The Middle East, A Quick Course

Radio Free Molovinsky

Yesterday was a difficult day with the broadcasting equipment. Although the usual channels are still out, the blog is back up with emergency equipment.

Yesterday, Bernie O'Hare and I were guests on Alan Jennings' Lehigh Valley Discourse radio program. Next week the program will be available for download from WDIF.

The list of supporters to save the Wehr Dam continues to grow. Various scientific and environmental types have come forward to support preserving this icon. Mary Ann Bungerz, creator of the Covered Bridge Tour and other promotions as Director of the County's Visitor's Bureau, has come forward to support the dam. The first pavilion at Covered Bridge is named after her devotion to the park.

Although I tried to rent Bungerz Pavilion for next week's Save The Dam picnic, that pavilion was already booked for the summer. Please join us in Pavilion 2 next Saturday, July 19th, between noon and 2:00pm.

Contributing To Change

I have no allusions concerning the amount of work and expense that it will require for me to go to Harrisburg. The incumbent sent no less than three expensive mailings against her primary opponent. However, if the residents of the 183rd District, and the greater Lehigh Valley, are to benefit from change, I'm willing to do the hard work, but must ask you to make a monetary contribution. If you live in the 183rd, the need for the change that I can bring is apparent, your town has been stagnating for years. I also ask for contributions from everybody in the Valley. Your representative is complacent. Many go unopposed, election after election. It's time to shake up Harrisburg, it's time to think independently. I ask that you make a check or money order payable to:

                                       Michael Molovinsky, Designated Account
 and mail it to:
                                       Michael Molovinsky
                                       1636 N. Cedar Crest Blvd.
                                       PMB 145
                                       Allentown, Pa. 18104

or contribute through paypal

Thank you!

The Biology and History Of Wehr Dam

The Wildlands Conservancy is fond of telling municipalities that mill dams create warm water above them, and serve no purpose. Also obsolete, by modern design, in Wehr Dam Park, now know as Covered Bridge Park, is the covered bridge. A recent writer to The Morning Call noted the beauty of the water flowing over the dam and under the bridge. The Wildlands Conservancy has said that the dam has no aesthetic value, but they're also wrong even about the biology. Not far downstream from the dam, the creek disappears into it's limestone bed during dry periods. This natural disappearing stream phenomenon makes the dam a moot point in regard to upstream fish migration. What we're left with then is extraordinary beauty and history,  that needs to be preserved. Since mill dams and wooden covered bridges are obsolete, and they're not making any more of them, let's defend this irreplaceable legacy with which we were entrusted.
photograph by K Mary Hess

Saving South Whitehall's History

In 1952, South Whitehall lost Wehr's Mill, constructed in 1862. Last week, on July 2, 2014 the Commissioners signed the township's historic overlay ordinance, designed to provide protection for historical structures and sites, by cooperating owners. When Wehr's Covered Bridge was designated a National Historic Site in 1980, the application specified 1.45 acres. Whether or not the dam is included in this area is unclear, but the historical significance of the dam is unquestionable. It was the most elaborate dam built for any mill, on either the Jordan or Cedar Creeks. A concrete slab, inscribed and dated by none other than William Wehr himself, remains near the former mill site. In their haste to harvest another dam demolition grant, the Wildlands Conservancy told the Commissioners that the 1904 dam is neither historic or aesthetic, but the public knows that their iconic dam has both those attributes, in abundance.

undated photograph of the former Wehr Mill

In Defense Of The Irreplaceable

Yesterday, residents of South Whitehall received a well designed card promoting concerts in The Covered Bridge Park. In a recent letter to the editor, Dale Heffelfinger wrote; The Jordan Creek flowing over Wehr's Dam and then under Wehr's Covered Bridge is an often-photographed location that has appeared on calendars and in literature touting our wonderful lifestyle. To remove Wehr's Dam is unconscionable. This weekend as we celebrate our country's history, let us hope that the South Whitehall Commissioners decide to defend the historic dam.
photograph by K Mary Hess

Dam Hard Convincing South Whitehall

Last evening I again tried to convince South Whitehall Commissioners that Wehr Dam must be saved, for both historical and aesthetic reasons. Visiting that dam has become a generational tradition for thousands of valley residents. Although the Wildlands Conservancy has not been given explicit permission to demolish the dam, the commissioners have allowed them to continue planning for it's removal. Ironically, last night the commissioners also passed an ordinance creating an historic overlay district, including Wehr Covered Bridge. Had they been willing to add two simple words to the ordinance, and dam, they would have been fulfilling the spirit of the ordinance, not just the letter. At their meeting with the Wildlands Conservancy the commissioners asked how to deal with the residents who might want to keep the dam. The Conservancy replied that they must be educated about the fish and natural habitat. I believe that the commissioners must be educated about the values and traditions of their constituents.