I can’t let this Easter Sunday pass without referring to my www.billybytes.com article titled “Springtime Follies” dated April 13, 2004.

The article opens with the paragraph, “Like Roman centurions on Calvary, rolling dice for the possession of Jesus’ robe, the Council members of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] gamble over its tattered finances.  This Thursday, April 15, 2004, Council is scheduled once again to refinance the county’s illegal $111 million bond, after tabling this dangerously risky venture in each of its last two meetings - ignoring the pleadings of Blank, Rome, Comisky, and McCauley bond counsel Jeff Blumenfeld, and responding instead to the warnings of opponent [sic] of the refinancing scheme.”

“If interest rates are high,” the article continues, “by the time of the 2012 call date (Remember the 17% interest rate during the Iranian oil crisis of the late 1970s?), Blank Rome will make a killing on the bond refinancing scheme while bankrupting Northampton County.  Similar financial risk-taking bankrupted Orange County, California, during the 1990s.”

“The refinancing,” continues the article, “coincides with this spring’s Easter/Passover season, on the second anniversary of Northampton County Councilman Ron Angle’s crucifixion in the County’s Courtroom 1 for alleged anti-semitic [and racist] comments made on his Saturday morning WAEB-FM talk/call-in radio show.”

“Angle’s crucifixion,” the article continues, “was the pretext for removing him as chair of the County’s finance committee.  He was seen by his fellow County officials, including his five Republican [council] cohorts, as a threat to the $111 million bond.  Its issuer, the County’s General Purpose Authority (GPA), had already been exposed as violative of Pennsylvania’s Municipality Authorities Act of 1945 as amended and of the County’s Home Rule Charter - violations that invalidated the bond [and the GPA].”

The reader may link to the rest of the article with its allusions to the Easter/Passover season.