Things look pretty gloomy over at Capitol Ideas, authored by intrepid statehouse reporter Johnny Micek. Yesterday alone, he reported that Pennsylvania's lawmakers are now the only ones in the nation still unable to arrive at a budget. To make matters worse, the Treasury Department has laid off sixty workers? Aren't they the ones who are supposed to collect the money?Amidst all this goofiness, three of our local state reps - Rich Grucela, Craig Dally and Bob Freeman - have decided that now might be a good time to talk about bears. They really, really exist. Now Morning Call blogger Bill White disputes that, or at least claims he's never seen one. But they're real. You just don't see too many of them hanging around at Musikfest. They prefer biker bars, farm shows and bingo. There's more of them every day, too. Black bear numbers have grown from around 4,000 in the 1970s, to around 14,000 today.
This gives us lots more opportunities to kill them.
You can pick up little tidbits like that if you go to either of two presentations prepared by Gaming Comm'n Exec Director Carl Roe. The first will take place on Thursday, Sept. 10 at the Hellertown Sportsmen's Association, located at 1793 Meadows Road in Hellertown. The other presentation will take place on Thursday, Sept. 17 at the Stockertown Rod and Gun Club, located at 204 Lefevre Road in Stockertown. They'll both take place at 7 PM. If you'd like more information, contact Rich Grucela’s Nazareth office at 610-614-1312 or 1-888-222-2143.
Once these black bear presentations are over, inside word has it that another three local legislators - Joe Brennan, Steve Samuelson & Doug Reichley - will be producing a hand puppet show.
