Near the conclusion of Tuesday’s Tyrone Borough Council meeting, Mayor Patricia Stoner commented on an article which appeared in Monday’s edition of The Daily Herald.
The mayor’s comments and the article also drew a response from several of the council members during a 20-minute long discussion.
Stoner detailed items in an article which reported the announcement of Dan Meckes as a candidate for council in the 2005 May Primary.
In the article, Meckes outlined his reasons for running for office. He voiced concerns about last year’s flood and what the borough could have done or should do to prevent such floods, saying the flood “forced my decision.”
He also voiced concerns regarding how the borough has operated during the last several years. According to his press release, it is Meckes’ belief council ignored its responsibility to the voters and gave their powers to the mayor, going against the borough’s home rule charter.
Meckes voiced other concerns about one of the candidates running for mayor saying he did not want a “puppet mayor.” He said the candidate had been mentored by Mayor Stoner prior to making his announcement.
He also expressed concern over separation of church and state issues since that candidate is a religious leader in the community.
Meckes outlined his goals, if elected, including helping residents with housing issues, learning the financial status of the borough and wanting a “fully-qualified experienced borough manager” and wanting to halt “destruction of tax-generating areas for private gain.”
In addition to her response to Meckes’ comments, Mayor Stoner also indicated she thought The Daily Herald had crossed the line in publishing the article.
Mayor Stoner said of Meckes, “He takes me to task, give it up Dan, I’m not running.”
The mayor announced last month she had decided not to seek a third term in office.
Of the newspaper’s coverage, she said, “…there is a fine line and I think they’ve crossed it.”
During her comments, the mayor detailed the efforts she has made in regard to flood issues in the borough. She cited a FEMA insurance study regarding flood plains and said she has worked with the Corps of Engineers, the National Guard and the Blair County Conservation Corps and DEP.
She noted a referendum was put on the ballot and it was the voters who decided “not to go on with the flood plain.”
She said work on the study was begun in the 1970s and completed more than 20 years ago.
“Now everything has changed,” said Stoner. “They won’t dredge the river now, let’s quit talking about dredging the river. They are not going to do it.”
The mayor said, “I don’t like giving the impression that we have done nothing. I’ve worked with those people and they told me there was absolutely nothing we could have done about that flood. There was nothing we could have done beforehand or after to stop that flood. We did everything right, we (received) commendations from emergency management people that we have done what we should have been doing.
“I think we need to stop making statements to incite people, before you have the facts,” the mayor continued.
She explained transportation money set aside for downtown improvement projects such as Streetscape couldn’t be converted to be used for flood control.
In his press release announcing his candidacy, Meckes had suggested something could have been done about the flooding if money for those type of projects had been used for flood prevention.
The mayor said she had refrained from commenting in the past about other statements Meckes had made through letters to the editor. However, she indicated she wanted to speak out now and would continue to do so in the future.
Stoner expressed her displeasure with the publication of the article on Meckes by saying, “I think it’s disgraceful that The Herald would print this.”
It was also noted that solicitor Larry Clapper was offended at comments made by Meckes that council had operated illegally. During the meeting, Clapper said the borough had not operated in an illegal way.
In regards to Meckes, the mayor said, “There is no one that has to be this mean.”
She said what Meckes had to say didn’t make any sense.
At one point, the mayor suggested the borough might consider changing which publication it uses to place legal ads and notices.
Still later she added, “I’ve had it, I’m not a candidate, I’m not here to fight because I’m a candidate, I’m here to say this is trash and this is garbage.”
Other council members expressed concerns about the negativity of Meckes’ comments and The Herald’s coverage.
One council member, William Latchford, wondered if Meckes had paid for the article and questioned its front page positioning. Latchford said he was under the impression the newspaper was going to take a more positive stance on Tyrone.
“This certainly isn’t positive to be on the front page of The Daily Herald, our hometown newspaper cuts it down every chance it gets.”
The mayor said such coverage might affect an industry’s decision to locate here.
Councilman Bill Fink said, “You can’t expect them to censor. If in fact there is a response to this, then respond to it.”
The mayor contended the newspaper could chose to deny coverage to anyone.
Another councilman, Don Boytim, raised questions about the paper’s responsibility to investigate the legitimacy of statements given to the paper. Still another councilperson wanted to know how the newspaper obtained a photograph of Meckes printed with the article.
After the meeting, another member of council who did not want to be quoted by name expressed concerns that the March 7 article was not fair and balanced.
