Elderton Resident Refutes Senator’s Comments

Elderton resident David Brown is pictured here addressing the Armstrong School District school board in the Elderton High School gymnasium during a public meeting on February 22, 2010.

by David Croyle

Pennsylvania Senator Don White (R-41) set off a firestorm with Elderton area residents following his Tuesday night comments at the Smith Complex.

White was asked to address a Tea Party group known as the Indiana-Armstrong Patriots. He was asked to comment on the re-opening of the Elderton Junior-Senior High School.

Senator Don White

“In my opinion, it wasted about $4 million of taxpayer money in Armstrong County,” White said.

H.E.R.O (Helping Elderton Remain Open) activist and Elderton resident David Brown took White’s comments to task yesterday during WTYM’s Morning Show.

“He has said at Elderton so many times, about supporting the community and this school… and then for him to come out and say it’s a four million dollar mistake… I talked to Don yesterday on the phone. He said, ‘I know I’m talking out both sides of my mouth,’ and I said, ‘That’s wrong! That’s what politicians always get blamed for, Don. I didn’t think you were that kind of a man,”’ Brown said.

According to Brown, White told him that there has been a lot of opposition in Kittanning from some community leaders over the reopening of the school. Brown had a response.

“And I said, ‘How do you feel about the Elderton community? We also pay taxes and we have children.’ So it is devastating to us for him to say such a thing because of one reason. Many of the people in the H.E.R.O. organization had a high regard for him. But now we don’t have the regard we used to have by any means. He said he is going to come to a meeting and talk to us. We welcome him to come to a meeting and talk to us, and talk to our children and see what they are faced with now. For him saying that and putting us on the chopping block, that’s wrong.”

Brown indicated the battle lines are drawn with the Senator.

“This is not over by a long shot. This is one man’s opinion. We had 70% of the people in our attendance area wanting Elderton to stay open, even at the point of succession. It is a total mistake that we ever joined with Armstrong School District.”

Senator White’s comments came only two weeks after Pennsylvania State Representative Jeff Pyle (R-60) also criticized the reopening of Elderton.

Rep. Jeff Pyle

“How they can afford it (reopening Elderton Junior-Senior High School),  I don’t know. I don’t know the school district’s numbers. But it just seems to me there has been numerous attempts to rob Peter to pay Paul. ‘Let’s close K-T to beef up Elderton.’ K-T was a good school,” Pyle said.

“It’s not my decision to make, but I will tell you this: It’s not prioritizing as I would have liked,” Pyle said. “I am scared to death of the pension bomb coming. I have been telling every school director who will listen to me to put every cent you can into that.”