Group of us in my home town started the Emigsville Heritage Project as a way to touch base with the roots that made a small town work.

The same fibers that are gradually tearing away with the blur of regionalization, consolidation and globalization. The responsibilities that linked people together as they would strive to build better lives and that made them accountable to each other and themselves.

An excerpt from a recent Emigsville Story night with Sterling Krout. emigsville.org

It was very, very nice coming to Emigsville because in 1942 dad went to an auction to buy a house on Main Street (North George Street) and I was with him that day. It was a two story house, it had four bedrooms, it had a bath, and running water. Dad had $2,500 in his pocket.

Well the bidding didn't last longer than 10 minutes and dad was off the bidding already, but there was a man standing right next to dad and he whispered to him and to this day I have no idea who that man was, but he said, "Albert if you want the house, I will give you the money for the rest of the house above the $2500. Well, the house went for $4000 and dad bought the house.

We were out of bed at 5 o'clock in the morning to bring the newspapers to everyone in Emigsville..no fear of walking the streets at 5 Gary will tell you a few that he had. I didn't even think of fear at that time, but nevertheless it was dark it was 5 o'clock in the morning, no street lights, no sidewalks, no cars. Actually the road was 22 feet across, from North York to Emigsville not much for cars to pass.

Every morning six days a week we would wait for the truck to bring the papers from York that were delivered to Emigsville, Manchester, Mount Wolf and I guess York Haven. It was a precious cargo it could not get wet. There were 90 newspapers brother Gary and I had to deliver every morning and we were happy to do that.

I wasn't aware that we were bringing the news of the world to Emigsville because everyone relied on the newspaper and the guys that were going to work in York they wanted their newspaper early and they wanted to read it before they went to work.

The newspaper to brother Gary and I were special because the newspaper went between the screen door and the regular door. The first thing you learned was that you did not slam the screen door at 5 O'clock in the morning. (laughing from audience) If you did you can bet someone would tell dad and dad would be right back to you.

The newspapers were used for everything...sometimes you shared them with the person next door. Can anybody help me with the price of the newspaper? (Voice from audience) Five cents.

I started to think about it. The newspaper was used for everything. Geraldine will tell me for sure. Mom lined the cupboards with newspaper. Newspapers were put in your peach basket, to put the things up in the attic. Mom used the newspapers in the pantry because when she had the canned items and the peaches and vegetables, you would put them on the newspaper with that date on it and then those were the ones that you would use first, the oldest date.

Mom would wash up the linoleum floor and then she would put newspaper on the floor after it was washed. It was just a ritual that everybody did. It kept the floor clean a day or two longer and then you would pick it up and so on.

As Randon Feinsod, a veterinarian with Ani-Care Animal Hospital in York Township, and Johanna Hanlon, a veterinary technician, washed and examined a 9-foot reticulated python on Monday, the prognosis appeared good.

"This one looks pretty good," Feinsod said.

The same couldn't be said for the other snake that made the trip from New York City to the local area over the weekend.

Officials found a Burmese python in field in Brooklyn, N.Y. that they first took for dead.

During the Great Depression, the Miles Bank in Delta, Pennsylvania collapsed and closed. People lost their jobs. Times were lean. The bank had been in existence since 1890.

The building again saw jobs and prosperity as an early "tech center".

Operators working for The Delta Telephone Exchange and later under the York Telephone and Telegraph Company were busy switching calls for the thriving quarry industry in the area.

Delta was famous for it's decorative green marble and hard slate that lasted on roofs for a century.

Manually placed calls and people pushing jacks into a control board gave way to the rotary dial and eventually the push button phone with computerized central switching. Jobs were lost and an industry changed.

The inventive minds that created technology that gave new life to the building also took it away.

Today, ReConnect, a cafe', gallery & spa, calls the building home. It's a place where locals and curious visitors can experience an independent Main Street eatery with healthy food and good conversation for the same price as a burger combo at a chain store.

The old bank building tells an ongoing story of transition between success, devastation and rebirth.

Businesses like ReConnect hold a key to rebuilding the U.S. economy.

Small Main Street businesses, with faces that you can see in your community that you can make a judgment to trust or not to trust; giving you a service you can see, invest in, nurture, care about and watch your money work in your community.

The consumer is given the opportunity to endorse a Main Street business based on first hand knowledge of their practices and not be held hostage by a huge monopoly that fixes prices and then needs taxpayer bailout money because it has become so large it's failure will doom our existence.

Globalism, monopolies and people without morals grabbing money will always be part of a free market landscape and so will consumers with the potential to change that landscape with the choices they make.

ReConnect is on my short list for a motorcycle ride through the rolling farmland of southern York County.

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"People just find it really soothing," said Muse and harper Ruth Ann Burke. "The saying is if the harp makes you laugh, makes you cry or puts you to sleep, it's done its job."

The star of "Revolutionary Road" recently traded in his Toyota Prius hybrid for a $147,000 Tesla Roadster, the first high-performance electric car. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Leonardo DiCaprio also talked up his passion for eco-causes, and his first sports car. "It's scarily fast and it all happens with the flip of a switch, unlike a piston-driven engine that needs to build up momentum." chicagotribune.com

Greenmesh has been sitting dormant for a few days as my mind shuffles trends of environment, the economy, leadership and world peace - my eyes have glazed over a bit.

Maybe a quick ride in a fast car (motorcycle) would provide some inspiration.

Leo's all electric powered car is all torque from the start. Think of squeezing the trigger of an electric drill.

Gasoline engines build horsepower with their mechanical parts gaining momentum by burning fuel over a given duration. The instant torque of an electric motor must be built over time with a gasoline engine burning fuel until it reaches its potential. There are many factors that effect efficiency when a gasoline engine turns power into fuel.

The gasoline/electric hybrid tries to minimize the loss of energy transformation that occurs in a gasoline engine by trapping energy in the batteries when the gasoline engine is most efficient and when energy would normally be lost through braking.

Leo's Tesla would be very eco-conscious if charged by wind or water... but plugging into a power grid charged by an aging coal fired plant yields the opposite result.

A few gallons less a year controlled by OPEC and speculated on by the free-market is always a good thing for the consumer.

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades visited New Freedom on Sunday to bless a monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.

After the monument's blessing, the crowd followed Rhoades downhill to the parish's newly built rectory

For the past few years during electrical emergencies, innovative people have been using their hybrid Toyota Prius to power their homes.

During an ice storm last week Sweeney, of Harvard, Mass., powered his house by hooking it up to his Toyota Prius. The Prius, a hybrid vehicle, starts the gasoline-burning mode of its engine every 30 minutes to recharge the battery with an internal generator. In turn, Sweeney ran his refrigerator and freezer, wood stove fan, lights and television off the car's battery.

Sweeney, an electrical engineer, explained the simple procedure he used.

"I pulled out this thing I have, an inverter, that converts the current from the car to 120 volts, which is what the appliances in your house run on," Sweeney said in an interview. "The car ran for three days, turning itself on for a few minutes every half an hour, and it burned about five gallons of gas."

Sweeney estimated he used 17 Kilowatt/hours of energy, drawn from the Prius, while the power was cut off from his house. boston.bizjournals.com

According to news reports, about 1,200 homes in eastern Massachusetts are still without power 11 days after the ice storm hit on Dec. 12.

A leading Beverly Hills plastic surgeon claims to have combined two of America's great obsessions; converting his 4x4 to run on fat removed from clients during liposuction operations.

Unfortunately, it is illegal in California to use human medical waste to power vehicles.

washingtonpost.com

He says he used it in a Lincoln Navigator, the vehicle doesn't come in a diesel version which makes me wonder about the whole scheme.

At 30 seconds past 8:24 a.m. Monday, WGAL anchor Dick Hoxworth's phone rang.

The caller informed him that he had 30 seconds until he was on-air for a morning news update.

"Holy mackerel," he said. He scrambled under the partition to the news desk, threw on his suit blazer, adjusted his microphone and took his seat with seconds to spare. For Hoxworth, a 40-year WGAL veteran, it was no sweat.

So many elements in that headline we don't normally associate with each other.

Chemicals, pumped into the ground for hydraulic fracturing during drilling for natural gas, can contaminate ground water. The effects are known in remote places like Wyoming and Colorado.

Adding to this 50-60 vehicles associated with the drilling site and adding to this test wells that are drilled, found not to produce in succession.

In sparely populated areas contamination of ground water does occur from hydraulic drilling according the the statement. In the case of drilling effecting New York City, water is piped from upstate New York supplying 8 million residents which is where the drilling would occur in shale formations.

Oversight Hearing on Natural Gas Drilling in the New York City Watershed before the New York City Council Committee on Environmental Protection Friday, December 12, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. (ewg.org)

The organizers of "Be a Santa to a Senior" were worried this year after not receiving a healthy response to their giving trees. The trees were hung with names and placed in a few public locations. Sarah Hevner, office manager at Home Instead, though that the response was due to a sluggish economy.

After an article in the York Daily Record in November, the gifts started pouring in. Today the gifts were presented to the seniors.

Having grown up in a time when people had to do more with less, these historic faces beamed with very simple tokens of Christmas.

A pin, a bottle of body wash, even just a box of tissues wrapped in holiday paper brought shouts of joy and tears of appreciation.

It reminded me of how far our economy has deteriorated. Making more out of less has evolved into making more out of credit and trying to make more out of speculation, fraud and a ballooning federal deficit. Making more out of capitalizing on cheaper labor markets while making less to buy those products at home.

Making more out of less has morphed into less and less out of investing more and more.

Hope came today from the anonymous people who capitalized on those small dreams from the wish trees placed in Boscovs.

Noreen Freeland tells her kids to "pay it forward".

Almost two years ago, Freeland started a youth group for her neighborhood kids on South Hartley Street in York. This year her kids raised money to help bring Christmas to their peers in the York County Youth Development Center who won't be in a home of their own this Christmas.

Freeland says, "The unique thing that the kids are doing is that some of these kids will be getting few items themselves for Christmas... and this is their way they pay it forward to others...in the community who won't be able to go home for the holidays"

Perhaps the Hartley Street Youth Group can provide training sessions to the CEO's of major U.S. corporations who are seeking taxpayer bailouts while engineering their own bonuses. And maybe bring in the AIG execs in who recently gave themselves huge retention bonuses with taxpayer money for running the company into the ground.

Maybe they can visit Bernard L. Madoff in prison and teach him that a decade old multi-billion dollar ponzi scheme that has bankrupt charities and destroyed savings is self destructive.

Paying forward: People investing in a positive future of individuals who share their community.

The auto bailout died in the Senate after representatives wanted to see wage concessions from workers.

During these endless hearings on the auto bailout, I heard a speaker say that a worker in China is paid $2 a day to assemble a vehicle and a good engineer can be had in India for $10K a year.

The idea of globalization was always marketed as creating new markets for American goods, but realistically for a whole segment of the population it always meant ultimately lower wages and an erosion of their accustomed standard of living for an immediate promise of higher profit for those with the capital to run a company.

For workers, it meant cheaper goods to buy more with less. I can remember Wal-Mart's huge patriot colored banners that said "Made in U.S.A". I can remember then they quietly disappeared.

What's happening now is that people who make less, have less to spend, dragging down the entire economy. It's been a slow process that hit warp speed with the realization that credit needs to be payed back.

Our balloon of wealth has popped, and the balancing act of the free market is re-proportioning the wealth. Resources should now be placed on raising the standard of living and demands by developing nations to come in line with U.S. expectations.

When an auto worker in China makes $14 an hour, there will be no economic reason to outsource a U.S. job.

Flinchbaugh Engineering Inc., in Hellam Township, is thriving in the current economy combining the close proximity of the production process, a local secure site to preserve intellectual property, and an Employee Stock Ownership Plan that gives employees stake in their future.

Flinchbaugh is on the receiving end of the outsourcing equation.

I was listening to U.S. Rep Ed Markey of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, address the automakers the other day on C-SPAN as the hearings kept grinding away.

He brought up the idea that Detroit has worked on the premise that you can litigate and advertise your way to profit. If you don't want to meet mileage standards then sue the government agency trying to force you to meet them and then once you have something profitable keep selling it even if it goes against a global trend of sustainability.

Meanwhile, other companies innovate and fill the void that is reality ultimately taking the market.

U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, from York County, commented on the auto bailout earlier this week in this video.

"We have reached out and made the offer," Bank of America spokeswoman Julie Westerman said. "The reason we're doing it is because the company (Republic Windows & Doors) did not pay its employees and we're trying to do the right thing for the workers." reuters

As for "King" Governor Blagojevich... what the Bleep! was he thinking !!? From what decade or planet doth he rule.

What amazing things can happen in one day.

Illinois Governor Blagojevich squeezes bank to force them to use taxpayer money, given to banks by the federal government, to help taxpayers.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich ordered all state agencies Monday to stop doing business with Bank of America to try to pressure the bank into helping laid-off workers staging a sit-in at their shuttered factory.

The move is leverage to try to convince the North Carolina-based bank to use some of its federal bailout money to resolve the protest by about 200 workers at Republic Windows and Doors.

The company closed last week with just a few days' notice and the workers have promised to remain inside the factory in shifts until they get assurances they will receive their severance and vacation pay

"The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they're absolutely right and understand that what's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy," Obama said.

There were once great reunions of Revolutionary War soldiers and memorial services for Civil War soldiers. I can remember as a kid my grandfather's unspoken presence as a WW I soldier.

The annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance program and breakfast at the York Expo Center drew about 100 people in 2005. Sixty-three veterans attended the event in 2006, and about 48 last year.

For the 67th notch of the annual event today, roughly 25 stood and saluted the flag.

When the speaker called all veterans of Pearl Harbor and Battle of the Bulge, Billie Houseman, of York, stood alone.

Perhaps the richest experience in life is to be lucky enough to witness the last moment of something repeated for decades; the irony being that you don't know it has passed until it is too late to experience ever again.

Intel is working on tiny sensors that draw power from the environment and transmit information when enough power has been stored.

Think of everyone's cell phone as a pollution monitor, or chips embedded in the human body to relay information about condition.

And if you tend to think paranoid, a whole host of new ways to invade your life.

informationweek.com

I had the opportunity to hang out with some students from Mumbai, India at Penn State York.

As an American, who often sees India as yet one more country in the world to compete with for jobs and contributing to further eroding my standard of living by defining my future as "what the market will bear", these moments are precious windows into the human soul. A moment to step back, stop running around, and see that we are not so different and share common dilemmas.

The United States terrorist targets of 911 were aimed at our financial system and military. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon were targeted because it was believed that our money and our military power is what make us whole.

The story of the Taj Mahal hotel slices much deeper into the heart of a people.

Industrialist Jamshetji Tata was refused entrance into Watson's hotel in the 19th century because he was a native, he swore revenge, and built the Taj in 1903. The hotel was even built facing away from the port to snub the British who for hundreds of years used the disorganization of kingdoms in India to wield wealth and power.

The Taj became the most spectacular and successful hotel in Mumbai.

Beyond that, for generations the bulk of the hotel's post-tax profits have gone to a number of the city's charities; even since Tata's Indian Hotels Company went public in 1970, a large proportion of its shares, held by the Tata Trusts, have continued to fund these charities. guardian.co.uk

The Taj is a global symbol to the people of India of perseverance, overcoming racial boundaries and using good fortune to help the masses. An even more sinister target than our 911.

I got an update to my Cit credit card in the mail today. It seems they are raising their interest rate to something obscene from something obscene. There is a list of stipulations based on credit sins that I might commit which all result in a higher interest rate.

This seems odd to me when the prime rate is in the single digits and Citi has engineered themselves a government bailout. Taxpayer money should benefit consumers.

Citigroup Inc. was also interested in leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike with a Spanish company earlier this year. (greenmesh 7/08) How cool would it have been if we had to bail out that operation too.

From long-term managed profit maker for the Commonwealth, to short-term profit taker for an investment group that would like to charge me 28% interest after receiving a taxpayer bailout for risky investment decisions.

I have officially put the Citi card to sleep and gone cash. I would rather give the 2-3% user fees charged business by banks to use credit cards into the pocket of local small business.

Better yet, dump the federal reserve and barter.

Milwaukee neighborhoods could soon be printing own money.

"You have all these people who have local currency, and they're going to spend it at local stores," said Sura Faraj, a community organizer who is helping spearhead the plan. "They can't spend it at the Wal-Mart or the Home Depot, but they can spend it at their local hardware store or their local grocery store." chicagotribune.com/business/

Sustainability be my guide.

General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler had a combined US market share of 51.8% in December 2007. As of Oct. 2008, their market share declined by 5.1% to 46.5%. Toyota and Honda, during that same nine-month period, increased their US market shares by 3.1% to a combined 28.4%.

In 2007, the Big Three sold 18 million autos for $387.5 billion. In 2007, Toyota and Honda sold 12.2 millions cars for $304 billion.

In the US, the Big Three directly employ 242,000 people and an estimated 2.5 to 3 million indirectly.

Ford received a $1.29 billion tax refund in 2007 while General Motors paid $37.16 billion in 2007 taxes.

www.marketwatch.com

After a public relations massacre last month when pan handling CEO's seeking a bailout from consumers cruised in on jets that cost $20,000 for the day, Tuesday was a day of reckoning.

This time, the big three drove cars to Washington.

"There is not a Plan B," said GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson. " Absent support, the company can't fund its operations.

The chief executives of GM and Ford, stung by the public relations mess caused by recent comments at congressional hearings, said they will be willing to accept salaries of $1 a year. Ford plans to sell its five corporate jets, while GM will stop using corporate jets. cnn.money

In 1978, Lee Iacocca took on the challenge of transforming Chrysler for just $1 in compensation which was saved after he sought and landed a loan guarantee from Congress in 1979.

Chrysler went on to use those resources to build the K car platform on the success of the Omni, Horizon twins. These fuel efficient front-wheel-drive cars would be considered junk by today's standard, but for a country fresh out of a 1970's Arab Oil Crisis, they were great frugal tools from a manufacturer with a history of building big Detroit iron.

For the seventh year, Judy Brillhart's unique style is featured in the Christmas display at the governor's residence in Harrisburg. Brillhart has a business in North Codorus Township.

The governor's mansion cut expenditures for Christmas decorating in half this year. Brillhart donates her time and materials in exchange for the prominent showcase in this year's holiday tour of the governor's mansion in Harrisburg.

The Rendell administration has also sought to green the mammoth building on Front Street with a total conversion to compact florescent for most fixtures and a geothermal heating system.

It reminded me of something out of the newsreels of the 1960's. People just don't get passionate about things and protest like that in York in 2008.

The protesters are members of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, which they describe as an international group dedicated to empowering people of African descent.

The American Petroleum Institute sent me an email today asking me to sign a petition that will "demand that Congress and the President expand access to new sources of American oil and natural gas."

There is a picture of pristine American on the website and it also says we need to promote alternative energy... but for the love of god! let us drill.

It would seem that $49 a barrel for oil and gasoline heading into the $1.70 range has silenced the chorus of "Drill, Baby, Drill" and the choir director is frantically waving his baton.

The economy is imploding and the effects on the oil industry will become more obvious if the price continues to erode. It's hard to maintain new record profits to satisfy investors and have money for exploration at the same time when the overall price structure is eroding.

It is imperative for the oil industry to show investors that they have new found reserves that point to a future for this product. The high price for oil and the resulting large profits have masked the fact that as a whole the industry is pumping less oil.

A perceived future global supply problem for this fuel monopoly was the reason the price was high before the air was squeezed out of the big ball.

Anyone for an a taxpayer bailout for Exxon Mobil when their annual profit slips below $40 billion this year? Like General Motors and the banking industry which under duress has actually consolidated and become larger with fewer players giving each failure more impact to the economy, the oil industry might need money from you and me in the future...or else!?!

The consumer has the upper hand on the oil industry at the moment. It's a great time to take a deep breath and re-evaluate all decisions affecting "our" future going forward.

The Holiday Art Tree is back in town at the intersection of Philadelphia and Beaver Streets in York. This year's theme is winter sports. Donated articles will be cleaned and given to charity when the tree comes down.

The tree brings awareness to recycling and tends to evolve over the holiday season as people take and leave items.

In previous years, the tree hosted junk dredged from the Codorus Creek and recycled Christmas gifts.

As local artist Pat Sells says it's mostly to "make people smile".

I was driving through Virginia today and filled up at $1.65 a gallon

• The American Automobile Association says traffic will be down 1.2% this year, meaning about 400,000 fewer Americans.
• Passenger numbers are expected to fall off about 10% compared with last year wsj.com

Columbia gas announced a 20% rate reduction starting next month in response to a lower wholesale price for natural gas. ydr.com

A cooler summer, a warmer start to fall and an overall erosion of the commodities market due to the expectation of a weak economy have helped lower the price.

The last time gasoline sold for around $1.65 in York was around December 2003.

A thrift store that helps all veterans who left the military with anything other than an honorable discharge, by selling furniture and other household items and providing a place of employment for homeless veterans.

Carlos Cartagena walked on the broken glass and burnt ceiling tiles strewn on the hardwood floor of what was once his family's home in York.

Periodically, he stopped to sift through the rubble to see what he could salvage.

As he walked through the three-story row house, he would often praise God for saving his wife and five children Monday afternoon from a fast-moving fire in York

Ford has added the tweaked power train from the Escape Hybrid to the Fusion/Milan sedans.

How about 39 mpg city and a light foot bringing in 47 mpg. Ford happily notes that is at least 6 m.p.g. better than the arch rival Toyota Camry Hybrid. nyt.com