While the state Senate was debating pulling the lever on slots last week, one Manheim Township couple was worried about higher stakes.

Their almost-3-year-old daughter has multiple disabilities resulting from a birth defect similar to spina bifida. They fear what might happen if cuts made in social service funding aren’t restored soon by the Legislature.

The parents, who asked that their name not be used, voiced those fears at an ice cream social held Wednesday by 97th District state Rep. Roy Baldwin.

They were one of two families at the town meeting whose concerns centered more on funding for special needs children than on the prospects of slot machines at racetracks.

Slots were an issue at the ice cream social, held at the Neffsville Community Park, and Baldwin pointed out that a question about slots on a recent district survey generated the most passionate opposition of any issue.

A day later, the Senate made the issue moot – for the time being – when Senate Majority Leader Chip Brightbill declared the House-passed version won’t be brought out of his Rules committee.

But Wednesday evening, with slots still alive, Baldwin was telling more than 50 constituents that 96 percent of people in his district didn’t want gambling.

“It was pretty easy for me to figure out which way to vote,” he said.

The freshman Republican, like all the other Republicans in the county delegation, voted against the bill, which would have created 11 slots parlors.

Baldwin did vote for a property tax reform bill that would have been financed with slots proceeds, although that legislation is in limbo because of the slots legislation’s fate.

And the House still hasn’t addressed the social service cuts, which the Senate is reluctant to restore.

Baldwin said Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell has indicated he wants to replace at least some of the funding slashed from social services in the governor’s “bare bones” budget – a budget Rendell submitted to meet a legal deadline, only to find the GOP majority in the Legislature outflanking him by passing the stripped version in March.

That wasn’t enough to satisfy the Manheim Township family.

They receive help with their daughter’s hospital and related bills from the state’s medical access program, and they’re worried they won’t be able to stay afloat if services are cut.

Their daughter has had six major surgeries so far. The mother, a licensed practical nurse, quit work to take care of her. The father holds two jobs to help make ends meet. They worry about being just one big medical bill away from disaster.

“She and we as a family have traveled a long, hard road, and she has a long road to go,” her mother said.

The costs are daunting; a special stroller for their daughter, for instance, cost $2,000. “For the average person ... stuff like that adds up very quickly,” the father said.

“Legislative leaders don’t understand what it’s like, having a special needs child.”

*Baldwin’s ice cream social, a change from legislators’ usual constituent breakfasts, featured Turkey Hill ice cream and Keystone pretzels.

While his guests were indulging in a few extra calories, Baldwin got in a plug for his World of Wellness fitness initiative, which sponsored two bike rides Saturday.

“If anybody’s feeling guilty about eating ice cream tonight,” he said, “I want to invite you to the WOW ride.”

And if you couldn’t make the race and still need to burn some calories, check out the Web site, www.wowlancaster.com.

In or out, Part 1

Will he or won’t he?

In the case of Jim Clymer, you might want to bet on “will.”

Clymer, the Lancaster attorney who is Constitution Party national chairman, is out collecting signatures that would enable him to earn a ballot spot as his party’s candidate for Lancaster County commissioner this fall.

While Clymer won’t make his decision official until after the Aug. 1 filing deadline, he said last week that the petition drive is going well – even with a higher hurdle.

He said he was told originally that he would need 705 signatures – minor-party candidates need more than their major-party counterparts – only to be informed in a recent letter from the county elections bureau that he actually needs 948.

“About a week and a half ago, we had the bar raised by 250 signatures,” he said.

Clymer’s entry, if it happens, is sure to add a little more spice to the fall campaign.

And Clymer confirmed last week that he is a board member of a new organization that’s been making waves in the Lehigh Valley.

Pennsylvanians for Equality Under Law has been running radio spots critical of state Sen. Charlie Dent, a possible congressional candidate next year, for Dent’s leadership in passing a hate crimes law amendment last year that extended protections to homosexuals.

Clymer said Pennsylvanians for Equality Under Law is still forming its board, with the aim of changing the hate crimes bill. Last week, the organization, which has a Lancaster mailing address, issued a press release challenging Dent to debate his position on “special rights for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered.”

In or out, Part 2

You can also just about bet the ranch on the U.S. Senate candidacy of Charlie Crystle.

The Lancaster Democrat came close to declaring his intentions at a July 19 clambake sponsored by the county Democrats.

Party chairman Bruce Beardsley said Crystle told some 97 Democrats that while he won’t make a formal announcement until mid-August, “he wanted us to be the first to know that he has decided to definitely enter the race.”

Crystle, a software entrepreneur, would likely be facing Congressman Joe Hoeffel of suburban Philadelphia for the Democratic nomination next spring, and the right to face off against either Sen. Arlen Specter or Congressman Pat Toomey next fall.

He certainly is acting like a candidate: Crystle was out campaigning recently for Brian McGrath, the Democrats’ nominee in a special state House election last week in Erie County (the GOP won).

Last week, he criticized Specter’s vote to send the appellate court nomination of William Pryor from the Judiciary Committee to the full Senate.

And Crystle hired a press spokesman, Michael Rovito, a former state College Democrats president who is now an officer of the new county Young Democrats.

That move got Crystle an “up” arrow in PoliticsPA.com’s “Up & Down” feature last week.

“Mr. Crystle is a very likely candidate for Senate,” Rovito said. “He is tired of the same old humdrum candidates being put on the chopping block and then getting demolished in the general against the Republicans.

“There are some issues that must be dealt with first, but after that, we see no reason why Charlie wouldn't run.”

Check out Crystle’s positions on his Web site, www.charliecrystle.com.

Fond memories

The Democrats’ second annual clambake, at the home of vice chairwoman Sherry Rebert in Manheim Township, also was a chance to remember township and state committeeman Erik Brown, who died suddenly at age 53. Beardsley called him a “visionary for the community” and added, “He touched many lives, in and out of politics.” It was one of those odd coincidences that at last year’s clambake, party members were grieving for former county chairwoman Kay Angermier.

Democrats will kick off the fall campaign at the party’s other big outdoor food fest, the annual corn roast, which is scheduled Aug. 16 at Lancaster County Park.

Political potpourri

*Democratic county commissioner candidate Bill Saylor is back from a two-day conference of the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Education Program, which included an eight-hour bus trip Wednesday across five county farms and a produce auction.

The group visited two Amish farms and several that use no-till farming techniques.

“Our agricultural programs are definitely alive and well,” Saylor said. “I am more confident than ever that we are heading in the right direction with farmland preservation.”

Congressman Joe Pitts is making his annual tour of 16th District farms on Tuesday, including Letort Valley Farms in Washington Boro, Brubaker Farms in East Donegal Township, Future View Farm and Flowers in Pequea Township and the C.P. Yeatman and Sons Farm in West Grove, Chester County.

*Manheim Township Commissioner Dennis Reinaker, an attorney who sought the GOP nomination for a state Superior Court seat earlier this year, has been named by county GOP chairman Dave Dumeyer as the county’s statewide judicial campaign chairman. He’ll be working for the Republican team of Judge Joan Orie Melvin for state Supreme Court and Grainger Bowman, Susan Gantman and Palmer Dolbin for Superior Court.

Melvin got a boost Tuesday with a breakfast fund-raiser at Lancaster Country Club hosted by High Industries chairman and president S. Dale High.

Delegation doings

*State Rep. Gib C. Armstrong of the 100th District is moving: On Aug. 1, his district office will shift to 215 E. State St. in Quarryville. The phone number (786-4551) and office hours (9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday) stay the same.

*Rep. Tom Creighton of the 37th District presented a check for more than $1,000 to Manheim Public Library President Greg Diehl and librarian Barbara Brosey on Friday. The presentation, at Kreider’s Restaurant, represented proceeds from Creighton’s July 12 Crankfest (a homemade ice-cream-making festival).

Kreider’s is donating another 25 cents for every half-gallon of ice cream it sells during July and August.

Welcome to Harrisburg

If you were trying to contact your state legislator last week, you might have been out of luck. A lot of them were on vacation.

The state House’s much-longer-than-usual session played havoc with members’ vacation plans. It was a painful introduction for many of the freshmen in the county delegation.

Rep. Gordon Denlinger of the 99th lost part of his trip to Cape Cod (although I hear his family enjoyed it anyway!).

Rep. Katie True of the 41st had to leave for her visit to her son’s New Hampshire home a couple of days later than scheduled.

And Rep. Scott Boyd of the 43rd was getting antsy about the prospects for his wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii, although he and wife Lisa were able to get out of town on time.

Be careful what you run for ... you might win!


Helen Colwell Adams is an editor of the Sunday News Perspective section. E-mail her at hcolwell@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-4962. blog comments powered by Disqus