mrs. Dahlkemper voted in favor of the stimulus and voted against environmental legislation that featured cap-and-trade.
She defended her stimulus vote, saying that it likely prevented an even worse Depression, but also said the Obama administration made a mistake in predicting it would lower unemployment. She argued that it still helped put the brakes on rising unemployment.
In the past, she has said the cap-and-trade legislation would have disproportionately hurt business in northwestern Pennsylvania.
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
Hermitage commissioners introduced an ordinance Wednesday to increase sanitary user fees.
Residents tapped into the Hermitage Municipal Authority lines now pay $95 a quarter. That rate will bump up to $105 a quarter on Jan. 1, under the proposed rate hike.
Two more hikes on Jan. 1, 2012, and Jan. 1, 2013, will result in the rates increasing 50 percent from the current fee. -
Water is on at Forrest Brooke
Water service has been restored at Forrest Brooke Manufactured Home Community after well problems left the 165-unit complex dry Tuesday.
A boil and conserve water advisory has been issued by the DEP and will remain in place until tests confirm the water is safe to drink, Forrest Brooke’s manager Pete Havens said.
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Storm damages trees, wires
Thunderstorms ripped through parts of Mercer and neighboring counties Wednesday night, downing trees and wires and keeping rescue workers on their toes.
A Mercer County 911 dispatcher shortly after 8 p.m. said they were busy with calls across the northern part of the county. He said there had been a few reports of trees falling on homes.
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City leaders open to talks
Sharon officials aren’t opposed to sitting down with their counterparts in Farrell to revisit the idea of combining the two struggling cities.
“It never costs a penny to talk and there’s no (idea) that’s not worth looking at,” Sharon councilman Ed Palanski said. “I think it would be foolish to oppose looking at the idea.”
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Murphy’s Law doesn’t faze regional planners
A complicated, two-day public meeting blitz in 32 counties ran headlong into Murphy’s Law in Mercer County on Tuesday.
The group Power of 32 are looking to re-write the regional map and create a grand, 15-year strategic economic plan for the 32 counties in four states that make up the Ohio River basin and greater Pittsburgh area.
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Forrest Brooke copes with water outage
Residents of Forrest Brooke Mobile Home Community in Jefferson and Lackawannock Townships woke up Tuesday morning to find they didn’t have any water.
Managers of the park could not be reached for comment, but residents said they were told they won’t get water service back for at least another month.
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City facing bleak financial reality
LaVon Saternow has been Farrell’s city manager since 1992. Shortly after she took the job, Sharon Steel, the city’s economic engine, officially closed down.
Since, the city has struggled to remain solvent and Mrs. Saternow said it is facing its worst financial crisis in her tenure.
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Near-complete addition to let man come home
Although the weather delayed the start of Penny and Paul Strechansky’s construction project by about three weeks, the end of the sawing, hammering and stapling is in sight.
“It should be done by the middle of next week,” Strechansky said of the 15-by-20 foot addition being built onto the back of his garage in Hermitage, which will be the new home of his grandson, David Johnson.
Johnson was critically injured in a car crash June 19, 2009, on what is now Interstate 376 in Lawrence County. The crash rendered Johnson, who just turned 21, blind and brain damaged. He is unable to care for himself.
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Man prison-bound for role in drug buy shooting
It may never be known for certain who fired the two fatal shots that killed a Sharon teen on Nov. 6 on Wallis Avenue during a botched drug deal, prosecutors have said.
But Christopher Swogger, 24, Sharon, was fingered by at least one other suspect as the one whose bullets killed John B. Hosey III, 18, of 422 Meek St. Swogger was sentenced Monday.
Swogger was sent to prison for 1 1/2 to 3 years for having a firearm without a license, ending his role in the criminal prosecutions of the drug deal turned shooting.
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Farrell, Sharon to revisit merger
Times are tough.
In Farrell Monday night, city council heard a grim financial report from City Manager LaVon Saternow.
“It’s not a pretty picture,” Mrs. Saternow said. “We could conceivably run out of cash by the end of the year. I don’t know how to put it more bluntly.”
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
