Tuesday, December 29, 2015

In Remembrance Of Doctor Jack Lupas

In my later years I've gained a greater fixation on death and dying, obituaries are a daily challenge to read, carnage on the news holds my attention longer, and, generally, I think of little else. Yesterday, when I read Doctor Jack's obituary, it really hit me hard. Doctor Jack Lupas was one of the good guys both within his profession and as an everyday gentleman and a devoted family man. My condolences go out to his wife, Judy, and to his offspring in their loving remembrance.

My fondest recollection of Doc was of him either reading or reciting his poems to the audience attending an organized Poetry Reading event we both attended for a number of years. Jack was a very accomplished poet. Doctor Jack Lupas will surely be remembered  around  Pottstown for his medical accomplishments but, I and others who knew him personally, will think of his loss to humanity as leaving a large hole for now and future generations to fill.

May He Rest In Peace !
Ronald C. Downie



Sunday, December 27, 2015

Flightless Eagles

Last night at the stadium before the game the music was upbeat and joyous, loud and diverse, free and hopeful. Hope was the overriding theme of the attendees both in and out of the stadium before kickoff.

By halftime the plea of hope was evolving into "help"! Sadly, help is not possible this far into a season. Help, in my estimation, can only manifest itself if the owners are affected in their pocketbooks. As long as rabid fans activate the turnstiles the owners are quite willing to field mediocre teams led by inadequate coaches.

Hope is an emotional statement ; help is logical shout out for assistance. It seems with the existing coaches, players, and owners the Eagles are too, too far away from a playoff berth in the foreseeable  future. But, if fans still support a failed system, nothing will happen.

Ronald C. Downie

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Connie, Constance Mae Downie, birthday words in verse

My Care Giver

Once totally independent, I'm now
Seeking life support, someone to lean on,
My crutch, my care taker, yes, my soul mate !

Going on fifty two years of marriage
From the World's Fair through two girls and a boy
Our family weathered normal ups/downs.

We are greater than the sum totals of
Our individual parts extending
Our family deep into the wide World.

Your birthday begins with an accenting
Sun. For the next six months its arc rises
In the sky toward Equinox in June.

A wimpy fall gone as winter limps in ;
Days sure to get longer as spring sneaks in.
Love declares its season is twelve months long.

Today, we simply sit across the room
Peeking, from time to time, at each other
Love has subtle ways of manifesting.

As it matures, love is not physical
But is a mental exercise of your
Accommodation with an other's life.

I rest my case, fondness from affection
Grows maturing into true love as time,
The great equalizer, shifts into gear.

Looking back, episodes swish on by me,
Facts dim over, truths rest in quite dim light,
But, it's not a dream of love, it's true love.

December 23, 2015, your day of birth :
My fervent hope is your health remains strong,
Your crosswords come easy, Force be with you.

Happy Birthday,
Love, Your Husband, Ron











Thursday, December 17, 2015

In My Own Best Interest

"In my own best interest" is a phrase often overlooked in everyday application. How do you apply it in decisions you are contemplating today that will affect all of your tomorrows ? Let's say you're thinking about buying a new car. You think, I presume : cost, style, gas mileage, size, ... . But, an unconscious urge would be to think of safety, a thought maybe paramount in most of your mental recesses, that gnawing grip of "in my own best interest". The examples are endless, and by remembering that you are number "1", and it is only by living safely that will you remain number "1".

Rather than purchasing an automobile, take the upcoming election. An election really gets down to the nitty gritty of "in my own best interest". People we elect will carve out public policy for endless years to come and only through your vote can you anticipate you voice being heard. If female, voting for someone who has supported women exclusionary policies in the past may indicate these same reactionary policies will follow that politician, if elected. Similar tests are being bandied about in debate atmosphere over : race, ethnicity, gender, gayness, young, old, sick, poor,..., etc. 

Truly, "I my own best interest" is seated most importantly in elections. Choose those you vote for with full knowledge  that they will hold in their hands the rise or fall of future generations. Steady is the hand which steers the ship through torrid storms so chose wisely. 

Ronald C. Downie











Friday, December 11, 2015

Evan Alexander Downie, a birthday poem

"Coming Of Age"

Squaring circles is an old fools errand
But, coming out of a trunk, is a young
Man's folly, a birthday surprise for all.

A baby born male matures into man :
By right of passage, by induced thinking,
By dogged pursuit of a profession.

Coming easily is not a tepid
Statement. Advancement is not giant steps,
But sometimes, one forward and two backward.

At twenty-two you've done so very much
Already : mastered work, hit the college
Books, and are at ease in the adult realm.

Having self confidence hits a high mark
Toward your just reward of being a
Man's man, self reliant, self assuring.

Caring for others is a Nobel cause.
A nursing career takes both book knowledge,
As well as, empathy and compassion.

Keep your head on your shoulders, held up high :
Your sight forward, see the ultimate prize,
A future of fulfillment, a settled life.

Enjoy this day of your birth with close friends,
Remember, you're programmed for many more.
With our love, go forth, explore this vast World !

Happy Birthday !
Love You ! Nanny&PopPop !





Thursday, December 10, 2015

Steve Toroney, President, Pottstown Borough Council

Dear Steve,

Congratulations !

Congratulations seems too easy to say, too easily said in expressing the enormous gratitude for the many years of service you've given to Pottstown. Those of us who served with you understand the demanding pressure put on you during your tenure of service with the borough. Good leaders, always the target of small minded know it alls, are best served by their own quiet demeanor, their big picture view, and their dogged determination to arrive at a just answer.

In thinking about you and these words, I thought back to my own grandfather, Andrew Grey Downie, who I revered as my mentor when I was young. GrandPa was a sage who talked to me while performing carpenter skills on small furniture items he designed. He made inlayed tops for tables which took a lot of time with fitting and cutting and then attaching the pieces to form some geometric pattern. To me, he was a teacher who also was a carpenter. Seems to me this sounds like you.

Maybe, the similarity to my GrandPa is why I've been drawn to you ever since I met you. In all reality, wasn't there a young man who traveled the Middle Eastern Lands some 2000 years ago who was also a teacher and most likely knew carpentry since his father was a carpenter and it is his story that has effected the World ever since. No, I'm not saying what you're thinking, except, that there must be some synergy between building and then teaching others how to build. Maybe it is the measuring twice before having only to cut once that makes a person more decisive, more self assured, like you.

In keeping with our country's founders, legislators were always expected to serve in their elective position for some period of time then return home to their land or job. I believed in these traditions and I believe you do too. As time moves on, so must others move into positions of responsibility. You've set a strong base for others to build upon and Pottstown applauds you. As GrandPa used to say, "a good job is its own reward"; and "a job worth doing, is a job worth doing well".

Again, Congratulations !

Respectfully, Ronald C. Downie

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Ever since Dec. 7, 1941, when I was approaching seven years of age I, and those of my age, have lived in a military influenced society. Most of these years we lived under a cloud of human annihilation from a nuclear winter. This fear is like a cancer on the mind, as would a physical cancer debilitate organs of the body, fear does similar things to the brain. What does the World Clock indicate that the time is before a nuclear winter comes down on civilization ? Looking at the array of presidential candidates who seem to fan the flames of war for political purposes and, it is these candidates, who are pushing the World closer to an ending holocaust. Your vote has meaning !

Friday, December 4, 2015

Sherri Lynn (words in verse at birthday time)

"Salsa On Her Mind"

An awakened Dynamo describes your
Lifestyle of perpetual motion.

To music : feet stir, the body supple,
Two form one, meld through rhythm, pulsating.

At peace with nature's phases at your work,
You draw color and sustenance from soil.

Heaven : spreads forth sun rays, clouds their moisture,
To appease you, the master gardener.

Life, being as it is ; you're who you are :
Independent at the core, female strong.

Woven throughout your life are words of hope,
Poetic justice at work in verse form.

Decades pile up as years pass in review.
Accomplishments are historic events.

Live your life in the now ! Past important,
Tomorrow will happen. "Immortality" ?

Happy Birthday,
Connie &Dad












Wednesday, November 25, 2015

CANCER
What an impact all the money and energy spent worldwide on the ISIS retaliation for its Paris mayhem, would have had on cancer, if it had been spent on destroying this plague. Worldwide, in the time since the Paris attack, how many tens of thousands of cancer victims have died ? The public reacts swiftly and in dramatic fashion, when in the scale of hundreds, a single incident of carnage is perpetrated by terrorists. But, death from cancer occurs in every hamlet, town, and city daily in numbers of staggering amounts. Nine million persons worldwide will die of cancer this year and over fourteen million are projected to die in the year 2030 from cancer. Wouldn't you think the World would get so exercised from these deaths and mobilize their individual countries to stifle this plague with the same intensity they gave to terrorists.
Ronald C. Downie

Friday, November 20, 2015

She Holds the Torch

Sequestered deep underground in hardened walled silos are numerous "MMDM's, Mutual Mass Destruction Missiles", which carry Nuclear Bombs aimed at every conceivable target generals thought of. Their thinking was based on : who in their right mind does not fear death; therefor, no sane person ( president, dictator, leader ) would launch missiles knowing reciprocal incoming missiles would obliterate themselves, all loved ones, and so many more, including civilization as we know it.

Today's thinking has changed the equation, it has thrown out old thinking. Whoever thought at the inception of silos the fears of men would change radically. Once mass destruction was abhorrent to everyone, but today, a few persons with bombs strapped to their torsos covered with clothing send deeper chills up the spines of the World's population. Just not knowing who has bombs strapped to themselves has the World in a turmoil, the fear of neighbors, of immigrants, of nationalities, and the fear of color becomes insidious.

The siloed bombs will continue to be stored below ground in a readied manor while the walking bomber, unknown to all but a few in his or her cell, is also ready to be blown up. The USA with an overwhelming superiority in nuclear armament resembles a eunuch, impressively big and strong but because of loosing his manhood can't function in a normal sexual way, and is powerless to unleash its arsenal. In contrast, the suicide bomber can choose a time and place to detonate or not detonate his hidden explosives. No longer does the adage of "might makes right" prevail ; nor that of " it's not only the biggest or strongest that wins, but it's the fellow who thinks he can".

Realizing the suicide bomber is under an allusion of some ulterior motive and does not subscribe to societal norms makes him or her an enigma. Somehow, someway civilization must forget the foundations of old thought and quickly develop new thinking, something that dissuades young minds from thinking it's admirable to inflict death on one's self and indiscriminately on people unknown.

Do we as Americans set a example for foreign young people to emulate, are we made of a substance they want themselves to live by ? Do we as citizens through our elected representatives create the type of country everyone in this World would long to live in ? Are we a society of laws, a land of ideas, a land lit by the light of shining cities set on each hill ? Do we act in accordance with the inscription on the Statue of Liberty ? "... Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door !"( Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus )

Ronald C. Downie


Thursday, November 19, 2015

She Hold the Torch

Sequestered deep underground in hardened walled silos are numerous "MMDM's, Mutual Mass Destruction Missiles", which carry Nuclear Bombs aimed at every conceivable target generals thought of. Their thinking was based on : who in their right mind does not fear death; therefor, no sane person ( president, dictator, leader ) would launch missiles knowing reciprocal incoming missiles would obliterate themselves, all loved ones, and so many more, including civilization as we know it.

Today's thinking has changed the equation, it has thrown out old thinking. Whoever thought at the inception of silos the fears of men would change radically. Once mass destruction was abhorrent to everyone, but today, a few persons with bombs strapped to their torsos covered with clothing send deeper chills up the spines of the World's population. Just not knowing who has bombs strapped to themselves has the World in a turmoil, the fear of neighbors, of immigrants, of nationalities, and the fear of color becomes insidious.

The soloed bombs will continue to be stored below ground in a readied manor while the walking bomber, unknown to all but a few in his or her cell, is also ready to be blown up. The USA with an overwhelming superiority in nuclear armament resembles a eunuch, impressively big and strong but because of loosing his manhood can't function in a normal sexual way, and is powerless to unleash its arsenal. In contrast, the suicide bomber can choose a time and place to detonate or not detonate his hidden explosives. No longer does the adage of "might makes right" prevail ; nor that of " it's not only the biggest or strongest that wins, but it's the fellow who thinks he can".

Realizing the suicide bomber is under an allusion of some ulterior motive and does not subscribe to societal norms makes him or her an enigma. Somehow, someway civilization must forget the foundations of old thought and quickly develop new thinking, something that dissuades young minds from thinking it's admirable to inflict death on one's self and indiscriminately on people unknown.

Do we as Americans set a example for foreign young people to emulate, are we made of a substance they want themselves to live by ? Do we as citizens through our elected representatives create the type of country everyone in this World would long to live in ? Are we a society of laws, a land of ideas, a land lit by the light of shining cities set on each hill ? Do we act in accordance with the inscription on the Statue of Liberty ? "... Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door !"( Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus )

Ronald C. Downie


Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Liberal
One of the truths imprinted on me as I've aged, well past retirement, is my insistence on believing in the human values found in a more liberal society. I have tasted the value of social security, the forced system of saving so repayment can be made to us at an age we're non-income producing. Also, Medicare has made my physically in firmed age more tolerable, less stressful, addressing each of my advancing maladies.

What good is a government that has neither a true policy to enhance the full life of a newborn or, at the twilight of life, which insures all a meaningful compassionate ending ? A liberal government that I am drawn to is not one which rattles its sabers for purely posturing purposes but, rather, stands tall in the worthy defense of the country's existence. Dialog, in these advancing centuries, must, in my mind, be the weapon of choice rather than nuclear confrontation, in other words, the end of the World as we have known it could become a reality.

Since its inception, our's is the greatest country ever conceived by humans. The United States of America is a country based on laws stated by a Constitution and administered as written by three bodies : the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. It is beyond my total comprehension, that in a country miles and miles more advanced than every third world country, voters could send to congress people confessed to undo our tested system of governance. Bent on obstruction are these forty or so House members who are subtly cheered on by some closeted Senators.

Yes, our country is strong enough to withstand this assault but, in doing so, we lose many chances to make ourselves better. Also in doing so, we develop a deep public cynicism which undergirds a "can do" attitude based on accomplishments. As a cancer invades a person this, attitude of a cynic, permeates a society, and erodes the publics' health. I will not ever side with this fringe element, they are as a plague in a civilized society.
Ronald C. Downie

Steve Toroney, President, Pottstown Borough Council

Dear Steve,

Congratulations !

Congratulations seems too easy to say, too easily said in expressing the enormous gratitude for the many years of service you've given to Pottstown. Those of us who served with you understand the demanding pressure put on you during your tenure of service with the borough. Good leaders, always the target of small minded know it alls, are best served by their own quiet demeanor, their big picture view, and their dogged determination to arrive at a just answer.

In thinking about you and these words, I thought back to my own grandfather, Andrew Grey Downie, who I revered as my mentor when I was young. GrandPa was a sage who talked to me while performing carpenter skills on small furniture items he designed. He made inlayed tops for tables which took a lot of time with fitting and cutting and then attaching the pieces to form some geometric pattern. To me, he was a teacher who also was a carpenter. Seems to me this sounds like you.

Maybe, the similarity to my GrandPa is why I've been drawn to you ever since I met you. In all reality, wasn't there a young man who traveled the Middle Eastern Lands some 2000 years ago who was also a teacher and most likely knew carpentry since his father was a carpenter and it is his story that has effected the World ever since. No, I'm not saying what you're thinking, except, that there must be some synergy between building and then teaching others how to build. Maybe it is the measuring twice before having only to cut once that makes a person more decisive, more self assured, like you.

In keeping with our country's founders, legislators were always expected to serve in their elective position for some period of time then return home to their land or job. I believed in these traditions and I believe you do too. As time moves on, so must others move into positions of responsibility. You've set a strong base for others to build upon and Pottstown applauds you. As GrandPa used to say, "a good job is its own reward"; and "a job worth doing, is a job worth doing well".

Again, Congratulations !

Respectfully, Ronald C. Downie

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Creating Worlds

Borrowed from the future is time unspent
Even though knowing it, it's sequestered
Within your temples, escape's possible.
Dreams that fester, itching for disclosure,
Invade even the common of us all ;
Beyond reality, dreams you dream, real.

I was on that island too, shipwrecked,
With the rest of my family, book words,
"Swiss Family Robinson", was titled.
Sure as I'm here, in youth I lived that dream.
Vivid as today's sun rise, nature deep,
Dreams are smelt, felt, and captivate your mind.

Over and over again in each book
I lived every word as if it were true.
I became one with the author, his mind.
Broad, as the World, you become by reading.
By writing, though, you develop new Worlds,
Worlds you've created come alive in print.

Ronald C.Downie











Happy Birthday Lia

North of the Mason and Dixon Line
Colorful leaves fall at low, low tide;
While deep in the belly of sunshine,
You, lovingly in flower pedals, swim.

Whether the weather is suitable south
Depends upon highs and lows colliding.
South, storms swirl while lightning and
Thunder awakens the Devil from his den.

Twisted and turmoiled when unchained, he
Twirls incessantly faster, evermore faster, till
The Earth embroiled in water, wind lashed,
Submits to the Devil's own wish - Hurricane.

But the Lord, looking over his wishful flock,
Protects them in many ways. The Devil's
Put back in his den, horrid actions dismissed,
Peace again to the land, South rises at dawn.

Who else but you, Lia Alexandra Downie, who
Chose sunshine so bright, rain so hard, and
Winds that swirl, loves each and every day
That you've lived on the gulf coast of Florida.

Organization, we'll all say, was Lia's main forte.
"A place for everything, everything in its place"
Order to you is a mainstay of your very being,
To some, kind of a non-religious underpinning.

Happy Birthday, Lia, and may the rest of 100
Be as memorable as this and those gone before.
You deserve all the honors which goes with birth,
The honor of doing for others is a calling of your's.

Love, every day but especially on you Birthday !
Nanny&PopPop/Mom&Dad












Monday, November 9, 2015

Letter to the Editor, Philadelphia Inquirer

Today, at over eighty years of living in Pennsylvania, eighty years in the greater Pottstown area, forty one years in the same house in Pottstown, I feel what I think and willing to write about should have a chance to be read.

From my reading about the over heating of our planet, I understand the most affected of the population will be the young, especially the very young, and the aged, especially those moving closer to the Century mark. I fall into one group, my great grandchildren into the other. Shortly Congress will be having hearings on the final draft of the Clean Power Plan and Pennsylvania will play a very important roll in the finished draft.

Our state, the forth largest producer of coal, is also a leader in natural gas production. But, sadly, our energy producing plants spew out more impurities than the final draft is intending. Their desire is a one third reduction by year 2030 from base year 2012 of smoke stack impurities somehow thought to help stabilize our climate into the future.

At eighty years, I've come to put worth into accumulated knowledge. The pursuit of science is essentially that, a grand body of seekers who through trial and error arrive at a consensus of settled truth to which the majority agrees. Those opposed have a grand economic stake in preserving the status quo or, more importantly, rolling back the gains already made.

You, the vocal public, have really an important voice in molding the ultimate outcome of these hearings. It is with upmost reverence that I believe in the power of the people to guide legislators to do the right thing. A choir has magnificence to fully voice fill quite large opera halls but it takes a director to assemble each individual into a singularity of purpose. Our's must be an effort to verify the scientific community's findings and pit it against corporate greed. Please speak up, shout out, write to your legislator. Future generations deserve a livable Earth !

Ronald C. Downie

778 N. Evans St.
Pottstown, Pa. 19464

610 326 0614

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Solar Panels
Deciduous trees drop their leaves before winter after they stop producing chlorophyll that covers up with green other colorful pigments remaining in the leaf. Just prior to leaves falling colorful displays catch the eye as the color green dissipates while other pigments remain visible. During their six to eight month life, leaves must work like hell to do their job. Leaves are the original solar panels turning sunlight into chlorophyll, tree energy. Trees have a broad range around our planet, from tiny( bonsai) to extremely huge( redwoods, sequoias) and they range as much in age as they range in habitat, some to living many 1000's of years.

Leaf dropping triggers a very dynamic stage in a tree's growth cycle : that is, the development of next year's flowers are wrapped up in a bud prior to the all important development of seeds after the flowers become pollinated. Through seed germination the tree species survives almost endlessly but with a couple million seeds dropped to the ground maybe only one or two will germinate and mature into a full growth tree.

The multitude of trees is so vast that almost every house built is built by using lumber from matured trees. In fact, lumbering tends to be a multigenerational business because once a forest is lumbered it will take over a generation or two for trees to reach an acceptable age for cutting them down. Remember the old tails of an era of sailing when sailors crossed this World looking for tall, straight, strong and somewhat flexible trees to turn them into the main masts of new sailing ships. The tree is so adaptable because it can be formed into doing multiple tasks and is easily worked by hand.

Leaves, the energy producers for trees, have another use when they dry up and fall. One of the most energy rich materials found and now understood by man is when chopped up leaves are piled up and left to compost through heating and bacterial action. The result is often termed "Black Gold" because in nature even without chopping leaves they decompose and provide much of the nutrients needed by maturing trees. Man always seems to need to accelerate a process that nature does in its own due time. If you rake leaves and don't compost them you defy the natural process, a process which has lasted billions( yes, billions ) of years. "Black Gold" can work for you, too.
Ronald C. Downie

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Of, By, and For

"They got to be kidding", "say it isn't so", "adding insult to injury" our Federal House of Representatives in Washington, DC. just released their 2016 work calander. Out of 365 days in the year, they scheduled only 110 days to be in session. Regular Joes work 50 weeks a year with 2 weeks off for vacation plus additional days off for holidays , so Joe works 48 or 49 weeks at 5 days a week or about 240+ days a year. Remember, congress has a very liberal policy on extra time off and, the sweet plumbs that come with the position, so many, I can't enumerate them all. Next year's session follows this year's "do nothing congress" so maybe it's better they're away from drinking the Potomac Tea served in DC.

I'm no fan of Rand Paul but he does promote "Term Limits" for legislators. Then , when my neighbor, Barry and Reverent Jake, both talked about term limits, I knew the time was right to champion term limits seeing such diverse members of the society were starting to question no limit's worth. Six, 2 year terms for the house, 12 years in all; two, 6 year terms for the senate, 12 years in all; and two, 4 year terms for president, 8 years in all are the logical terms suggested.

Please remember, the authors of the constitution never meant our country to be governed by professional politicians but by ordinary people who could leave their land for a few years, serve, then return to their communities to their land. It is time to rid Congress of "hold me ons", those who have fed at the trough of plenty for most of their lives. Nor should they be allowed freedom to lobby Congress when the finish serving the people. Return government to : "of the people, by the people, and for the people ".

Ronald C. Downie

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Liberal
One of the truths imprinted on me as I've aged, well past retirement, is my insistence on believing in the human values found in a more liberal society. I have tasted the value of social security, the forced system of saving so repayment can be made to us at an age we're non-income producing. Also, Medicare has made my physically in firmed age more tolerable, less stressful, addressing each of my advancing maladies.

What good is a government that has neither a true policy to enhance the full life of a newborn or, at the twilight of life, which insures all a meaningful compassionate ending ? A liberal government that I am drawn to is not one which rattles its sabers for purely posturing purposes but, rather, stands tall in the worthy defense of the country's existence. Dialog, in these advancing centuries, must, in my mind, be the weapon of choice rather than nuclear confrontation, in other words, the end of the World as we have known it could become a reality.

Since its inception, our's is the greatest country ever conceived by humans. The United States of America is a country based on laws stated by a Constitution and administered as written by three bodies : the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. It is beyond my total comprehension, that in a country miles and miles more advanced than every third world country, voters could send to congress people confessed to undo our tested system of governance. Bent on obstruction are these forty or so House members who are subtly cheered on by some closeted Senators.

Yes, our country is strong enough to withstand this assault but, in doing so, we lose many chances to make ourselves better. Also in doing so, we develop a deep public cynicism which undergirds a "can do" attitude based on accomplishments. As a cancer invades a person this, attitude of a cynic, permeates a society, and erodes the publics' health. I will not ever side with this fringe element, they are as a plague in a civilized society.

Ronald C. Downie

Sunday, October 25, 2015

"Democrats fall in love ; Republicans fall in line." These political statements tell the truisms of party affiliation.

Democrats need a person to vote for that they can truly love and that they can adore and vote for.

Republicans, rather, need party chiefs who choose a standard bearer that the rank and file voters can accept and vote for.

One party relies on the magnetism of the person that they believe will fill the job contested for and fill it properly.

The other party relies on the mechanics of party operatives to pick a person to lead the party and win the election.

Ronald C. Downie

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Texas rains may be headed our way as will the remnants of Hurricane Patricia. Are we ready or are we just unconcerned ?

I'm sorry to be a worrywart but I've written to the borough multiple times about the impending problem with the King Street Bridge. When the dam was still intact below the High Street Bridge it created a damning of water up stream almost to Beech Street. It was upstream there where the beginning of slack water caused pebbles and sand to filter out and islands developed. But under the King St. bridge full currents of creek water flowed.

Today, as an aftermath of removing that dam, islands of silt have clogged one of the two channel openings under the bridge reducing the gross amount of storm water which can freely flow under it. The borough has cut down the growth of voluntary vegetation growing on the island upstream but this island is still a storm impediment, at least it was two weeks ago.

If you remember the past times when the Manatawny overflowed its banks and many homes and businesses were flooded out. If the county and the town get their acts together they could dredge the creek and remove these island obstructions. 

Ronald C. Downie
Blood Red

At sun up, blood red sputtered out
Coloring Limerick's belched plume.

Recalling elementary
Days at Lower Pottsgrove Grade School.

Where teachers taught impressionable
Neophytes about cloud colors.

Intense cloud color comes from dirt
In the sky, dust, impurities.

Seems sun rays reflect off floating
Particles in plumes or high air.

But, to me watching morning wake,
Red sky Is like a darn red light.

Stop! Wake up, be alert! Stop!
Why should Limerick's plume run blood red ?

What color will radiation's
plume bloom into ? Should we worry ?

"Almost free electric promised",
Payment, I guess, for future ills.

Haven't gotten iodine pills
Yet. My diet is all pills now.

Who's kidding who? Is blood red an
Oman ? Is a color deadly ?

Just some thoughts on sun up's pleasure.
Thinking's muted when we sleep too late.

Ronald C. Downie

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Awakening

Morning's so bright, air's so crisp :
Invasive frost's sun up's pleasure.
Deep delft blue heaven on display
As sun rays speak with gilded tongue.

At dawn, autumn arrives early
On uncommonly lovely day.
Forget the calendar, rather
Watch thermometers at their work.

Day's beginning is similar
To life's start : begins by leaving
Warmth, comfort, security, peace.
Whether one's bed or mother's womb.

Morning, through out a lovely day,
Our minds leap forward seeking trails
Never tread by humans nor beasts.
Not on maps, but in folds of thought.

Awakening as daylight peeks
Launches full days to savor life.
Sleep cleared all decks, secured all ropes.
Set sail, cast off, unfurl canvass.

Ronald C. Downie

















Thursday, October 15, 2015

Cameron

You're my namesake, Grandson Cameron,
Half my age, both handsome and rugged.

Like a wound up spring, harnessed energy
Finds you deep in thought, creating goals.

The lantern lighting your path has flickered
From time to time during your last half life.

A life's struggle is to keep its wick always lit.
Quite a task in today's World of horrid storms.

It takes a man's man sometimes to accomplish
This, but at forty, you should have adapted well.

Happy Birthday, young man, and hope all's well.
Life's a quest at gaining confident contentment.

Love, Nanny&PopPop

Friday, October 9, 2015

Casey, A Birthday Admonition

Life's, but a game of quarters and halves,
Your's, quarter gone, three fourth to go.
Formal education recorded, moving on.

Life's, just like a bowl of sweet cherries,
Sample them, and you can't stop eating.
Good days similar, each to be savored.

Life's, the first marching band of a parade,
Line straightness and cadence paramount.
Looking good beginnings of feeling good.

Life's, a playbook of winning quarterbacks,
Pass or run chosen to take full advantage
Of the opponent's weakness, a daily chore.

Life's, but a top button on a designer shirt,
Formal or crass, how you use it, important.
Dignity found in simplistically cool gestures.

Life's, like a dull pencil, needs daily sharpening.
It comes to life when attention is paid its way.
Graphite spins tales of both good and bad days.

Finally, life is what you make it, my dear, Casey.
It's subject to change on wimps and whispers,
Stand tall and resist those weak impediments?

Always With You !
Happy Birthday !
Love Nanny&Pop Pop





Wednesday, September 30, 2015


Joaquin

Churning now in our southern Atlantic waters off the Islands of the Bahama's is a fairly weak hurricane just getting its act together, and especially of interest to us, it's route northward. All eyes are on the charts which track hurricanes and tropical depressions because 100 miles east or west of a projected track could result in tremendous land damage and human upheaval.

An alarm was registered when the Mayor of South Miami told the World of the effects of higher sea levels on his city. During full moon on a clear day and calm seas salt water pushes up in the storm sewers and floods the streets of his city. In the last five years the average sea level heights have risen by five inches, an inch a year. At this rate the seas will be daily overflowing the town, let alone, swamping the area during a storm. Surely, South Miami wants to know which direction a hurricane is headed.

Further out is the affects a hurricane will have on New Jersey which still is recovering from the devastation of its last big storm. Nay Sayers, like their governor, are unwilling to accept science and act accordingly to mitigate devastation on human life and property. Their answer generally is : when other countries act, we'll respond. Kind of callus response to those who were caught in the last storm and didn't get equal justice by their state officials. Governments were created to think and act by taking into consideration a vast amount of important information an individual wouldn't be privy to.

What will Joaquin have in store for the USA is still a question mark ? Joaquin, right now, is thought to strengthen over the next few days before it hits the Great Northeast in early October. Even now the southern states are saturated with rainfall that's causing flooding and more rain would exacerbate the damage. Federal and state governments must react to weather but we're at a crossroad where they must go a step further and begin to act on climate change which is doggedly progressing and will change the World as our offspring have known it.

Pray for me & I'll pray for thee,
Ronald C. Downie

Monday, September 28, 2015

"Pray For Me"

Pope Francis is back on Italian soil at the Vatican after a whirlwind six day tour of of northeastern USA. It will take me some time to catchup on my thoughts he left with me. I tried to watch "gavel to gavel" episodes of his visit and absorb his teachings. Being an unreligious person, I value myself as a spiritual being anxiously open to well thought out homilies which came fast and furious from Pope Francis.

One striking impression that still harbors vividly in my mind is the stark difference between the piety of Francis contrasted with the fierce anger shown by front runner Trump in his commentary caught on television. It showed not only in his rhetoric but in his swatch buckling demeanor pointing thumbs down while dismissing a fellow candidate. The leader of over a billion congregants showed the World how to comport oneself while the ranting Trump displayed a style most attribute to a spoiled rich kid remembered from our youth.

"Pray For Me"
Ronald C. Downie

Friday, September 25, 2015

Females, Listen Up

Losing Yogi Berra, an icon of Major League Baseball, a man not only of deeds but also of memorable phrases, was muted this week by an American visit by Pope Francis. I'v been immersed in my television screen since the coverage of Francis began, not unlike, my fond interest of enjoying the exploits of so many years listening to and reading about Yogi.

Both aged men with only a little over eleven years separating them in age grew up in a segregated atmosphere. Their's was an all male society. Yogi's was in baseball which remains a bastion of male domination as does all major leagues of professional sports. The NFL has allowed some female participation in refereeing as has the NBA and there may be some inroads in female assistant coaches.

Pope Francis comes from a male tradition which extends from St. Peter through a linage of men to him, the 266th male Pope. Rigidly
entrenched these men were forced to uphold tradition over the millenniums but I foresee a time when women will rest away from men their unholy lock on the papacy or, at least, the priesthood.

Many women in our World have experienced their second class status in a subdued attitude forever but you can hear a stirring afoot. When these sounds gather into a tramp, tramp, tramping that stirs the earth with marching feet possibilities become realities.

Ronald C. Downie

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Anchored Dreams (1815 - 2015)

Europeans used muscled shoulders and arm strength
To paddle swift river waters upstream against the current,
Their sea journey, fully filled of fear, behind them now,
Sought beyond today, each tomorrow filled their dreams.

For eons, horizons were only seen by those in tribal dress,
Moccasin soft foot prints rarely compacted moist river soils,
But tracked those wilds along animal trails long of overuse.
Clash of cultures, lasting many Centuries, will this never end ?

Hamlets developed, adventurers weary of always on the move
Needed to settle, they chose a confluence of river and creak,
Like the Schuylkill where it accepts the Manatawny, was obvious.
Strong muscled flow of water harnessed to drive great stone wheels.

Grist millers needed farmers, both needed haulers and users.
In its infancy, communities struggled, seeking strength to endure.
A countryside full of families with hamlets of extended members
Were not communities; they buried their own, needed no preacher.

When people no longer did personal items for themselves,
Services were rendered by others : a barber, baker, butcher,
storekeeper, a preacher, and at the end of life, a grave digger.
Commerce erupts as people sell their time for a tradable sum.

Those engines of service got travelers to settle down in a pleasant,
Hospitable community. The need for organization became apparent
And was met by the Potts Family who formulated a town on paper.
They named it Potts Grove until it officially became Pottstown in 1815.

Shaken by a Revolution, she survived a Civil War, participated in
The First World War, and was seared by The Great Depression.
By then an engine of economic muscle, Pottstown spearheaded
A home front industrial movement, carrying USA thru World War 2.

The last seven decades, post WW 2, horrific turmoil was everywhere :
Korea, Vietnam, harnessing nuclear proliferation, the The Twin Towers,
Then quickly : Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, today, Iran's the problem.
Pottstown grew to 32,000 citizens, but now back down to 22,000.

From afar the World churns, but here, churning occurred from exodus:
Bypasses took cars, malls took people, and factories took employees;
Suburbs attracted home owners, professionals sought lower taxes.
Once the epicenter of industry and commerce, Pottstown left a shell.

White flight, green flight, religious flight followed each to the suburbs.
Left behind : the poor, indigent, and needy, all struggled to pay taxes.
Pottstown became a victim of Montgomery County's prosperity.
Once the engine of financial muscle, weary Pottstown limped on.

Community is a dream of people who can afford purchased services
While residing in an inhabitance close enough to easily access them.
Government needs to spend its energy on accommodating both.
This age old formula has worked as long as people gathered together.

In a changing World, a community is just like a canary in a mine ; it
Reflects change: change of weather patterns, of life styles, of policing,
Of services, and of social mores. It is a composite of the current ones
Who reside here. Communities are dynamic, they pulsate, are alive.

Pottstown is becoming established as a "College Town", a place
Where knowledge matters : our dynamic public school system, and
Wyndcroft, The Hill School, The Montgomery County Community
College. "A mind is too valuable to waste" is a Pottstown motto !

At one time, through Pottstown, a "north only" railroad operated,
No schedule, no tracks, just the trodden few seeking freedom's trail.
We have exhibited a resilience equal to the grit of our storied citizens.
Today, we'll hear from some of them, words of old, at rest many years.

Thank You,

Ronald C. Downie

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Heard On The Street

I once, really more than once, heard hedge fund managers can care less if the stock market goes down, even a lot, since they make their money on market volatility not on stability. Up or down is their preference and rapid is their choice. Funny, what these money managers seek is opposite of what the common person on the street desires, which is market stability, upward and slowly.

The question arises : was this latest stock market fiasco orchestrated or did it react only to international money problems with China the focal point ? Investigative reporting will have to have time to do their work and may never come to an adequate decision. Again from Gran'Pa Downie's admonitions, "Money talks but bull s... walks !"

Big Money has a well oiled lobby in Washington, DC. that can spin a story anyway it pleases and until the public, you and me, get angry enough to elect representatives strong enough to squash these bugs nothing will get done. It is up to us at the ballot box, folks.

Ronald C. Downie

Thursday, August 13, 2015

A Citizen's Responsibility

What is a citizen's responsibility ? Responsibility is: to sound an alarm when, as in colonial days, the community faces eminent danger. I've spent the greater part of my adult life engaged in some aspect of public service, something I'll never regret. History will be the final arbiter as to whether I made a difference in the lives of citizens living in this borough, named Pottstown.

As a citizen, I wish to sound an alarm !

The borough must oversee the dredging and complete elimination of the silt islands now anchored in place with four foot tall vegetation that clogs up the west channel of Manatawny Creek, a creek that must flow under the King Street bridge, to drain waters from its upstream drainage basin.

Yes 1972 was caused mainly by the flooding of the Schuylkill River which has been alleviated by holding upstream flood waters in the Blue Marsh Impounding Lake. More likely today, the silt island upstream, under, and downstream of the King Street Bridge will cause flooding of Memorial Park ball fields, the island, and the new wading park. Along with them, many homes and businesses in close proximity to the Manatawny Creek have an all likelihood of flooding.

The creek bed is the only course creek water has to flow in that drains the entire upstream drainage area. Engineers designed the bridge to accommodate this estimated total flow. The King Street Bridge was designed to have two channels flowing under it, a finite gross amount of space to accommodate ordinary flows with enough space left over to take care of extreme rain events.

We live in changing times when normal rain events are exceeding experts' estimates by a long shot. Couple this phenomenon with a reduction in space that water has to free flow under the bridge, because of the silt islands full of vegetation, and a flood is its to be expected.

The tragedy is that a major flood could be avoided if town fathers demanded county officials take proper action. Years ago the county and the River Keeper we're instrumental in taking out the dam below High Street claiming no ill effects would come of its loss. Well, when in the dam was in, it caused slack water to occur far up stream from the bridge where silt deposited, not at it, as it does today.

I implore town officials take immediate action to study the existing condition of the Manatawny Creek and to develop an action plan, not only eliminate these islands but, if possible, eliminate the reason that islands build up in the first place. This is my "Citizen's Alarm" ! Please take action !

Ronald C. Downie

Friday, August 7, 2015

Living In Fear

My life started in 1935 : as a youngster, if my parents' conversations weren't about the aftermath of the Great Depression, they lamented about the dark clouds over Europe indicating an escalation of German incursions into surrounding countries. America entered the Second World War as I entered grade school where my schoolmates and I practiced drills to crouch under our desks so we could ward off targeted fascist bombs.

For the rest of my life killing fields of war have occupied TV and the news papers with little respite from illustrated horrors sent out over the media. All my adult life I've been known as a tough guy and in sports, life, and business I've propelled this image. Although, my life has lived fully up to this image, down deeply, I've lived with a fear of the unknown especially through the years of global nuclear proliferation.

I'm no longer concerned with my life, it's coming to an end and I know it. But, as with all living organisms, life is a continuum. New generations sprout from the present one and, as this is repeated again and again, the species lives on. My concern is for my offspring that they will be able to live until they reach a normal lifespan.

It's the crazies of this World which trouble me. No longer are we in an era of the Great Khan, Genghis, who once ruled a quarter of the World.
His hordes defeated a tribe, killed the males, bred the females, stole their treasure, and burnt to the ground their buildings. It's simpler today, young looking servicemen and women in a hardened silo deep in the ground have a key, a screen, and a phone connection. Their orders are drummed into their heads. I'm sure there must be fail safe directives in their orders but, "if things can go wrong - over time they will go wrong" is a truism found often in the business world's dialog.
I may be too impressionable having lived my life fearful of the unknown consequences that the thought of war brings. One mistake can trigger "mutual assured destruction" that may trigger a life ending Nuclear Winter. The weight of conflict seems to be an ever growing burden on humanity and it seems to me that only through human dialog can the unthinkable be avoided.

Ronald C. Downie

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Watching and Waiting

Watching California burn is a study in Man's ultimate insignificance; he can watch and react to flare ups but is helpless in completely extinguishing flames if the weather won't cooperate. 

Watching the Middle East erupt in the use of armament is a study in Man's inhumanity to his fellow man; killing to cleanse a culture of some other culture is truly an act of genocide. 

Watching the World cringe from the thought of drones becoming so commonplace in most facets of life is a study in Man's timidity to embrace and control progress 
before drones fly violently out of control.

Lastly, watching yourself sway left and right as the World, you feel, folds in around you in ways that you're existence seems unnecessary. Man's insignificance, his inhumanity, and his timidity has manifested finally in yourself when hopelessly you feel unnecessary and opt out of life's equation. 

Reaching rock bottom, now you have a chance to rise, since there's no other avenue of escape. Hopefully, the heinous acts of war bypass you so you can be part of the future in a society filled with vision and freedom.

Ronald C. Downie 

Friday, July 31, 2015

Bees, Now and Then

Not yet, it wasn't quite time for WW2 in 1940 when we moved to The Shoemaker Estate, Glasgow St. at the north end of the runway of the Pottstown Airport. The winds of war were stirring as Dad listened to the radio in the morning before he went to work. "Rambling With Gambling"on WOR, New York, was a staple in the early morning but I loved listening to Jan Peerce singing, "Bluebird Of Happiness" when I could wake up by 6AM.

Seventy five years ago before I entered grade school Dad had an episode with honey bees which had a nest in the eve of this house my parents rented. The exterior of the two story house was tan stucco but way up at the peek of the roof line the stucco seemed much darker for an unknown reason. We lived here only a short time when Dad decided to put in a back yard garden. He was slight of build, lily white, and not naturally an outdoors man but having a garden was his passion. So he and Andy, my older brother, grabbed shovels and began digging up the rear yard while I cheered them from my perch on the backyard fence. Gnats, flies, and misquotes swarmed around their sweating bodies so Dad decided to take a break on the screened back porch. Mom suggested Andy and Dad put on some bug repellant so they liberally applied some citronella oil, I think, which was all she had.

Bad news : bees went wild after whatever they spread on themselves. With swarms of bees zeroing in on them Andy and Dad made a literal bee line to the enclosed back porch. Swatting at them, trying to escape their stings they, after flapping and swinging, finally became clear of the bees. Honey bees in the eves of this old house on a aging estate of a once wealthy family seeking to retain its sense of grandeur was an indication of the clash of "old world" against the new. Always on the move, our next, shortly after this adventure was to Houck Lane near Harmonyville, Chester County.

Bees are endangered now, seventy five years later, most likely many killed off by people who disturbed their nests, got stung, and thought they'd get even by killing them. In the World of food production bees play an enormous roll in pollination of flowers necessary to produce a fruit or seed head that humans and animals consume. Like people, bees have an aggressive side, but it's their work-a-holic nature in pollination that makes them so valuable to life as we know it. Support bee health, please !

Ronald C. Downie





Tuesday, July 28, 2015

A Channel Divides

Alive in person - "never been there, nor done that" - even though I am a consummate spectator, mostly by TV, I've never been in person at the scene of such sports events as The British Open or The Tour de France. Still, I revel in the actions of spectators, those who have the means and time to experience great sporting events in person. Last week, on either side of The English Channel, there were two completely different assemblages of spectators.

At the Open tens of thousands of tweedy, hardy fans positioned themselves in bleachers that were placed at strategic points on the course giving these spectator the best view of golfer's actions as they passed before them. Additional stiff upper lipped viewers on foot seemingly trying to follow particular players as they played their way around the course. These mobile viewers seemed at times to be like an accordion; stretching out, moving quickly until they bunch up at a choke point where they slow to a stop. Some filter through the log jam and replicate the previous hole until they run out of roped paths. Feeling their 80#s well spent they'll, no matter the weather, be back tomorrow, rain or shine.

While across the channel a modern menagerie of circus oriented spectators line hundreds and hundreds of miles of the Tour de France road course. If they don't have a camera or smart phone they're draped in some flag like material foot racing the bikers up the climbs seeking their own picture be taken by the army of TV cameras. By the enormous number of vehicle campers which are parked along the route many spectators must camp out a night or two and, by their antics caught on TV, French wines must be in great demand to rock them to sleep.

On the 20th day of Tour competition I observed a rabid multitude of lilly white, European spectators being whipped into the heightened anxiety of competition. Masses long displayed in history are pictured being driven into a frenzy by words of a powerful speaker, but this time, it's the constant rhythm of bike racers pumping their pedals at a rate but few humans could ever accomplish. 

Back across the channel at St. Andrews, Scotland stiff upper lipped, dower spectators keep behind the ropes as they obey every order of respectability. Their worshiped hush as a player addresses his putt becomes the act of ultimate civility. Whereas back in France free of spectator fees, a daily hoard of people line the route seeking individual recognition by the bikers, by their spectator grouping, and, especially, the media camera crews.

Spectators from both sides of the channel show the World through TV their opposites; one, like performing actors of a circus, the other are as an audience attending a coronation. Each adds validity to the nature of the game they are attending : golf is individual with a body of rules hundreds of years old ; cycling compared to golf is new and a team effort with relativity few rules I'm aware of. Many watch the players but I choose to watch the spectators as much as the contestants because in them we can get the feel of two societies, one on either side of the English Channel.

Ronald C. Downie

Monday, July 27, 2015

Stupid Is, As Stupid Does

Continuing to believe in a theory, only because it's what people have always done, is considered foolishness by an educated society who understands the dynamics of change. One of the few constants found throughout our lives is change. Another is death, something none can escape. Often it's taxes and death mentioned together that a person can not outlive. But it's change that drives life in almost every period of time we live through. What can't you do without today that was not around, say, ten years ago ? Change is accelerating at an ever increasing rate almost to a point of disbelief.

Why then, should we be complacent with energy generating plants fueled by a nuclear reaction, dirty coal, and deep well gas which required tracking ? Yes, we need energy (electricity) but at what cost to our World's environment ? Especially today, when solar and wind energy are providing so much of the rest of the World's energy requirement ? No longer are these clean means for energy generation a theory but they're a proven fact of life while becoming cheaper.

"Stupid is, as stupid does", defines our passive American society which will believe highly funded, slick adds made and placed before them by the extraction industry ( oil, gas, uranium ) rather than the World's statistics which shows renewables are the future both in cost and reliability. The future's in our hands and, only by actions of those we elect into office, will our vote demonstrate a future we will be satisfied with.

Ronald C. DownieI

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Movie Review

Defiance of conformity is the touch stone of an advanced comprehensive education which unveils its crude awakening in the movie, "The Dead Poets Society". Robin Williams portrays a poetry professor in a masterful roll set at a preparatory school for young boys. The Dead Poets Society was released into the movie houses many years ago and appears now periodically rerun on television as it was this morning. 

Heaven help us as a progressive society if a growing number of our citizens remain conformists rather than becoming free thinkers. The ability to think rationally, to understand complex problems, and to be able to arrive at reasonable answers are the foot soldiers of a good education. Rote learning once dominated the halls education but stunted many young persons who could memorize, even though, they were lost when it became necessary to think. 

Many live their lives in quiet desperation caught up in reposting what someone else said as in political rhetoric or slogans. This is how untruths get legs and are pasted on so fast. Passed on by unthinking people, those who never challenged conformity, those who blindly accept another persons ideas as gospel. 

Some movies, whether first run or rerun on television, are filled with meaningful thoughts if only we take time to absorb them. Of course, the lead actors have a great deal to do with desired watching of any picture. Robin Williams plays his roll with pleasures that only he has masters and good young actors feed off his work.

Ronald C. Downie

Friday, July 17, 2015

Beware of War Hawks

To live life always on the edge of destruction is a weight many of us of advanced age have endured far too long. We were just coming into the age of understanding at the end of WW2 brought about by the detonation of two Atomic Bombs on Japan. Weekly if not daily our grade school class practiced huddling under our desks in preparation for an airplane dropping bombs. At home, a Light Warden patrolled the street and if any light source escaped the window blinds the owner was notified to correct under penalty of the law. Young minds are very impressionable. 

As teenagers, little did we understand of the concept of "Mutual Assured Destruction". Growing older, we lived daily with Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as, nuclear proliferation by Russia, China, Israel, and numerous other countries. The World seems awash in nuclear bombs that no sane country is willing to launch.

It's a scary feeling to think that the World has numerous 
means, nuclear warheads, of "Mutual Assured Destruction" which aren't launched because, if they were, others would fly right back at them. Life on Earth, in a twinkling of an eye, would cease as common Man understands it. I always ponder this question: what can I really do ?

In my limited time left on Earth, I can raise the concern that the USA must lean on diplomacy rather than ply bombast. Today the USA begins a 60 day review of a treaty with Iran concerning nuclear armliment. Do we talk or do we bomb is the ultimate decision we must face ? "Mutual Assured Destruction" is an alternative Man has devised to save our World, tenuous as it sounds, from an unspeakable debacle. Even War Hawks won't be able to hide from a world wide launch of nuclear missiles. Now they talk with bravado and gusto but when "the rubber meets the road" these Hawks will be the first to hide in some cave somewhere and die a horrible slow death. Maybe they need a desk to crawl under.

Ronald C. Downie

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Mutual Assured Destruction

To live life always on the edge of destruction is a weight many of us of advanced age have endured far too long. We were just coming into the age of understanding at the end of WW2 brought about by the detonation of two Atomic Bombs on Japan. 

As teenagers, little did we understand of the concept of "Mutual Assured Destruction". Growing older, we lived daily with Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as, nuclear proliferation by Russia, China, Israel, and numerous other countries. The World seems awash in nuclear bombs that no sane country is willing to launch.

It's a scary feeling to think that the World has numerous 
means, nuclear warheads, of "Mutual Assured Destruction" which aren't launched because, if they were, others would fly right back at them. Life on Earth, in a twinkling of an eye, would cease as common Man understands it. I always ponder this question: what can I do ?

In my limited time left on Earth, I can raise the concern that the USA must lean on diplomacy rather than ply bombast. Today the USA begins a 60 day review of a treaty with Iran concerning nuclear armliment. Do we talk or do we bomb is the ultimate decision we must face ? "Mutual Assured Destruction" is an alternative Man has devised to save our World, tenuous as it sounds, from an unspeakable debacle. 

Ronald C. Downie

Monday, July 13, 2015

Senator Casey, Sir : 

I am obligated to write you again because I am so adamant that life on our planet for our offspring is in jeopardy as Pope Francis emphatically expressed in his encyclical specific to climate change. Though I am not Catholic, I respect a leader of over one billion persons living on our Earth today as having the best scientific information available to him to make the best judgements for his parishioners. 

At eighty years of life, I live my waining years through the eyes of my grandchildren. Senator, Sir, if not now, eventually you too may feel that anguish of an unrealized potential your progeny may miss. Case in point : the young years of my grandson, Connor Kurtz.

Like you, my grandson, Connor Kurtz, is Catholic from birth, will graduate near the top of his class next semester from Catholic University, Washington, DC. You may know of him since he was elected to the Daniel Boone School board while still attending high school, the youngest school board member in the state. Connor interned last summer for Parliament, London, UK ; this summer after crossing the US by train he is interning at the San Diego International Airport. Like you, Connor had to run for reelection which he did and won both sides of the ticket in the primaries.

A Grandfather nine times over, my duty to Connor and other offspring later, at the sunset of their lives, is daunting. Will the World hear Pope Francis's plea and by absorbing it become the foil between the believers and the doubters. Or, will the rich pummel the meek with advertisements which play on deception and denial extolling the virtue of the extraction industries and, by doing so, move our Planet past the tipping point of "no return". Politicians seeing short term, the next election, will decide on solidifying election donations but statesman, owning up to a greater power, will side with posterity. 

Senator, the unrelenting question continues, has our World ever seen detrimental change to it that modern man hasn't been party too ? The whale population, fishery decline, poached ivory tusks, deforestation, water table decline, smog, and radiation, among the numerous examples. Man is of this sphere no differently than the multitude of other species here now and already gone. Because man has an ever evolving brain that has developed far beyond any other species he has effected change on this Planet, it seems, faster than civilizations can keep up with. Being of this Planet is not enough, we must live on it in concert with all other life forms. 

This is the message Pope Francis asks me to absorb. You, as a statesman, I feel, need to council with your emotions and reality and, with listening to the leader of much of our World's population as a guide, make the hard choice between today and posterity.

Respectfully, 
Ronald C. Downie 
Pottstown, Pennsylvania



Monday, July 6, 2015

After The Parade

Wife, Connie and I stopped at the river after the parade to see what activities were being set up. Rain was intermittent as people began arriving, therefor, we remained in our car parked in a handicap spot with our sign displayed. We had been ready to stay awhile but coming on 12noon the weather seemed continuing threatening. Talked to a couple band members, one had played here some 10 years earlier. 

I'm past 80 years and Connie past 75 years old. Does this group have a super senior division ? We predated the era of Cruising but we've lived and raised a family here all our lives and have become ingrained in this place named Pottstown. In fact, the grounds where the group was set up is named in my honor by the Borough of Pottstown as signified by the brass plaque on the low rock by the trail.

Your group may be able to do for Pottstown what the old timers of my vintage could not do - create a positive attitude for the town. Gone with cruising went heavy industry and a commercial High Street.  Today Pottstown must take on a new persona, I suggest with all my vigor, that it should be in a direct connection with education. We must pride ourselves as being "A College Town".  With MCCC, The Hill School, and the SRGA as a nucleus the image begins sharpening.

We support your efforts, Thank You !
Ronald C Downie
Pottstown, A College Town
Grand Marshal  

Yesterday, The 4th of July, was my swan song from public recognition by enacting the duties of Grand Marshal of the Forth of July Parade. Nominated by my Grandson, Connor Kurtz, and affirmed by a favorable vote of The 4th of July committee; I was notified, out of the blue, last week by parade officials. Rarely, only for Doctors visits, do I leave the comforts of my Pottstown home now so, for the parade,  we agreed that if my wife, Connie, could drive our van in the parade we'd participate. We did just that - all's well that ends well !

Thank You ! to all the spectators who weathered the sprinkles, to all volunteers especially those who make logistics work, and to all parade participants. Without all of you, nothing happens, Thank You all again !

Ronald C. Downie

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Do Tax Payers Count ?

Every 4th of July Pottstown has a parade followed up at Memorial Park with traditional holiday events culminating with "Fireworks". The public use of the park for these events has gone on for countless years. Refurbished some years ago, the park was wired conveniently so venders could set up on either side of a promenade which allowed the public to flow freely. 

This year is a problem ! Volleyball Rumble one week before the 4th used this same area for vendors no matter the condition of the ground from the rains. Now that area is what some call, as I do, a quagmire. Our tax payer park is now in question for use by its owners, we taxpayers, because the Recreation Department chose the Rumble, theoretically a "for profit" generator, over it's civic responsibility. 

Yes, I will be vilified for accusing this from those living elsewhere, who sweep into Pottstown, take from our largest, and leave for another year. We're left with a costly cleanup and care this year made enormous by the circumstance of rain. 

If a Rumble is ingrained in Pottstown's culture have it scheduled a month earlier or, better yet, a couple weeks after the 4th of July. Have the Rumble post a performance bond that would guaranty the park be brought back to its original condition. 

Borough Council, I understand, is the ultimate determiner of park use while leaving day to day operations to the director who answers to the Borough Manager with advice from a recreation board. But, who does Borough Council work for ? You got it, the the tax paying voting residents of Pottstown. 

When everything runs smoothly none of these blips are seen by the public, but government is in place to correct problems that arise and make long range plans so problems don't come up. You, the voting public, have to hold to the fire the feet of public officials so they don't shirk from their jobs. Yours, a seemingly unimportant job, is so vitally necessary in the ultimate smooth running of a town, like Pottstown.

Ronald C. Downie

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

What Happened

A sickening feeling came across me when coming from the Doctor we drove up King Street and saw the mud infested Memorial Park premier baseball fields. So much effort, time, and tax money went into these fields but, for just a few days of grass volleyball, the fields look like a pig sty shambles. The same goes for the surrounding grass areas which must of been parked on when extremely wet and many vehicles must of become stuck.

I'm not too sure the cost/benefit equation works well for this event. Really, does Borough Council request an accounting for such events ?
These sports field were designed originally for use by the youth of our Borough and serviced them most during the summer months.

The unceremonious debauchery imposed on these fields by predominately non Pottstown residents should be looked at by an independent agent of the Borough to determine the cost to tax payers and what the long term harm to the fields are.

I've stated my views therefore I would appreciate yours.

Ronald C. Downing



Fair Grounds

Back, way back, maybe during the Golden Years of Pottstown in the early years of the 1900's before the Great Recession Pottstown was home to a Fair Grounds. In fact, many towns of that time had such grounds for their citizens to break away from their daily work and have a place to congregate for fun and reflection. Ours, I understand, had a race track within its bounds which became notable throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. Local and countywide fairs were popular attractions for predominantly an agrarian populous who utilized these Fair Grounds.

Because of the very visible debacle that happened to our baseball fields due to their excessive use during heavy rain events, I am suggesting it's time to reinstitute a Fair Grounds in Pottstown. "What comes around goes around" is also an ancient statement as is Fair Grounds. No longer a heavy industry community we have matriculated into a higher learning town and with it comes a need for new energized thinking.

Out along Jackson Street, The Hill School last year showed some economic muscle by building a super athletic complex in an area we old timers called The Far Fields. Down along the river MCCC continues to invest in bricks and mortar to expand their presence there. Also along the river the SRGA continues pressing its trails and accompaniments up and down the waterway at an ever aggressive rate.

These three entities don't produce a tangible product people can handle and both buy and sell; but, each produces a product valued far beyond a manufactured piece. Their commodity of highly valued human beings is the new paradigm. Pottstown's desire to invest in progress should, in my mind, appreciate the new dynamic and think through what could enhance the culture of people being here. Fair Grounds worked well in agrarian times, lost emphasis during the industrial revolution, and now post industrialization - in an educational era - its time may be just right again.

Please, don't let the proverbial box contain you. Get out of it and think anew. Planning is the first step.f

Ronald C. Downie



A Follow Up

I am unhappy with myself, unhappy because when I take issue with some problem in town, I usually try to offer an alternative that could remedy the problem at a future date. Monday I was extremely distraught over the conditions Memorial Park ball fields were left in after a weekend of heavy play of volleyball on rain saturated fields. Even though volleyball organizers pledged to fix the problems they caused, common sense should require specific rules be stated when fields may be used in accordance with weather and ground conditions.

That said, my remedy, long term, would be what I wrote about yesterday, a Fair Grounds. In the interim, Pottstown should, in my opinion, secure ownership of land adjacent to the Park fields just to the south across King Street between King and and High Streets. Now occupied by a gas station and a equipment rental business. Years ago in a grand plan for Memorial Park and its surrounding properties, these parcels were included in the final draft to become park land. Pottstown should pull those dusty plans out, engage Montgomery County planners to review, and initiate the process for a new plan to be developed for grant application.

Maybe this King St. site would not be adequate for a full blown Fair Grounds but it certainly would help with fully utilizing the Memorial Park we do have now. It would accommodate small circuses and carnivals, overflow Park events especially parking, and parking for the Colebrookdale Rail Line, the Carousel, and Miniature Golf.

Of course, none of this is feasible if Manatawny Creek floods the area. Silt buildup before, after, and under the King St. Bridge has created islands which impedes the free flow of creek water under the finite opening under the roadway. Eventually, without correction, this condition will grab us badly and cause flooding in the area. Please notify someone in Borough Hall to this impending problem. Everything has a cause and affect.

On the move, Pottstown, A College Town, is poised as it begins its Renaissance.

Ronald C. Downie

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Pink Flamingo

Thinking back to a lost opportunity, a time when I was unable to sway my friends to adopt " a plastic pink flamingo" as Pottstown's iconic symbol. The Churchill's Kitchen Cabinet back then turned my suggestion down cold. "You dummy", they chided me, "who in the World would put a plastic pink flamingo in their yard except some oldsters in Florida?"

We could have been on the show, Sunday Morning, today when they did a segment about, you got it, The Pink Flamingo. Their popularity, instead of fading away, is growing each year in all parts of the country. 

But for me, another grand idea down the toilet along with many others, I too, have forgotten. Our morning group had days, if not weeks, laughing at each other until the idea faded away. Sadly, after Sunday Morning aired, maybe we did miss an opportunity to put Pottstown on the map. Your turn !

Ronald C.Downie 
Sandy Burton, Golfer

Sandy, in thinking about our exchange of emails, I've tried to understand where the differences between us comes from. I thought about our youth: both of Scottish descent and each approached golf early. I started caddying at the age of nine at our local Country Club
while, I surmised, you began playing golf much earlier at a local Country Club. Seemingly such a little difference is much greater when analyzed.  

Young caddies of my era were never allowed to enter the Clubhouse, maybe the locker room to pick up a golf bag, but so rarely. Caddies, me included, felt second class like a serf to the gentry. We were always cordoned away from the elite Country Club set when special events were organized for them. Yes, caddies thought themselves an inferior race in this time period just post WW2. 

I imagine you have a different perspective of your early years. When stratification begins early it intensifies over the years. I've carried over into the latter years of my life a sense of denied equality that must be overcome. I chose Public Service as my method to right these ills. I look at those who have little or nothing as victims not takers. I look at the Country Club elites as takers from the public trough displacing many truly needy. Superior elites spend their time shuttling between golf courses ultimately seeking one which suites their game always trying to be superior, being King of the Hill.

Poor Franklin Graham gets tripped up on history. His white Christian males found hordes of reddish Native Americans to murder in their European clammer to declare themselves conquerers of this new land. Many thousands of years earlier Native Americans had already explored this continent and all this time lived in concert with nature. Today, from their seats of financial power situated in Country Clubs, when the strenuous day of golf is over, financiers get their heads together to concoct new ways of lowering their taxes but paying for it by raising taxes on those least able to afford it. 

I am an unabashed proponent of equality among humans, even though, most listed by Franklin are in need of real help. And I understand the majority of those he called takers would never make it to the first hole let alone ever find par. No matter how life affects us we are all subject to death. I doubt a White Supremacist like Franklin Graham or people who support his edicts will have an any easier way beyond this life than I expect for myself. How in the World can these people be not only bigoted but be believers in miss information while they openly pray to a benevolent God. Wrapping oneself in the flag when on bended knee praying to the personal image of their God does not grant one a path to the hereafter. Jesus, it is said, prayed especially for the least of us. I am one of them and many of my friends are similar. 

Only you can determine where you are positioned on the rung of life.

Respectfully, Ronald C. Downie




What Happened

A sickening feeling came across me when coming from the Doctor we drove up King Street and saw the mud infested Memorial Park premier baseball fields. So much effort, time, and tax money went into these fields but, for just a few days of grass volleyball, the fields look like a pig sty shambles. The same goes for the surrounding grass areas which must of been parked on when extremely wet and many vehicles must of become stuck.

I'm not too sure the cost/benefit equation works well for this event. Really, does Borough Council request an accounting for such events ?
These sports field were designed originally for use by the youth of our Borough and serviced them most during the summer months. 

The unceremonious debauchery imposed on these fields by predominately non Pottstown residents should be looked at by an independent agent of the Borough to determine the cost to tax payers and what the long term harm to the fields are. 

I've stated my views therefore I would appreciate yours.

Ronald C. Downie
Fair Grounds

Back, way back, maybe during the Golden Years of Pottstown in the early years of the 1900's before the Great Recession Pottstown was home to a Fair Grounds. In fact, many towns of that time had such grounds for their citizens to break away from their daily work and have a place to congregate for fun and reflection. Ours, I understand, had a race track within its bounds which became notable throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. Local and countywide fairs were popular attractions for predominantly an agrarian  populous who utilized these Fair Grounds. 

Because of the very visible debacle that happened to our baseball fields due to their excessive use during heavy rain events, I am suggesting it's time to reinstitute a Fair Grounds in Pottstown. "What comes around goes around" is also an ancient statement as is Fair Grounds. No longer a heavy industry community we have matriculated into a higher learning town and with it comes a need for new energized thinking. 

Out along Jackson Street, The Hill School last year showed some economic muscle by building a super  athletic complex in an area we old timers called The Far Fields. Down along the river MCCC continues to invest in bricks and mortar to expand their presence there. Also along the river the SRGA continues pressing its trails and accompaniments up and down the waterway at an ever aggressive rate. 

These three entities don't produce a tangible product people can handle and both buy and sell; but, each produces a product valued far beyond a manufactured piece. Their commodity of highly valued human beings is the new paradigm. Pottstown's desire to invest in progress should, in my mind, appreciate the new dynamic and think through what could enhance the culture of people being here. Fair Grounds worked well in agrarian times, lost emphasis during the industrial revolution, and now post industrialization - in an educational era - its time may be just right again.

Please, don't let the proverbial box contain you. Get out of it and think anew. Planning is the first step.f

Ronald C. Downie

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Pink Flamingo

Thinking back to a lost opportunity, a time when I was unable to sway my friends to adopt " a plastic pink flamingo" as Pottstown's iconic symbol. The Churchill's Kitchen Cabinet back then turned my suggestion down cold. "You dummy", they chided me, "who in the World would put a plastic pink flamingo in their yard except some oldsters in Florida?"

We could have been on the show Sunday Morning today when they did a segment about, you got it, The Pink Flamingo. Their popularity, instead of fading away, is growing each year in all parts of the country. 

But for me, another grand idea down the toilet along with many others, I too, have forgotten. Our morning group had days, if not weeks, laughing at each other until the idea faded away. Sadly, after Sunday Morning aired, maybe we did miss an opportunity to put Pottstown on the map. Your turn !

Ronald C.Downie 

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Sue Repko

Deeply hidden beyond registered time in caves our ancestors sketched scenes of animals they encountered beyond those cave entrances. Even then ancient artists had a feel for place to inscribe real time as they felt it. Ever since, artists have invested in what they do best : create their own sense of time as they develop a place, real or imagined, for time to be experienced in. 

Sue, most people I've come across in my eighty years wither under the thought of leaving familiar ground to forge life anew at some distant location. Those who do, we find their works catalogued in libraries or on display in galleries all over the World. You are destined to be one of those.

Thoughout our infrequent meetings I was always impressed with your life's story as it has enfolded and, along with everyone else, await the next chapter just beginning to be written. May good health accompany you, may good luck pave the road, and may words flow at will. 

Respectfully, Ronald C. Downie
Broken Window Syndrome 

All my life as a public servant I believed in the Broken Window Syndrome : if a window is broken out or just cracked, immediately have it fixed or a disruptive public may not have any qualms about breaking more. Immediate response is the operative term. 

Earlier today my, across Evans street, neighbors told me about a patch of alley behind their carport/garage where for the second time someone dumped either gasoline or oil or both in the alley. I was asked if this was legal, to which, I replied, "hell no". No one is allowed openly to work on vehicles even if it's on their property. Secondly, petroleum migrates toward storm drains which empty into streams and our river. 

I urged my neighbor call 610 323 1212, the dispatch center, and report the incident, which he did. The fire department responded and determined the patch safe from fire since the fluid had already dispersed into the soil. I'm told the grass growing in the alley which is regularly mowed is now looking dead. 

We used immediate response as our action. Even with action the root cause has not been addressed. Who did this deed ? Did the fire department turn over to the police and codes information about this problem ? I don't know. 

Such a small thing in this age of huge problems, but my neighbors and I, exercised what a resident of Pottstown could do. Citizens must do what they can, no matter how small. or our way of life will wither away completely. 


Ronald C. Downie
Education Is Priceless

When a person becomes awash in ignorance there comes with it a stunting of the mind which develops into a hardening of the heart that does not allow this person to embrace a sense of empathy toward fellow planet beings. How do we understand and enter into another's feelings if we ourselves through ignorance have little capacity toward feelings ? 

Education, in my mind, becomes the predominant bulwark protecting more  humans from becoming desensitized, stunted, and hardened. Life on this planet evolved most of the time through small steps but, from time to time, when an appreciable advance of knowledge occurred it resulted in grand giant leaps for mankind. Education is the standard by which mankind builds our World. 

Ronald C. Downie

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Resonating Tweets

"No storm lasts forever" displayed by this morning: blue sky, bright sunshine, lower humidity makes this the  day to start a new beginning. 

"Each journey starts with the first step" and plods step after step toward a desired destination. In you a map, etched or not, shows a way.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should" is a commitment you should understand. It's the power of decision which helps set you free.

Ronald C. Downie

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The Bomb

While watching the movie, "The Big Lift", this morning a very chilling statement was uttered by actor, Paul Douglass, while the plane he was in descended toward a landing in Berlin, Germany shortly after the city was divided by Russia. The Berlin Wall was under construction, Berlin was truly divided, and it seemed armed conflict in earnest could flare up at any time. 

The statement which sent a chill up my back was from Douglass who, while looking down at Berlin during landing said, "We should have dropped an A Bomb down there". These words spoken in a film vintage (1950) about a real life episode (1948) are words I'd wish I never had to hear. 

Dropping a big bomb today, I fear, is just what some zealots are muttering under their breath. Our world is under so much stress even a little slip up could pop the lid off. I lived in fear during WW2, Korea, Vietnam, 9-11 and ever since. Living with fear these past 80 years has not been the normal fear but an underlying angst gnawing away at the pit of my stomach. 

Yes, I have lived my life as if I had no fear, always moving ahead accepting challenges and overcoming diversity. The thought of the unfathomable happening to our World I've rationalized to death. As Pope Francis tells it, we must bring a sense of sanity back into human understanding of life on our Earth. May you all embrace his words.

Ronald C. Downie

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Our Challenge 

Do you, like me, wonder what are the institutions which foster "suicide bombers" who seem to emerge so easily in the Middle East to wreck havoc on an unsuspecting populous ? Is what just happened in Charleston, SC. the tip of a greater problem facing America today ? Are institutions prevalent here today which could foment heinous crimes designed to overthrow our established government ?

I shutter to announce my thought out position on these questions I've just asked. Sadly our great country is not in need of more guns, or bombs; but we are sorely in need of a renewed dedication to sanity. Only through an all out assault by our educated society will we have a chance to mold young mind toward empathy and caring for all life. 

It must come from both the top and bottom of society like accepting while embracing Pope Francis' Encyclical. We must coleus around a positive message instead of how it seems today. We must get away from carnage on TV, we must reduce "might makes right" in sports, music should sooth a troubled soul, and many motion pictures are so vial that they promote the angst festering within us. 

Any improvement in societal sobriety will be long in coming lasting over numerous generations. I see no quick fix. It will be difficult to change if our politicians remain bent on the status quo to prove their own importance. Change can only be accomplished by you the voter becoming involved in a race toward sanity rather than lounging on the sidelined wishing others do the job for us.

Ronald C. Downie 

Saturday, June 20, 2015

I Love A Parade

Late morning, long after sunrise lights the east,
Necks craning, the gathered peer up High street,
"Must have started, when will we see the lights?"
Every year brings a similar anticipation treat.

Police cars, lights actively rotating, lead
As spectator's expectation comes into view.
Slowly the cars carrying Chiefs and Captains
Roll at their lead pace. Parade's started true.

Patriotism and flowers with flags and music, 
Join the deep rhythm of heel/toe marching
In straight lines, as our service men and women 
Parade down High Street, uniformed backs arching.

Waiting, bands and pipers, military vehicles pass
To hands clapping in gratitude for their service,
Then a bevy of classic cars, there's yellow bikes,
And a grouping of motorcycles. Promoter's purpose

To satisfy all people by expressing their interests.
Beautiful as ever the Queen and her lovely court,
Bathed in sunshine, are perched high in convertibles.
Their's is the future accompanied by a male escort.

Like ants scurrying for a meal, volunteers work 
The crowd for donations to fill collection buckets.
Vehicles, Fire Engines, shinning and grand, drivers
And volunteers are a Town's invaluable nuggets.

Year after year organizers give of their time
To bring smiles to faces both of young and old
Curb lines filled with overflowing happy crowds,
Tell how good parades of old were. Stories told.

"I Love A Parade", the excitement of a crowd,
The music, the colors, the hubbub, the pageantry,
Humans becoming alive by expressing themselves.
I need a hat, where's that bucket for my ante ?

Independence Day, July 4, 1776 , Declaration Of
Independence signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
We observe with parades, picnics, and fireworks
But we must never forget the breadth of Sylvania. 

"I Love A Parade !"

Ronald C. Downie

Dedicated to daughter, Heather Downie Kurtz, born on July 4.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Think Your Way Forward

God forsaken demented right of color supremacy lifted its ugly head in Charleston, SC this week. Gun killed, who really pulled the trigger ?

How can our deeply fractured society coalesce around a universal theme; like, another World War? Could Pope Francis' Encyclical just be it ?

Born into innocence, humans from birth fill their receptive voids with parental involvement and society's mores. Twig bent so grows a tree.

Ronald C. Downie

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Pope Francis' Encyclical

Not only does everybody need to read Pope Francis' encyclical, but all learned and interested parties need to study it's fine points, to make its words universally understandable, and allow his message to inform all our World's governments and citizens thereof.

You need not be of Catholic persuasion to embrace this Pope's encyclical. To me, a non Catholic deeply involved throughout my long life with the environment, I am honored to have lived long enough to experience a message for Planet sanity from this Pope. I'm sure big money is mounting a blistering response to his message since their lust is always to accumulate more money, with it, more power.

Each of us must not remain silent about the breadth of his message. Some of you, I bet, will ignore Pope Francis' words and may even want to disparage him as leader of over a million parishioners; but, so many more, hopefully the young, will embrace his warnings and with action will change the arc of history over our World.

Ronald C. Downie

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

My Journey

Born of Scottish parents, who in the 1920's immigrated to America to start their young life anew. Dad from Glasgow, Mom from Dundee who bore two sons four and a half years apart: brother Andrew, the elder, and me, six months, arrived in Pottstown the summer of 1935 when Dad took a job with Bethlehem Steel as a draftsman. Brother Andrew joined the Navy leaving Pottstown during Korea and never really returned. I've stayed 80 years living out my story. 

Life begins with a quality education: a graduate of Pottstown Junior and Senior High Schools, then matriculated to Penn State, State College,  for three semesters garnering 50 credits, came home and enrolled in Ursinus College, night school for 50 more credits, still 28 credits short of a degree. Even so, I was elected into Pottstown High School Alumni Honor Roll Society, one of only three of my 1953 graduating class.

The field of sports engaged much of my younger years: here at home I received recognition becoming co- captain of the football team, was on the golf team, threw weights on the track team. Later, was on the championship adult men's industrial basketball team, Tony Zee's. At Penn State, even though I was the 52nd freshman to receive a uniform, my play brought me recognition and got me a new uniform as I was elevated to first team freshman and received the game ball for play against arch rival, Pitt. At Penn State I scrimmaged against the likes of : Redskins, Lenny Moore and Dan Radakovich ; all pro, Rosey Grier ; Jesse Arnelle ; Richie Lucas and Sam Valentine, All Americans. But, but now only a dream of what could have been.

When not at ball playing, I worked. At the age of nine I began caddying at Brookside Country Club which I did off and on until I graduated high school. Worked at Ringing Hill Orchard at harvest time then at fourteen began mowing lawns for Henry Fox staying with him for some fifteen years as he built his business into a three state landscape contracting firm. After a five year hiatus I got reinstated at Penn State for football, got busted up pretty badly, and dropped our for good. Acquired a salaried position at Firestone and began night school at Ursinus.

Left Firestone in 1969. I got remarried : first marriage lasted five years, fathered two: Bonnie and Sherri ; divorced five years ; now remarried 51 years, fathered three : Heather, a teacher; Lia, a Critical Care Nurse ; Ronald, a technician. I returned to landscaping joining with Fisher Hughes. We purchased and operated Pine Forge Sky Area and developed The Foundry Lounge along with expanding our growing landscape company. Citing conflicts, I left the organization, got my insurance a real estate licenses until unhappiness crept in and back to the land I went.

Developed Pottstown Nursery, a Garden Center and a fully functioning landscape construction company. Operated this way for ten years, then leased the Garden Center and moved the landscape company to Douglassvile on 57 acres of open land we'd purchased. Bob Smoyer and I formed Downie Smoyer Landscape as our business name in a seamless changeover. Smoyer's untimely death as my physical vitality diminished required me to settle the business's books. As in all businesses assets hopefully balance out with obligations and debts as ours barely did. My health: a prostate operation, foot complications from a deep cyst both landed me in the hospital. More debilitating has been my ongoing losing battle with type two diabetes. Now I only move with help of a walker and have not driven an automobile in five years.

All the while during my years in business I keep a close contact with the functions of this town, Pottstown, I call home. Early on, Jaycees then Ambucs, becoming president, also BIE, president again, Schuylkill River Greenway Association, yes president. School Board, four years; Parks and Rec, next ; eight years on Borough Council and finally eight years on Borough Authority, last four as chairman. An Elk, I've been named Elk of the year, I've earned a fifty year pin at being a member of the local Masonic Lodge, same with Reading Shrine and Consistory. I am past president of CAP, Carousel At Pottstown, and have an Ampitheater at the Schuylkill River named by the Borough in my name since I was instrumental in its construction. When this project was finished, I donated the machine I used to build the Ampitheater to the Parks Dept. who use it to this day. 

Now 80 years old, when looking back, I would have had to live a long time to do as much as I did. In the last year I was named Pottstown's Poet Laureate in a book "Legendary Locals of Pottstown" written by Sue Repko. Poetry has been my advocation for the last half of my life. The bonding of thoughts onto paper that others may independently involve with the writer is an art dating back by man deep into antiquity. Whether good or bad, I pride myself in being able to live in real time by blocking out the past and not relive yesterdays. Only through an exercise like this am I able to bring the past into my preview. I hope this answers some questions.

Ronald C. Downie