Through An Old Timer’s Eye s

Last week’s edition carried an article about the appeal of John Rigas and his son being turned down. A federal prosecutor, William Johnson, said, “One of the reasons the appeal was turned down was because the Rigases did not show any remorse.”

What does he expect? Remorse is shown when you believe you were guilty and the Rigases believe that they are not guilty of the crimes they were charged with.

What they were guilty of was listening to a bunch of flunkies or cheaters advise them on how to run their business. Then, after they paid these accountants and lawyers all those millions of dollars and followed their advice, everybody lied and ran for cover and the Rigases were left as the scapegoats. Some of them cut a deal with the government to save their own behinds while John and Tim paid the price.

Is that justice? We have too much Wall Street mentality in this country and not enough common sense.

It’s hard to win in a kangaroo court, especially when people swear an oath before almighty God and then lie. The deck was stacked against the Rigases and our lousy court system put upwards of 2,000 people out of work.

Potter County and Coudersport will have a tough time recovering from that low blow. It also hurt Emporium, Port Allegany and other towns where people commuted to Coudersport to work for Adelphia.

John Rigas got his start at the Sylvania plant in Emporium back in the 1950s and most of the people who know him still support him and wish that he could come home to live out his final days with his wife and children and grandchildren.

Friday’s daily meeting of the Liars Club at the Cabin Kitchen had a crowded agenda, including discussions of the today’s weather and President Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize.

After a few comments about woolly caterpillars, mention of the Farmers Almanac and how many acorns and walnuts there are this year, no decision was made as to how the winter was going to turn out. Some speculated that it was going to be a mild one and others said that we could expect tons of snow. We will just have to wait and see who is right and who is wrong.

When the discussion turned to our President and his receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize, our Republican members voiced their disapproval. There was very little comment from the Democrats, but I voiced an opinion that it was no worse than when President Bush gave the Freedom Medal to Muhammad Ali.

To me, he is a sorry specimen of an American. He was a draft dodger, a tax evader and when he figured out it could keep him from having to serve his country, he turned his back on his Christian faith and decided he was a Muslim.

Is it just me, or does anyone else recognize that the most serious threat to the future of our country is the radical Muslims who are willing to do anything, including blowing themselves up, to destroy America?

Our weather did not give many breaks to the crews filming the movie, “Unstoppable,” but with bulldog-like tenacity they managed to get it done. Most of the equipment that they had in Emporium has been packed up and moved.

It is amazing how many people were involved in this production. Some of the local people who got hired by the movie company said that they were treated well and their food was really good.

Isn’t it funny how our lives are affected by what we shove in our “pie hole” I guess if you have a full belly and a little shelter, it makes the world a better place to hang your hat. I hope that their cameras captured the beauty of our area.

Halloween seems to get more attention than our major holidays. Walmart is real smart with its marketing and has opened a large portion of its store for just Halloween items. Perhaps Harry Potter is the marketing manager of that store.

And now comes word that Toys “R” Us has declared war and will be taking on Walmart head-to-head for the toy business. They are going to open up a whole bunch of satellite shops just for the holidays. It will be interesting to see who wins that battle.

We would like to congratulate Joanne and Ken Gerg on their golden wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe that 25 five years have gone by since we celebrated your 25th at Blackburn’s Camp in Truman.

A lot of water has gone down the creek since then, but Ken is still paddling and Joanne hasn’t changed a bit.