-- Edited by LusOnlyVoice at 11:43, 2008-06-28

Some of my family members live in Ohio. In their county (which is one of the largest in the state), they have a number of public parks with swim areas. For me to visit the park, I must be accompanied by a resident of the county. And I couldn't just drive in either. Each household pays for an annual park pass for each of their vehicles (truck/van/car) which is to be posted in the upper left corner of the windshield. In my family's case, there are two vehicles in the houselhold, so they need to purchase two annual passes at $50.00 each. Things are so spread out in this area of Ohio, so not driving to many of the the parks isn't a option.

The residents have numerous beautiful parks to vsit. They respect their parks because of the monies collected per household. The money is used for park and pool and/or beach maintenance (if there is a pond) and park SECURITY. Entry into the park is monitored at the gate to verify the vehicle has a valid park pass on their windshield. License plates are also noted as you drive into the gate. On the few occasions I've visited these parks with my family, I've seen no less than three parks and rec security vehicles patrolling the area from one end to the other. The roads within the parks are meticulously maintained, the grounds are cultivated and well-kept. Funny thing is, there are no unattended children because the parents had to take the time to drive their own kids into the park. There's none of this stuffing twelve kids into a cab and dropping them off until the park closes.

Sounds a little strict, does it? You betcha. But the children are safe, the parents or guardians are wtih them, the rest rooms have minimal grafitti (if any) and if some jackass starts some trouble, they know who he/she is or who they entered the park with.

Let's see Lackawanna County take these steps. The dee dee dot commers would just LOVE it.

Check this out...it is in response to a posting from Vince Whirlwind...

a bitter pill



Posts: 301
Date: Jun 29 4:58 PM, 2008
Views: 37

Well it may be a Privilege but I believe it is what the Taxpayers WANT.

__________________
"Along habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right ".


I'm curious...anyone here elect someone named "a bitter pill' to speak for them???? Having free swimming is not what THIS TAXPAYER wants. I want people who use a service to be at least partially responsible for paying for the service. I also want parents to be responsible for their own children.

Free Speech does't require a multi-paragrah disclaimer Mr. Pilchesky.

Nobody Posts: 690 Date: Jun 30 3:37 AM, 2008 Views: 5

Vince's post reminds me of an old Eddie Murphy bit- "You can't have any ice cream 'cause you're on the welfare. Want a lick? Psych!"(You just have a problem with anyone who thinks that swimming at a public pool is a privilege and not a right. Most (not all) municipalities charge a fee for swimming ... Scranton is not unique in implementing this fee.) I wonder if Doherty gets a warm, sticky feeling every time a child has to beg for something, because, in my ever-humble opinion, that's what I think this is all about, trying to raise a politician's self worth by forcing children to beg. What a man.(I don't think that anyone gets a warm sticky feeling when a child is begging ... but here is the thing I don't see children begging ... I don't see the PARENTS of these children you speak of begging ... what I see is Andy Sbaragilla, Bill Jackowizc, and Sam Patilla ... and a few other LoD'ers who think it's the popular thing to do begging. I read another poster here who makes the statement about a parent having the money for smokes and beer but not for their children to go swimming ... hmmmm ... long gone are the days of parents doing without so their children can have more ... You act as though the Mayor is denying them food ... swimming is not necessary to live! Are you all worried about the children who are homeless, without a meal ... without clothing? I never see one word about anything to help these children ... But hell lets get our priorities straight here ... God knows they can't live without swimming!) Doherty's world is have or have not. If you have, money, access to votes, access to power players, access to influence, you're of use to him. If not, you have not and aren't worth the spit used to seal an envelope. What's a child of someone who doesn't matter but for the pure joy of feeling superior, even if it's just a feeling?(Now just say that in order for all children to swim for free you were asked to pay 1 mill in taxes for upkeep, lifeguard salaries, chemicals ... would you do it? I bet you then wouldn't give a rats a$$ if the childrenwere asked to pay to swim ... in fact I would bet my last $5 that you would insist on a fee!) If I were in the position where my kids had to beg to be allowed to swim, I'd explain about pride and the kind of scum that makes kids pay for swimming while handing out taxpayer money at $250k a slice in "loans" and business KOZs to those who have. When I got through explaining all of this, I would hope my kids would tell Doherty to screw. I'd fill the bathtub for a swimming experience before I'd let my kids beg from a politician.(How nice to instill this in children ... and I wouldn't want my children begging either ... but I also wouldn't want them to think that everything in this world should be handed to them ... If they have to pay ... they may respect the area more.) Imagine, begging from a politician. How far we've fallen from that day in Philadelphia. Get a Life ... better yet Get a CLUE ... because you are obviously clueless at to what the children really need! Just continue to live in your little bubble up there in the Hollow! __________________ "When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." -Pastor Martin Niemller http://nobodyscorner.blogspot.com

If Mayor Doherty made all the pools completely free, the Ozzinator and various Franus-esque types would be complaining about the cost.

Paul...I know what you are saying, as for years I had a pool as well. Truth be told though, I HATED the pool...it was so much work...so I was glad when we collectively decided to ditch it (it was an above-ground).

Free Speech does't require a multi-paragrah disclaimer Mr. Pilchesky.

bo peep Posts: 1108 Date: Jun 26 12:34 PM, 2008 Views: 903

I agree with Nobody Sam. It's very honorable for all of youto give a **** about the less fortunate, but fixing what was caused by these *******s is not the way to go. Let the so call "riff raff" (Jesus that still pisses me off) stand outside the fence in 90 degree heat and instead of handing them a DOllar or a free pass, hand them a voter registration card and make it clear who is responsible fortheir suffering. It sounds cruel, but people in the pool will not be pissed off enough toDO something about their plight.

You can't hand a child a voter registration card, you would have to hand it to theparent or guardian who accompanied the child. Since many of the tikes (6 or 7 at a time) aredropped off by a cab, Good luck finding one!!! But it was a good thought in theory, bo.