COVID-19 prevention: Is putting your foot in your mouth as effective as wearing a mask?

 

This is in response to Delmont Borough council member Bill Marx’s letter to the editor (“Elected officials should follow safety measures”) published in the December 14, 2020 issue of the Delmont Salem News in which he castigates his fellow council members for not wearing masks at their December council meeting, which Mr. Marx attended remotely. Quoting Mr. Marx:

“If our own local municipal officials can flout the law without consequence, why should we expect our average resident to obey any of our ordinances or adhere to our local codes when it inconveniences them? Apparently, 'because I don’t like it’ is justification enough to ignore public health standards and lawful orders to the detriment of the community.” (emphasis added)

I remind Mr. Marx that in his role as a member of Borough council he himself has been party to the blatant “flouting” by the Borough of both the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law and the federal Clean Water Act in the Borough’s active discharges of untreated sewage onto private property in Salem Township and into Beaver Run - a major source of this community’s drinking water - for nearly 30 years. 

Does this not amount, Mr. Marx, to “ignoring public health standards and lawful orders to the detriment of the community?”

Further, a front-page article in the same issue of the Delmont Salem News announced the adoption by Borough council of a stormwater management ordinance, but “… the new ordinance only affects those with large projects on their property or new development. Current homeowners will not need to change their currently installed roof drains or sump pumps.” (emphasis added)

Thus, those long contributing to the causal factors of the sewage surcharges by directing down spout and sump pump flows into the sanitary sewer system will not be required to fix their illegal connections. Delmont Borough’s newly-minted “stormwater management ordinance” actively spares these property owners the “inconvenience” of complying with the law.

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In Mr. Marx’s defense, selective outrage and sheer hypocrisy are not uncommon hallmarks of those holding public office.