NO rest for the weary

"Comfort station" in old coal city Pottsville PA is a thing of the past.. The economic downtown and a city in distress—as many cities are these days..

Don’t get bruised. Don’t get battered.

Chances are, you were already.

When I was driving home with my wife and child from our Thanksgiving family affair, we passed by a Walmart. The place was mobbed with people and cars—so many that people started parking in a dirt and muddy lot that separates the store from the town of St. Clair, PA. God bless the workers tonight who will be faced with bruising and battering that was mentioned above.

People in pajamas flocking to the aisle with the cheap TV. People donning their finest spandex while they flea for iPhones and pads. Maybe iPads.

It was a little horrifying to see so many people out and about in Thanksgiving taking part in such rampant materialism. Couldn’t they wait until 3am for those ‘doorbusters.’…? 

And speaking of doorbusters. I have come to despise that word over the past 36 hours.

PHOTO CREDIT:

A woman carries Nordstrom shopping bags at The Grove mall in Los Angeles November 26, 2013. This year, Black Friday starts earlier than ever, with some retailers opening early on Thanksgiving evening. About 140 million people were expected to shop over the four-day weekend, according to the National Retail Federation. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS)

How to kill an area; Leave it

There has been an exodus from the coal region of Pennsylvania over the past generation.. high unemployment, economic conditions worse than other areas, and traveling to better jobs, all have forced younger people away from Schuylkill County .. And now the POTTSVILLE REPUBLICAN is sharing knowledge that has already been assumed: Most people who are young want to leave Schuylkill County..

Schuylkill County commissioners had a press conference on Thursday. They say that the county has lots to offer—presumably more than Yuengling beer and the A-Hole in Girardville—but they lament the fact so many young want to leave the area. To put a number on that,  survery was conducted of the ‘yout’ of the region.. it found that 55% want don’t plan on living in the county when they are adults.

Of course, kids have grand plans. There is sure something about the coal region, maybe those tentacles of coal veins, that latch on to your spirit and trap you in the area.. Kids today become coal-region bar hoppers tomorrow, still wearing their varsity football jackets, trying to relive the dream of yesteryear. Just place GLORY DAYS by the Boss, and most will tear up thinking about the Friday night lights—unless your school didn’t have lights, in which case you’ll think of Saturday Afternoon Sun (*Cardinal Brennan football players would understand that*)…

So ….what would be a model for the future?

Two possibilities exist:

1) The county will continue to perish slowly, like a miner running out of oxygen in a confined space.. It will keep its high unemployment, and is generation of disenchanted kids..

2) Many who leave the area for experience and knowledge, will actually come back to Schuylkill county at some point in their lives, and bring progress to the area. The future will feature people, people who don’t sport mullets and cutoff jean shorts, creating jobs and hope .. 

Which possibility is more likely? 

A stroll down any street, Schuylkill County, will show how difficult number 2 would be to achieve.

How to kill an area; Leave it

Pottsville, PA, neighbors mourn loss of life after Mother's Day Fire

This story hits me hard—and lots of other people in my area. Fires happen every day. But on Mother’s Day, when a mom loses her husband and all of her children, and her sister?? That just does not seem right, or just.. or possible. 

But as I reported yesterday on here, it did occur this past Sunday in Pottsville, PA. 

Last night on WBRE news, my local NBC affiliate, reporter Joe Holden relayed horrendous information. He reported that the Kelly Brown, the mom who survived the fire because she was simply catching up on laundry, asked firefighters to re-enter the burnt structure in order to find a bracelet that was given to her for Mother’s Day by her children. The volunteer firefighter did just that.. It’s one of those few moments that I cried at local news…

This is a depressing day in Pottsville, PA. Some would call the town depressed already.. anyone who takes a drive through will see a history that once was and a reality of the current that is now there. Economic changes have caused vacancies to be produced everywhere.. a bus station that was meant to be a local attraction is rarely occupied by travelers.. But there are gems and jewels amid the streets there. There are good people, great people.. moral and honest  people. And they are coming together in the little city, the home of Yuengling beer.. they are crying together and trying to figure out why together. 

I heard a story of a neighbor that heard screaming during the fire, screaming that the person assumes came from the children inside begging for help. 

It’s these moments that make me wonder why God didn’t hear those cries.. It’s these moments we all… well.. You can contemplate the rest.

Pottsville, PA, neighbors mourn loss of life after Mother's Day Fire

4 Children, 2 Adults Die in Eastern Pa. House Fire

A dispatcher says four children and two adults have died in a house fire in eastern Pennsylvania. Schuylkill (SKOO’-kul) County emergency dispatch supervisor Bill Lindenmuth says the fire broke out around 11:55 p.m. Sunday at a home in Pottsville and that firefighters later found the bodies…

The AP has picked up the sad news this site and others reported early this morning.. A tragic fire here in my area.

However, I am humored that national news has to explain how to pronounce Schuylkill.. 

4 Children, 2 Adults Die in Eastern Pa. House Fire

Sad news from the Schuylkill County home front

A fatal fire… Perhaps an entire family killed in Pottsville, PA last night.

I saw images of the fire on Facebook. Sadly the people in this house didn’t stand a chance judging from what I saw..

I hate these events no matter where they are. This one is too close to home, however..

Sad news from the Schuylkill County home front

Good evening all!!

(Photo from Pottsville, PA, 5/3/13)

The ties that bind you.. or trap you..

The coal region of Pennsylvania was a quaint little place since I can remember.. I was born and raised (for a bit) in Centralia PA, with a mine fire burning hot under my feet.. My family moved to a nearby town.. my heart and soul has been in this place for a long time.

But perhaps the same ties that bind you also trap you in. 

I read an article today in my morning paper.. It’s a little inside baseball perhaps, but it’s on my mind.. The article paints a story of a dying area.. Restaurants and bars are shutting down in the coal region.. the Pottsville REPUBLICAN and HERALD speaks about Cactus Jacks, the Restaurant at the Station in Tamaqua.. Yockos in Minersville. (All big deals).. another bar detailed in the article is only open one day a week.. 

A bar being shut down in the coal region is a big deal. You’d expect in this area a dirty little tap room would be shuttered if they were serving underage minors. But in the economic troubles lately, the prime reason for closure is money troubles.. 

I think back to my life as a  child. The area, then, wasn’t the best. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, it’s a nice little quaint place, for sure.. but things to do? This ain’t no city, bo.  There were restaurants and run down bars, and a mall or two or three, or ‘tree’. When I was a child I didn’t think there was much to do. No kids did. It’s why most of them had ‘bush parties’ where beer was served in the middle of no where. But today, now, I look at the local disgrace the area is becoming and wonder if anything is left for my son to enjoy. 

I thought deeply about this as a result of that newspaper article. What does bind me to this area? It’s family. That is the answer.. It’s family.. I don’t work close to here, I actually commute a distance. My wife does too. When we want to do something with my son, we travel away from here.. But when we want to be comfortable and feel at home, here we are..

I think it was always that way, a bit. I believe that this region ‘felt like home’ .. It’s why, for decades, the Ashland Boys Association Parade was filled with thousands. Until it got canceled a few years back and struggled to begin again. Good luck to Ashland bringing it back in ‘13. 

It’s also why a town named Girardville hosts a spectacular St. Patrick’s Day parade.  Even Bill Clinton showed up in 2008 to campaign for his wife. The town wholeheartedly supported him.. he even had a screamer from Tony’s.. no word on whether he became immediately dyspeptic. 

There are other pearls that can be unearthed from time to time. Jim Thorpe is a beautiful and fun place.. Schuylkill Haven hosts a great summer weekend with fireworks.. and the Bloomsburg Fair is going strong. 

But what else is occurring?

Crime… drugs… lots of drugs. Lots of drug abuse. Lots of dilapidated homes literally falling down  into streets (Girardville, PA)… and now closing businesses.. 

The Schuylkill Mall is being hard hit, as are other malls. A new refurbished movie theater opened. I wish them luck and hope the mall stays open. I recall some early memories as a kid thinking it was a mecca of shopping.. of course smoking was legal indoors the smell of cigars also fills my fading memory..

I just hope and pray that, as long as we choose to live in this place, it will stay safe and quaint.. and more and more quiet, perhaps.. 

Family is why we stay. 
Besides the ties of that, there are few others …

However … even one day if the Coal Speaker leaves the coal region, you will never be able to extract the ‘area’ from him.. or anyone else that chooses to go.

After high school several friends had a mass exodus from here to go other places. Many returned and now, again, live locally after ‘living their lives’ in a city or larger place. 

But the coal region can come back, though it will never return to the paradise that it was during the coal mining days—that paradise was not shared by all and truly only for barons and bosses of coal mines that could care less about safety of workers. A part of this region’s history is that it was filled with hard workers and good people. Conservative Democrats… fair-minded but also sometimes a little suspicious of ‘outsiders’. Perhaps that also became its 21st century demise..? Any for of progress is despised by too many, forcing those younger with dreams and ambitions to look elsewhere to find that progress. 

I don’t know.

I cannot count myself as smart enough to understand why an area disintegrates .. I wish I was smart enough to know how to bring it back. 

But I’m not.

So with that all said, I end with this: Perhaps within the next few years my wife and I will be forced to make a decision. Keep the ties that bind us knotted and tight, or loosen them up and fly away. No matter the choice, we have a third party role: Our son. And in the end, it’s his future that matters the most now of all.

Bring in da funk

My local paper is applauding a DJ returning home from the ‘big cities,’ coming back to backwards Schuylkill county, and with him funk music in an all vinyl style.

I wish him luck and ANYTHING that makes this county more lively is a plus.

But my fear? There are already too many mullets existent in this area… And I’d hate to see them coupled with browns fuzzy carpets of the 70s.

Bring the vibe of funk, sure. But maybe also ditch flannels and mom jeans.

Bring in da funk

Weather outside may get frightful

The city of Pottsville, PA.. Beautiful day today..

King’s Plaza in Minersville, PA, which is the home to one of the greatest restaurants in the Coal Region: Palermos. I wanted pizza today, too.. Guess that won’t work out.

(Photo from WNEP Facebook Wall Photos)

Best links to follow the floods in Pennsylvania

Wilkes Barre, PA: http://www.timesleader.com/

Hazleton, PA: http://standardspeaker.com/

Bloomsburg, PA: http://www.pressenterpriseonline.com/

Pottsville: http://republicanherald.com/

Harrisburg, PA: http://www.pennlive.com/

York, PA: http://www.yorkdispatch.com/

Lancaster, PA: http://lancasteronline.com/

TV: 
WNEP: http://www.wnep.com/

WGAL: http://wgal.com/

More to come.. 

Coal region bites: For the fourth time in just two weeks, a person was bitten by a pit bull in Pottsville, PA

…it’s the home of Yuengling brewery, and now dangerous dog bites.. Four times in 2 weeks!? Is there something in the water, or is it just that the SPCA doesn’t take pit bulls anymore!?

Coal region bites: For the fourth time in just two weeks, a person was bitten by a pit bull in Pottsville, PA

A Friday night in May, Pottsville, PA.. Good evening everyone

This image taken today in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, as Schuylkill County begins celebration of its Bicentennial Celebration.

MORE: 

Schuylkill County Begins Bicentennial Celebration

A sad day for tacky shirt fans.. Snow shut down the Justin Bieber ‘your name here’ store at the mall.

Mahatongo Street in Pottsville, PA, as seen from a snow bank..

Empty slushy and messy post storm streets in Pottsville, PA..