Limousines, Bethlehem Steel and the would-be city controller

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Republican city controller candidate Meg Holland held a news conference on Wednesday that was meant to give her a platform to describe her skills and tenacity as an auditor working in the private sector.

But what she described may have been even more illustrative of the waste and out-and-out theft that plagued the Bethlehem Steel Corp. and rusted the once-great industrial empire from within.

Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Holland worked as an operational auditor for Bethlehem Steel, specializing in forensic reviews and fraud investigations. One time in particular, she was assigned to review company use of limousines.

Limousine rides were one of the perks provided to executives who worked at the Steel. In fact, the company employed drivers and owned a small fleet with which to provide rides. But Holland’s audit quickly revealed that 60 percent of the money Bethlehem Steel was paying for limousine service was not for salaries, fuel or vehicle maintenance. It was being paid to private limousine services.

Holland said she dug further, finding receipts and then quizzing executives about the rides they took. Many of the rides never took place. As it turned out, middle managers were fleecing the company, gathering bogus receipts from private limousine services all too happy to provide them for a share of the stolen money.

“Meg has respect but a healthy suspicion for power and authority, especially as it relates to financial matters,” said Tom Rutherford, who was her boss at the time.

Rutherford, who is now the director of operations and portfolio management at Molewski Financial Partners, accompanied Holland at the news conference in the lobby of the now-vacant Martin Tower, the one-time headquarters of the industrial giant.

Holland’s limousine investigation led to criminal charges against severeal individuals and a change in expense verification practices at Bethlehem Steel, she said. Perhaps, she said, it was a little too late.

Becahi’s brightest

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For the second year in a row, Bethlehem Catholic High School beat crosstown rival Liberty in football. But you already knew the school sports a pretty good team.

What you may not know is Becahi has numerous merit scholars. Seven seniors have been recognized for reaching the quarter finals round of the National Merit Scholarship Program, an academic competition that began in 1955. Their test scores mean they were in the top two-thirds of the 50,000 students who took the test in the nation.

The students are:

• Owen Divers
• Andrew Hall
• John Heimerl
• Jennifer Kach
• Sarah Kach
• Anne Marie McKinney
• Alyssa Wagner

(Click on any of the above names to see the student's school picture.)

Writing for their futures

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Several local students, most from the Allentown School District, have won awards in an essay contest sponsored by the Pennsylvania Statewide Latino Coalition.

About 300 students submitted essays on this year’s topic: “As a young Latino, how are you creating change in your school and community?”

Out of the original number submitted, 97 were disqualified for not following directions, said Iris M. Cintron, Supervisor of Minority Affairs, Governmental Programs and Grants in the Bethlehem Area School District. Cintron, who served as chairwoman of the contest, said the essays had to pass inspection for exact directions in order to advance. Then the contest organizer, Francisco Alarcón, a mathematics professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, replaced students' names with numbers to give the students and their schools anonymity.

“As a result, it’s a blind judging process,” Cintron said.

The blind process can result in several winners from one particular area, which is what occurred this year when four Allentown students won nearly a majority of the nine categories.

“What’s that a say about Allentown, I don’t know,” Cintron said. “But I guess they’re teaching the writing process.”

Elementary School (grades 3-5) winners were:

• Second Place — Olmedo Burgos, a 4th-grader at Jackson Elementary School in the Allentown School District
• Third Place — Anthony Rosado, a 4th-grader at Jackson Elementary School in the Allentown School District.

Middle School Category (grades 6-8) winners were:

• First Place — Santos J. Guerra, a 7th grader at Broughal Middle School in the Bethlehem Area School District.
• Third Place — Carlos Delgado, a 6th grader at the Trexler Middle School in the Allentown School District.

High School Category (grades 9-12) winners were:

• Third Place — Francisco J. Pereira, a 12th grader at William Allen High School in the Allentown School District.

Winning students in each category received $500 for first place, $300 for second place and $100 for third place. The winners and their families have been invited to attend the Pennsylvania Statewide Latino Coalition Conference at the Holiday Inn Philadelphia Stadiums Hotel in Philadelphia. The conference is Friday. Students will receive their awards at a 1 p.m. luncheon.

Hydrant inspections

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The Bethlehem Fire Department has announced the following fire hydrant inspections between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 29:

Lehigh River south to city line, between Hobart Street and east city line.

Broad Street north to Easton Avenue, between Linden Street and east city line.

Lehigh River north to Eaton Avenue, between 15th Avenue and west city line.

Macada Road north to city line, between west city line and Linden Street.

Eaton Avenue north to Catasauqua Road, between east city line and Route 378.

Wednesday, Oct. 31:

Lehigh River south to city line, between Taylor Street and west city line.

Easton Avenue and Linden Street north to Butztown Road, between Linden Street and Easton Avenue.

Lehigh River north to Broad Street, between Main Street and Stefko Boulevard.

Dewberry Avenue north to Macada Road, between Linden Street and west along Illicks Mill Road to west city line.

Eaton Avenue north to Catasaqua Road, between Route 378 and west city line.

Lost and found

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Calling Jay?

You might want to try Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan’s office.

Callahan found a cell phone, presumably belonging to someone named Jay, during Tuesday night’s council meeting.

While city resident Robert Pfenning was updating council about Northampton County government news, the leather-encased cell phone began ringing near an empty seat, and the mayor took out into the hallway.

Callahan recounted that the caller asked for a Jay. Callahan informed the caller that he had gotten the mayor of Bethlehem and was calling during a city council meeting. The caller did not identify Jay’s last name nor himself.

The only clues the mayor has to go on is that council’s meeting room — Town Hall — was only moments before occupied by the Planning Commission for a meeting to approve land development plans for the Sands BethWorks casino.

“He’s going to have to pick it up at the lost and found,” Callahan said after the meeting.

Oh, by the way, the call prompted a brief council discussion on cell phone use at public meetings.

Council President Michael Schweder, whose day job is president of AT&T in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, will be announcing at the beginning of meetings:

Turn your cell phone off.

Steel studies

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Ever wonder what happened after that community meeting four months ago about Bethlehem Steel?

The one where experts gathered at the Charles A. Brown Ice House to gather public input about how to best tell the story of Bethlehem Steel, relate Steel to other local industry and make the old plant a classroom for those who want to learn about industrial history?

Well, the organizers — Lehigh Valley Industrial Heritage Coalition and Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities at Rutgers University-Camden, N.J. — have been busy going through the results.

They'll present their findings and how they plan to move forward from 7-9 p.m. Nov. 15 at Northampton Community College's Fowler Family Southside Center, 511 E. Third St. At that meeting, Robert Rathburn, executive director of Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, will also give remarks.

Experts use the Sloss Furnaces, which continue to play a prominant feature in Birmingham's skyline 35 years after the plant closed, as an example of what historic preservation can do both a community's heritage and economic development.

The two 400-ton furnaces, blowing engines, cas sheds and other structure serve as a reminder of the industry that built the South's first post-Civil War industrial city. Those structures also are home to educational programs, concerts and public events. It is also one of the top three public sculpture programs in the country, according to the heritage coalition.

Plans for the old Bethlehem Steel plant call for a 1,500-acre industrial park, known as Bethlehem Commerce Center, and the Sands BethWorks, a 124-acre entertainment complex to be anchored by a casino. The entertainment complex also is planned to have 200,000 square feet of retail shops, restaurants, a concert hall and museums wrapped around a collection of restored Steel buildings.

Bethlehem firefighter service

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Numerous Bethlehem firefighters and citizens were honored Wednesday at a ceremony at the West Broad Street station.

The annual service honors current and retired firefighters who passed away, and officials present citations and letters of appreciation.

Fire crews at this year’s ceremony recognized three firefighters who died this year: Scott Kubic, Carmell Oliver and Augustine Sebastinelli.

During the service, city Fire Commissioner George Barkanic (on the right in the above photo by Morning Call photographer Harry Fisher) commemorated Kubic, Oliver and Sebastinelli by placing a wreath outside the station with help from Lt. Darryl Kulp.

Click the "Read More" link for a list of others who were honored.

Steel, Lehigh U. and samurai swords

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Public television viewers across the country this week are getting lessons about samurai swords from Lehigh University professors.

The new Nova special "Secrets of the Samurai Sword" follows the making of a single Japanese katana according to traditional methods — a process that takes 15 craftsmen six months to complete — and relies on the Lehigh profs to explain the properties of the sword's steel and the culture that forged it.

The show's narration states that the producers picked Lehigh primarily because of the school's reputation in engineering and materials science, but also because of Bethlehem's decades-old association with steel.

Footage from Lehigh and other spots around town (including a brief shot of the iconic blast furnaces) is interspersed with scenes of swordsmithing in Japan. The show also includes dramatic demonstrations of how skilled swordsmen can use these blades, which are so sharp and well balanced that an expert can slice an arrow in mid-flight.

Locally, PBS-39 debuted the program yesterday and is scheduled to re-air it Saturday at 5 p.m. (For those viewers with insomnia or TiVos, it will also air at 2 a.m. on Sunday.) The text of Nova's interview with Lehigh's Dr. Rick Vinci about steel and swords is also available online.

HarvestFest

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Though the weather makes it feel more like late August, today is unmistakably Oktoberfest in downtown Bethlehem.

By early this afternoon, sunny skies and unseasonably warm temperatures had already drawn hundreds of people to Bethlehem's second annual Harvest Festival, an event organized by Main Street merchants and other supporters.

Several regional wineries and microbreweries have set up tasting stations on Main Street, which is closed to cars for the day. Festgoers spent the afternoon sampling the suds as they ambled past dried corn stalks, bales of straw and even the trumpets and clarinets of the Lehigh Valley Italian American Band, which was doing a respectable impression of a German oompah band.

"Yeah, we're cooking!" said Harvest Festival organizer Neville Gardner when asked how business was going. "Obviously, we've brought plenty of people out on the street. And we've got a gorgeous day!" added Gardner, who owns Celtic specialty shop Donegal Square.

Organizers had hoped for up to 2,000 attendees. Judging from the crowds on Main Street by 2:30 p.m., it looked like the event might sell out by tonight.

A "passport" for the beer and wine tastings costs $25, but there are also plenty of free options for teetotalers and children. Local bands, including the infamous Mayor and His Cabinet, will be playing all afternoon and evening; free demonstrations were going on at the historic blacksmith shop; and Lolly the Clown (aka Bev Gunderman of Palmer Township) has been busy twisting up balloon animals at the south end of Main Street.

A few food vendors, such as local corn connoisseurs Aw Shucks, are also on hand.

The festival continues until 7 p.m.

Freedom's National Merit Scholars honored

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Isha Jain doesn’t know how her brain works, but based on genetics she knows it works something like her mother’s and father’s.

So that means Isha's brain goes really, really fast and far beyond that of most 16 year olds. Isha’s mother Sweety is a family practice physician at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown. Isha’s father Himanshu is a Lehigh University materials science engineer who has won world-renown acclaim for his studies with glass.

On Friday, Isha’s brain power was recognized by teachers and administrators of Freedom High School in Bethlehem Township. Isha, along with three other seniors, were feted to an intimate lunch at Freedom for their performance in the National Merit Scholarship program, an academic competition that began in 1955.

Isha is the school’s sole remaining student who has made it to the semi-finalist round, which is based on the scores of her critical reading, mathematics and writing skills on the Preliminary SAT/Merit Scholarship test.

Seniors Valerie Pierpoint, 17, Katherine West, 17, and Timothy Yale, 16, were recognized for making it to the program’s quarter finals round. Their scores mean they were in the top 2/3 of the 50,000 students who took the test in the nation.

“It’s not too often schools have one student, let along four students, recognized,” Principal Mike LaPorta said.

Isha will find out in February whether she makes it to the finalist round. She said she hopes to study genetics or bio-mathematics, which is a combination of math and biology. She has not selected a college.

Katherine likes English and hopes to attend the University of Pennsylvania. Valerie also likes English and all other liberal arts programs and is weighing her college choices.

Yale was not present at the luncheon because he was taking a test at Moravian College, where he is allowed to take college-level courses under the Bethlehem Area School District’s dual-enrollment program.