Monica Yant Kinney's Opinion
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The Inquirer Want to know what’s on the minds of our metro columnists, or tell them An inspiration Pa.orthopedist what’s on yours? Join the mashup, at philly.com/blinq and awinner. B2 is rebuked. B4 B Wednesday, May4,2011 ★ Section B Pa.legislators tell of gifts they accepted Disclosurereports show and galas. Dinners galore. Even in these belt-tightening times, tickets, travel, meals,and such gifts and travel are all part of the Football, Music, Shamrocks, and More trophies, althoughsome life of aPennsylvania legislator, ac- cording to the latest statements of fi- Dwight Domenic John Pippy took onlytheir paycheck. nancial interest filed with the State EthicsCommission. Evans Pileggi Trips to Beijing and New Delhi: By Angela Couloumbis In annual filings that were due Mon- One ticket to Conference on $19,340. INQUIRER HARRISBURG BUREAU day, some elected officials reported Eagles playoff “The European and LauraOlson no gain in 2010 aside from the pay- game: $670. Union and the Trips to PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE check that comes with the job. Northern Ireland Twotickets to Euro” in Dublin, HARRISBURG —Conference trips Others accepted meals, trips, and and Academy of Ireland: $2,147. to faraway places like China, India, assorted trinkets. Senate Majority Switzerland: Music gala: and Ireland. Tickets to pro football Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Dela- $12,292. $2,000. games. Passes for pricey receptions See GIFTS on B11 Cultivating anetwork Pa.DEP’s Mexican Philadelphians use cornmeal to aid their homeland. drilling By MichaelMatza INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Heads bowed, worn sacks of seeds slung violations across their shoulders, the farmers of San Mateo Ozolco toil to exhaustion, planting and harvestingcorn by hand near an ac- tivevolcano 50 miles from Mexico City. Barely eking out $7 aday, they feel the curbgone pull of jobs in America, where minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. The incentive to cross the border, legally or otherwise, is Inspectors no longer have to get almost irresistible, even though the Unit- ed States is hundreds of miles away. clearancefromthe agency’s chief. In the last decade, an estimated 2,500 of San Mateo’s 4,500 residents have moved By Craig R. McCoyand Joseph Tanfani to the Philadelphia region to find work, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS according to aLatino advocacy group. The state Department of Environmental “People are sucked here” because of Protection has killed acontroversial direc- need, said Zac Steele, director of Juntos, tive that required all of its shale-gas drill- based in South Philadelphia. “It is not a ing inspectors to get approval from the choice that people want to make. It is an agency’s chief before issuingviolations. economic necessity to be able to support Katy Gresh, the agency’s spokeswoman, their loved ones.” said the DEP’s top staff had reaffirmed to “Blue Corn Alianza” aims to slow the field inspectors that they have the full pow- exodus by giving San Mateo’s young men er to write up polluters without getting an economic reason to remain on their prior approval from DEP secretary Mi- home soil —growing astrain of corn as chael Krancer. old as Aztec civilization, for export to She said acontroversial March 23 e-mail Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jer- to agency workers —meant to be internal sey. but leaked to the media —had been badly “The idea is to empower people, here written in saying that Krancer would have and there,” said Steele, “and create afair- “final clearance” over citations. trade network.” “The secretary’s intent was not clearly Created by about two dozen “Mexadel- communicated” at the time of the memo, phians” who once lived in San Mateo,the Gresh said Tuesday. All Krancer was seek- project will pay farmers up to 150 percent ing was to ensure that he was notified of of the domestic price for blue cornmeal, regulatory actions, Gresh said. which sells for $1.25 apound in Mexico Jeff Schmidt, director of the Pennsylva- and is consumed in tortillas and porridges nia chapter of the Sierra Club and one of as traditional comfort food. several critics of the original directive, The first shipment of 1,100 pounds of said Tuesday that the DEP was now gener- the meal —called potehtli in the Aztec ating atale of “smoke and mirrors” to pre- dialect, and pinole in modern Spanish — tend there had been no reversal. See CORNMEAL on B11 In the original March 23 e-mail, atop Kranceraide wrote that “effective immedi- ately,”all violations must first be sent to him and another senior aide —with “final clearance” from Krancer, the new agency chief as anominee of incoming Gov. Cor- See SHALE on B7 Longtime MAX MATZA Phila.butcher Alfonso Rocha (right), an organizer of Blue HARVEY FINKLE Corn Alianza, points to blue-corn offerings Farmers of San Mateo Ozolco, Mexico, members of Amigos De Ozolco Cooperative, plant corn. at the Cinco de Mayo festival in Phila. The town is in the shadow of Popocatepetl, an active volcano. pulls up stakes Moneywoesafactor in HarryG. Therecording of theincidentled Ochs’leaving Reading Terminal. The human cost Haverfordpolicetocharge threeworkers By MichaelKlein at theQuadrangle nursing-carefacility. PHILLY.COM of schools’cheating Facing eviction, the century-old Harry G. Ochs &Sons butcher shop has vacated its stand at Reading Terminal Market. Ihad flashbacks over the weekend read- Hidden camerashows The denouement of aPhiladelphia retail ing about the mysterious, miraculoustest- landmark came quietly, after closing time score gains at Theodore RooseveltMiddle Monday, when owner Nicholas Ochs re- School in East Germantown. movedsigns, his butcher’s block, and per- As reported by my colleagues Kristen staffabuse of patient sonaleffects from the stand. Graham and Dylan Purcell, Roosevelt —a Afew hours later, his wife posted news of persistently dangerous school where near- Ochs’ relocation on Reading Terminal’s Face- ly nine in 10 students dwell in povertyand By Mari A. Schaefer sent Mary French and her husband, book page. Ochs is now an employee of Main afourth receive special-ed services — INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Paul, to their computer. Street Market in Manayunk, managing the jumped an astonishing 52 points in math Almost from the time Lois McCal- “I Googled hidden camera,” Paul butcher operation there at Main and Grape and 51 points in reading on the critically lister was moved to the dementia French said Tuesday. With afew Streets, effective Tuesday morning. Four of important statewide assessments known as unit at the Quadrangle nursing- more keystrokes and $250 on a his employees are also working there. the PSSAs. care facility, her daughter says credit card, he bought ananny cam Ochs’ sudden departure surprised Read- The stunning two-year turnaround bested all comparable there were troubling signs. to secretly placeinhis mother-in- ing Terminal Market management, which in Philadelphia public schools and earned Roosevelt’s principal Her mother’s $5,000 hearing aids law’sroom. February sued Ochs, alleging that he owed gold stars from Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and then- went missing, Mary French said. Afew nights later, the couple sat more than $21,000 in rent and utilities on the Gov. Ed Rendell. If only the success story didn’t read like Staff members were overheard with their laptop and watched in prime spot that his father had operated in such afantasy to Roosevelt teachers claiming the triumph is shouting at one another. Insurance horror as three caregivers hit and the center of the market since 1947. the result of cheating. forms, to be filled out by the staff, pulled on ahalf-naked McCallister. The eviction notice was just one issue. In interviews, the teachers described an anything-goes cul- went unfinished. The recording of the incident led On April 4, the business filed for protec- ture when it came to the state tests. They said they were But it was her mother’s claim Haverford police to bring charges tion under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankrupt- See PRINCIPAL on B6 that people were hitting her that See CARE on B8 See OCHS on B8 B6 B www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Wednesday, May4,2011 Commentary By Monica Yant Kinney DONATE YOUR CAR *100% TaxDeductible Ahuman cost when schools cheat *FreePick-Up PRINCIPAL from B1 revealedthat he’d been pres- mands of the federal No fused Philadelphia principal Support encouraged to drill specific sured to cook test books in 2005 Child Left Behind Act. who thought Carruth might concepts known to be on the at the magnet school filled with be just the man for an impos- exams, ano-no. On test day, Camden’sbest and brightest. Awhite hat, blacklisted siblytall task. Our Veterans they saw answers scrawled Carruth refused the order, “You’re asking me if Ire- “She was really worried on blackboards and watched but Brimm’s scores still gret it, right?” Carruth clari- about losing her job and said 1-800-Help-Vets an administrator return com- jumped acurious 21 fies when Icall him ‘If we keep failing, they’re go- pleted booklets to students to percent that year. this week at home ing to close us down.’ ”here- fix mistakes. Three months af- in Delaware. calls. “She misunderstood my www.HelpOurVeterans.org One teacher recalled an ter Carruth went pub- “Professionally?” story and thought I had cheat- alarming scene in the school lic, he was fired over He pauses. “Unfor- ed. Because she said, ‘I’m library: Roosevelt’s principal loud protest from tunately, yes,” he tempted to bring you on and sitting and chatting with stu- grateful students declares with a let you get our scores up!’ ” Bonjour! dents as they took the test. and stunned support- sigh, explaining Carruth, now 43, laughs faint- Three paragraphs into the ers.