Another great letter to the editor today about Bradfords downtown by Dana Haven from Lewis Run. It clarifies that its not so much a "war zone" as it is a "just dont give a damn zone." Dana speaks to the behavior of people and kids downtown, and the lack of effective parenting, not just from parents, but from police, teachers, other responsible adults and authority figures in general. Dana finishes with the statement that Bradford just needs to take its town back, and everyone needs to be on the same page to do this. Wise words? absolutely! Wishful thinking? Probably...

From the Era Today:
McDowell Trail Storywalk
project vandalized

By AMANDA NICHOLS
Era Reporter
a.nichols@bradfordera.com
The Storywalk project set up along the
McDowell Trail behind the University of
Pittsburgh at Bradford was vandalized and had
to be taken down on Monday.
Rebecca Papinchak, president of the MOMS
Club of Bradford, which sponsors Storywalk, told
The Era on Monday afternoon that she arrived on
the trail earlier that day to find the story project
in shambles.
Papinchak said the Storywalk consisted of
more than 30 stakes, each with portions of the
book “The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn
attached. On Monday she found about half of
the stakes removed and most of the pages to
have been ripped off.
“It was obvious that someone came up and
ripped them off, not that they came loose and
blew away or something like that,” she said.
“It is disappointing to have people take some-thing away that the community enjoyed and
could use.”
Papinchak set up the McDowell Trail
Storywalk on Aug. 15 with intentions of leav-ing it up for the community to enjoy for a
month. It lasted less than two weeks before she
discovered it had been destroyed.
This was the third Storywalk she set up
along local trails this summer. Papinchak said
she had wanted to put up a Storywalk for one-month each for June, July and August, each on
a different trail.
The first she set up on a trail around Marilla
Reservoir, and it too was vandalized after two
weeks — though not as badly and Papinchak
said she was able to repair it.
July’s Storywalk was set up on the Crook
Farm Trail and Papinchak considers it to have
been a success and well-received by the pub-lic. “I saw many people walk the trail without
leaving comments at the end, but we had six
positive comments left.”
“People liked the story and thought it was a
great idea; some were asking for more things
like this around town,” she said, noting the first
Storywalk got good feedback as well.
Papinchak said it was due to the nice
responses received by those who utilized the
first two Storywalks that motivated her to con-tinue on and put up the third Storywalk on the
McDowell Trail.
Unfortunately, the damage caused to the third
Storywalk was too much for Papinchak to justify
setting it all back up again.
“It would involve me getting two more copies
of the stories, more stakes and basically redoing
the whole project again,” she explained.
Despite it all, Papinchak said she plans to
do more Storywalks, though maybe not on area
walking trails.
“I would love to continue with it, but I’m not
sure I’m going to do it the same way,” she said.
“I’m thinking it might be better to do it outside of
schools or maybe down Main Street in the winter
in the storefronts.
“It’s the kind of project that you could do in
different situations,” Papinchak added. “I think
we’ll try different avenues that might not be as
open to vandalism.”
Storywalk is a nationwide project. If anyone
is interested in sponsoring a Storywalk, contact
the MOMS Club at momsclubofbradfordpa@
yahoo.com.


THIS is a prime example of what we need to fight against all over town. It's sad when the disgusting scummer behavior from downtown migrates all the way out to Marilla and the Pitt campus.

WE need to stand up to this and take back our city!

Here is an excellent letter in the Era pretty much parroting what we here on BT have been saying for months, if not years ......

Take back society to the way it was
Webster’s Dictionary describes a “war zone”
as “an area marked by extreme violence.” When
I hear the city of Bradford referred to as this, I
wonder if people truly understand the meaning. To
refer to the city as a “just don’t give a damn zone”
is more like it.
When I was young and running around in the
summer, my friends and I were always on the
lookout ... adults were everywhere to remind us
to behave, act civilized, don’t swear, don’t drink
and above all show respect. Times would happen
when I would get home, and my mother would
have already heard word of mouth about that
cigarette I tried at the park. Both of my parents
worked very hard, but yet were still very involved
in me and my siblings’ lives.
Yet today is a whole other story ... I see the
kids zipping down the sidewalks on their bikes,
swearing, smoking and just not caring. Why?
Because society is so afraid of who you may
offend by telling a kid to straighten up, act right
and just behave like a normal civilized human
being. I see the kids at night when I finish up
my second job pushing babies around in their
stroller at 10:30 p.m. and on ... I know there are
no legalities to this, but can’t the police at least
put a bug in their ear to get the child home and
in bed where he/she belongs?
We need to take back our society to the way
it was. I absolutely do not hesitate to tell a kid
to watch his mouth or act decent if I have my
granddaughter at a park or other public place.
And you know what? Ninety-nine percent of the
time they do, and I have never once had a parent
yell at me for disciplining the kid. Sometimes
it’s what they need ... to hear it from someone
else beside a parent who makes open-ended
threats with absolutely no consequences.
Bradford needs to take its town back.
Everyone needs to be on the same page and start
taking a stand and let others know that we will
not be run down and subjected to such ignorance. Discipline, manners and respect start at home.
Dana Haven Lewis Run.