[Magdalen] What Were They Thinking?

[Jay Weigel]

I have heard it said that Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with
a large chunk of (insert southern state of choice) between. I imagine that
could be said of a lot of northern states, however.

East Tennessee for a long time had the fastest-growing Hispanic population
east of the Mississippi, mostly due to agriculture. The town where I lived
for many years has become home to a lot of them and they're settling in as
pretty solid citizens. They run a number of small businesses and work in
the building trades and local factories, and the biggest landscape
contractor in town is now run by a Hispanic guy. The Catholic church, once
a stodgy place composed of mostly Yankee immigrants, now has a vibrant
"second parish" of Hispanics which is bigger than the gringo parish. There
is a Sunday futbol league at the state park. The kids, including girls, are
starting to take their places on local school athletic teams. There are
vendors selling their wares at the local farmers' market. The only place
they haven't made it yet is local politics, which is still the province of
the "good ol' boys", but any day now....! On the other hand, next door in a
largely rural county, there is now a Hispanic sheriff, Armando Fontes! He
is on his second term--and Hispanics are NOT in the majority there.

Where I live now there is an interesting mix. There are a lot of Hispanics
working in the local poultry processing plants, and probably some who have
since branched out and gone on to other things. There is also a Russian
community, and I have no idea how or when they got here, although it seems
to have been pretty recent as many of them that I see at the gym speak
Russian among themselves. In addition there are a number of South Asians,
mainly Pakistani I think but some Indians. Many of them are probably
associated with JMU. I guess the presence of JMU, Eastern Mennonite
University, and the Mennonite presence generally make for some atmosphere
of tolerance.

On Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at 10:29 AM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

>
>
>
> In 2007, alarmed that there were so many Hispanic immigrants piling
> into the next city over the mountain, Hazleton, PA (pop. 2010: 25,000
> and 40% Hispanic), the then mayor decided that the City should  attempt
> to block this flood of new residents, and launched a court battle.
>
> What were they thinking?  You can't legislate where USA citizens of
> whatever stripe live.  After much courtroom action, and national
> publicity which was not of the good type, a federal judge through the
> case out as unconstitutional, of course.
>
> The reward for the then mayor who had received much publicity in
> local and national news?  He successfully ran for Congress on  the
> Republican ticket, and is into his third term as the Hon. Lou  Barletta.
>
> Meanwhile, the City of Hazleton, that has been running in the red
> anyway for the last few years (2014:  -1.8 million dollars) is  naturally
> not able to pay the legal fees which drag on, and now are 2.3 million
> dollars.
>
> The proposal in this morning's paper?  Bankruptcy.
>
> What a surprise!
>
>
> David S.
>