Was the weather ugly last night or what?
I looked out the window of the Casa Harlow and all I saw was white. Thankfully, the Tyrone Borough Council lasted a grand total of nine minutes and I didn’t have to drive in it.
I want to take the time to congratulate Leo Warner. This fine man has sold and repaired televisions in Tyrone for 47 years and is retiring. Leo’s health hasn’t been the best as of late, which is sad. You saw him in his shop everyday. I remember him fixing my little black and white television when I was a little kid. Leo, congratulations on your many years in business and we wish you good health in your retirement.
This is a huge loss to our community. There are many electronics stores in Altoona, but many in Tyrone bought their televisions from Leo because he is one of us. If you give the shoppers something to shop for at home, we will buy from one of our own. Leo did that, and we salute you.
I salute the five members of the community who journeyed through the snow and icy roads to witness the nine minute borough council meeting. The festivities started 10 minutes late and recessed into an additional executive session.
Since I have been the editor here at The Daily Herald, council has had an executive session following every meeting I have attended.
I decided to compare the amount of executive sessions the Tyrone Borough has had and what the Tyrone School Board has had since July of 2002.
The Tyrone Borough will have an operating budget of nearly $6 million in 2003. The Tyrone School District has an operating budget of nearly $18 million.
Tyrone Borough has had at least 17 executive sessions since July 2002, while the Tyrone School Board has had five.
The idea of executive sessions is to discuss personnel matters, real estate and litigation. Tyrone schools has more than 10 times the employees that the borough does and three times the budget, and a third less executive sessions.
What can happen in these executive sessions that are announced for personnel matters every meeting? They can discuss each individual person working for the borough and be done in less than a year. It is amazing that there is more time in executive session than in public session for the Tyrone Borough Council.
Congratulations to the Tyrone wrestling team for their victory over Philipsburg-Osceola on Saturday night. You have to go back to the days of Bruce Wallace, Jerry Long, Todd Campbell, Roy Cowfer and Bill Dixon to find a win over the Mounties.
Also congratulations to Ruth and Don Kimberling, Pete Dutrow and Bob Bubb for being selected to the Tyrone Wrestling Hall of Fame. Mark Westley has done a great deal to promote the history of Tyrone wrestling and deserves to be commended.
It is hard to believe that track season is right around the corner. For the past four years, it has been the mark of spring to have Christina Burnett yelling at me for some reason or another. She is at Duquense now and it should make a quieter spring. Now, who will be my ticket to the PIAA Track and Field Championships? Could it be Aaron Jeffries? I am betting on that.
Enjoy your week and we’ll talk next Tuesday.
