I have news for the FLSmidth Cement Inc. and the adulating piece by business reporter Anthony Salamone, published in today’s edition of local corporations’ public relations agent, The Express-Times.

It hasn’t been that many years since United Way was at the center of one of the biggest financial scandals in the history of charities, or what, as quoted in Salamone’s article, FLSmidth’s CEO Christian Jepsen calls “philanthropy.”

Unless I’m mistaken, FLSmidth’s predecessor, the Fuller Company, has endured some financial scandals of its own.

And I have news for Jepson and his wife Helle and daughter Amalie.

Salamone quotes Jepson, who is Danish, as saying, “When we came over [from Denmark] we learned early that in order to learn about the area, you have to engage yourself in the community.

“…in Europe, government oversees most social services.

“Here [the United States] its philanthropy [President George H.W. Bush’s ‘thouand points of light] and they [meaning the United States, with one of the most status quo governments in the world] seek “new ideas.”

I’ve got news for Dave Jepsen and his family: Denmark, like all other modern democracies of Europe, have single-payer, universal health care.

Comtrast that, Mr. Jepsen and family, to the United States, where at least 80 million children are covered by no health care at all except that provided in the emergency rooms of America’s hospitials - in the country of President George W. Bush, where “no child is left behind.”
I will say this for FLSmidth, however; it does provide quality manufacuring jobs, as opposed to most industries in the valley that despite “shadow governments” like Northampton County’s misnomered Industrial Development Authority create only low-paying service jobs except for the captains of industry like Kerry Wrobel, the executive director of another “shadow government,” Lehigh Valley Industrial Parks.

Closer to home, Saint Anthony’s Youth Center, after summarily firing without cause its executive director, an African-American female, the center called in United Way to examine her books.

The implication was that she was “cooking” them.

What United Way found instead was she was fired because she opposed the leasing of the center’s soccer field to Northampton County for its courthouse and prison expansion.

When Palmer Township resident John Todaro, Northampton County Councilman Ron Angle, myself, and others, organized a rally in support of the dismissed executive director, Youth Center board member former Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. telephoned John’s home and harassed his wife Rosena in an effort to discredit Johh.

Another Youth Center board member, Leonard Buscemi, telephoned Golden Age Club President Angelo Ferraro and harassed his wife, also in an effort to intimidate John.

It was the same as the harassment that John and his family were subjected to when on February 2, 2005, “ground hog day,” he announced his candidacy for Northampton County Executive challenging incumbent Glenn Reibman in the May Democratic primary.

I’ll tell readers one thing, as John’s public relations officer, John, though legally blind, was a hell of a lot better qualified than what Northampton County has now as its executive, John Stoffa.