Welcome back to Lancaster County, President Bush. If you decide to chat with local folks during your visit to the Jay Group on Wednesday, here's a bit of advice.

Kick back. Relax. It's going to be a while.

If the folks milling about town this morning are any indication, we've got a lot on our minds these days. Yes, we have serious concerns about the war in Iraq. But we want to know what you're going to do about illegal immigration and crime, too.

"I agree with the war on terror, but what about terrorism in our cities — the drug dealers, the gangs?" asks David Greiner, 41, of Lancaster City.

So if Greiner had the opportunity to ask one question of the president, it would be this: "Why not spend as much money on terrorism within our country?"

Jane Miller, 62, also of Lancaster, wants to ask Bush why he doesn't come out in support of Lou Barletta, the Hazleton mayor who attracted national attention as the architect of the city's tough anti-illegal immigration law that a federal judge struck down in July.

"You know what I'd really like to know? What I really don't understand? His immigration policy. This is a huge problem. Why aren't you addressing the issue in a satisfactory manner?" Miller asks.

The New Era posed the question to more than a dozen folks at Lancaster Central Market and Penn Square this morning in anticipation of Bush's return trip to the county on Wednesday. And while Lancaster is a solidly Republican county that supports its commander in chief, its residents are worried about what's going on in Washington.

Bush is expected to speak to about 400 people — and maybe take questions — at the Jay Group's nearly completed, $26 million headquarters in West Hempfield Township. The event, which begins at 11:40 a.m., is closed to the public.

Bush, who is being hosted by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry, will also meet with 10-year-old Kennedy Kulish, a Hambright Elementary School student who in 2003 founded "Kisses for Kaeden," a service project that has raised more than $48,000 for children in need.

The prospect that Bush might take questions during the event had folks thinking about what they would ask him if given the chance. Most wondered why he doesn't pull the troops out of Iraq.

"I would ask him, 'Why don't you go to Iraq and walk through that place? If you want to send the troops over there, why don't you go over there like them?'" said Nathaniel Gillespie, 39, of Lancaster.

Similarly, Leah Margerum, 32, of Lancaster City, would ask: "How do you live with yourself? Would you send your daughters over there? I'm upset. I'm ready for an election."

Rose Rineer, 86, also of Lancaster, said her son fought in Vietnam and her husband was at Pearl Harbor, so she understands the need for war. But she adds quickly, and angrily, that it's now time to get out of Iraq.

Her question?

"Will you get our boys out of there?"

Nearby, a man sipping coffee said he'd like to ask the president, "How do you manage to do your job when there's so much opposition?"

"He's got a tough job," he continued, declining to be identified, "and it involves more than just Iraq. When you have people tearing you apart like this, it's tough to do your job."

Dave Stetser, 61, of Holtwood, said two things bother him. Yes, the Iraq war is foremost. "But I can't understand him on the immigration issue. I don't like the fact that we've got laws on the books that aren't enforced. That should be the solution."

Bill Landes, 57, of Louisville, Ky., was in town on business. "I would ask President Bush how he can justify the great spending in Iraq and the Middle East and yet neglect the children at home," he said.

Landes said he is appalled at the amount the government is spending on the war when it could be applying that money to the benefit of education and other programs that benefit youth.

The White House has declined to say whether Bush will, indeed, take questions during his visit here. But organizers have called the event a "town hall"-style meeting, and at similar events in the recent past Bush has, indeed, taken questions from the audience.

The event is scheduled for the Jay Group's headquarters at 700 Indian Springs Drive, just off Marietta Avenue — Route 23 — in the Stony Battery Corporate Center. Opponents of the Iraq war are planning to demonstrate nearby.

White House spokesman Alex Conant said the topic of Bush's speech will be the budget and spending. The government's new budget year began Monday, but Congress has not completed even one of the dozen spending bills appropriating money for the day-to-day operations of 15 Cabinet departments.

President Bush has promised to veto  the Democratic spending bills because, taken as a whole, they would break his budget by $23 billion or more. In his weekly radio address Saturday, Bush chided Democrats after he signed a bill that prevents a government shutdown and gives lawmakers 48 days more days to complete the budget work.

Lancaster County Commissioner Dick Shellenberger will be among the local officials greeting Bush as he steps off the plane.

"I want to shake his hand, welcome him to the county and give him my regards. I have a county lapel pin hopefully they'll let me give him," said Shellenberger, a Republican. "He's been through tough times, and I personally support him."

CONTACT US: tmurse@LNPnews.com or 481-6021