What in H*ll were they thinking Department. Your civic leaders in action.
1) Erie paid $5,500 to Travelodge of Erie, on Wattsburg Rd, to rent locations for training election workers. Travelodge was recently identified as one of the several hotels/motels in Erie County who has not paid their hotel tax bill. The motel owes $200,000 in back taxes and interest to the county. After reporters from the Erie Times-News brought the issue to the attention of Erie County clerk of Elections Doug Smith, and County Councilman Phil Fatica, they decided that perhaps they should find another place to rent. Erie County Executive Barry Grossman stated that the rental would stop immediately. What WERE they thinking??
2) As a civilian desk clerk and data entry employee of the Erie Police Department, Diane McCoy was paid wages of $89,789 in 2009. Her base salary is only $39,958. How can anyone earn this much overtime pay? How many extra hours did she work? Just doing some rough math, McCoy’s base salary for each hour worked (est 1820 hrs) would have been $22.00 per hour. In order to amass $48,329 in overtime pay at $33.00/hr, she would have needed to work an additional 1,464 hours over the course of the year. (48,329/33 = 1464). Was ANYBODY auditing the books here????? What WERE they thinking????
Yup, they live among us.
The victim of Tuesday night’s fatal fire in Millcreek Township has been identified as Sean Shrimp, 40. A woman, as yet unidentified, was pulled from the mobile home blaze, and flown to Pittsburgh for treatment.
Gamblers lost 3.5 million dollars at Presque Isle Downs and Casino last week.
Looks like more snow is on its way, and the accumulation could reach double digits. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, though. It is Erie in February.
It was nice to see that the gasoline suppliers haven’t lost their midas touch. Pump prices jumped a dime a gallon yesterday to $2.79 per gallon. That increase, combined with the oncoming snow, might just be enough to convince me to break out the sled and dog team.
Brad Moore has resigned as chairman of the Erie County Republican Party. Executive Director Jason Owen will fill in until a new chairman is elected.
Only 23 more days ’til Spring!!
Sports
Local women are dominating the news this week.
Gannon Women’s Basketball team has taken over 1st place among NCAA Division II teams. Fantastic job, Ladies!
Mercyhurst Lady hockey player Meghan Agosta, who is playing on the Canadian Hockey team, has set an Olympic record for goals scored with 9. Meghan also leads all scorers with 14 points.
No. 1 ranked Gannon overpowered Mercyhurst 71-47 in women’s basketball at Hammermill Center last night.
Dale,
This is a great posting. May I suggest a weekly feature blog posting titled “What WERE They Thinking?”
Damn, I should dump the fancy “high tech” job I have and figure out how to become the next EPD desk clerk. Out earning me by several thousand dollars….
As for the overtime: Let’s say she worked 50 weeks a year ( vacation for 2 weeks) this is still an extra 30 hours per week! Do you REALLY expect us to believe this woman works 70 hours per week? ( 10 hours each day of the week or five 14 hours days) I did it once for 6 months and it damn near killed me!
for that amount they could have easily hired a second person to help her out.
Wait, isn’t Diane McCoy the same woman who brought an unloaded gun to work?
One and the same, Jesse. As I said above, they walk among us!
I call shenanigans!