[PRCo] Re: Europe ....

[Schneider Fred]

I year ago I was standing in front of the state capitol in Helena  
(that's Montana) taking pictures.   Nice summer evening.   I was  
talking to a lady walking her dog.   Unlike Harrisburg, the capitol  
is in a residential area ... nice neighborhood.

The lady started talking about what it is like to live in Helena.    
She said you see the governor out walking his own dog.   And if you  
ring his door bell, he or his wife answers the door.   I thought that  
was remarkable.   The taxpayers weren't paying for labor to turn a  
doorknob!

It has to be a great place to live with only 945,000 people in the  
whole state.   But its growing.   There were only about 600,000 there  
on my first visit in 1972.   Back then the biggest city was Great  
Falls with about 60,000 people.   Now Billings has 102,000 people.    
Unfortunately, Billings' economy is based on oil refining and  
extractive economies don't last.   In the past it was copper in  
Butte.   The state just moved the source of the money a couple  
hundred miles to the east.

On Oct 16, 2008, at 4:27 PM, Dennis F. Cramer wrote:

> It is the American way.  When I was on the Planning & Zoning  
> Commission for
> our township, a fellow member was a heavy equipment operator.  He  
> said he
> could take anyone around the state and show them where a certain  
> contractor
> had done the highway construction.  It was exactly those sections  
> of our
> intestates that had to be rebuilt first.  The contractor retired  
> and moved
> to Florida.  (Not there is anything wrong with Florida)
>
> When they renovated our school, the state employee charged with  
> overseeing
> the work was given a job with the construction firm two months  
> before the
> project was completed.  The plastered walls one day and painted the  
> next.
> And they still wonder why the paint fell off.
>
> I think it is Montana that has a state legislature that meets once  
> every 2
> years.  I consider the Pennsylvania legislature to be the most out of
> control state government in the nation.
>
> The founding fathers also needed the time to physically get from  
> home to
> Philadelphia, New York, and or Washington.  It could easily take a  
> month to
> get from Massachusetts to the Capitol.
>
>
> Dennis F. Cramer
>       Trombone
>
>
>
>