pT y TY { age Al2 (continued from PAGE ONE) Department store sales were up 37 percent in 1972 over the previous year. Manfacturing payrolls increased by 20 percent during the same period. Bank deposits increased by 34 per- cent. “The big question is whether there is a recession on the hori- zon because of our false economy,”’ Mr. Viola believes. “That is the question. If there is, then perhaps we're in trouble in the mental health field.” Community economic leaders agree, at least partly. They foresee economic chaos in Wyoming Valley only if the jobs run out, or the river floods again. While there is an effort to Seranton—Wilkes-Barre region has been declared one economic market by the Office of Management and Budget, which rates it well within the top 60 markets in the country, no major industry has announ- ced plans to locate in the valley since last year’s flood. “Bankers tend to paint a false picture,”” Min Matheson says. victims have organized the Flood Victims Action Council. “The banks never had it so organization has appealed to the American Civil Liberties Union for legal help in suing the Federal Government over the injustices of flood relief. The U.S. District court action was filed by Scranton Atty. Morey Miers last week. Former Gov. ‘William W. Scranton, a nearby native of Lackawanna County, has devoted his professional life partly to strengthening the economy ‘of a former coal- ravaged region into a viable and economically stable one. “Bankers would naturally tend to give a prejudiced view, right now because deposits are high,” he agrees. As an executive officer of one of the region’s larger banking houses, Gov. Scranton hopes that industry will be attracted to the region to offset any long- range flood-caused recession. “I remain optimistic,’ he concludes. “Flood victims are in the midst of the repertoire of their own experience,” says Elliott Knauer, former Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary of Public Welfare, who for months just after Agnes, was the top state official coordinating flood recovery. “I think we can expect a period of reality depression based on the false economy that cannot likely continue.” Mr. Knauer says that the community is not concerned about the permanent crippling effect of Agnes. The social resources can cope with the future crisis if they stay around, he says. But in doing so they must not only be here, but they will have lots of work for a staff he calls limited. “The rate of diminishing return is not being focused upon,” Mr. Knauer believes. “The election helped,’ he says flatly, ‘because it created the exploitation of flood victims with no follow up. The victims backed the Nixon Adminis- tration by a wide margin. After the election, the vietims were by and large left to fend for themselves. “The economy itself does not mean a breakdown within itself. But when you know you've been secrewed—you get desperate, resentful, and depressed. Many victims are being screwed every day, almost everytime they make a purchase. ‘‘The gross profiteering now taking place will create a shock one of these days.’ he maintains, “which will erode the mental health of the valley still further. Young, middle and working class people will bounce back, Mr. Knauer thinks. ‘The aging we must worry about. They cannot bounce back and cannot move and start their lives over elsewhere.” April’s 18-foot crest in the river (about four feet is normal; rain from Agnes sent it soaring to 40.6 feet) make up lots of people's minds, Mr. Knauer contends, to get out. He said that he predicts the largest exo- dus of valley residents is yet to come, even though many have already decided to relocate to higher ground, or leave the area completely. Ed Hefferon at Project Out- reach, a mental health unit sup- prevalent among residents in \ Wyoming Valley. Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Jim McHale has called for a Senate investigation of the Farmers Home Admini- stration emergency loan pro- that Commonwealth farmers had to turn to in the wake of last year’s Tropical Storm Agnes. “A week ago I met with hun- dreds of angry farmers who claimed that FHA money went to only a favored few in their county,”” said Secretary McHale. ‘I’ve heard com- pic¢io = elsewhere in the state tha HHA flood money was in- equitably distributed to farmers who were connected with the ‘right’ organization.” The secretary said that he has written to U.S. Sen. Quentin Burdick, chairman of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Disaster Relief, requesting the investigation. ‘The Burdick committee held hearings last month in Wilkes-Barre on the extent of Pennsylvania’s re- covery from Hurricane Agnes, at which Gov. Milton Shapp, McHale and other state officials testified. The secretary said he at- tended a meeting last week in Berlin organized by the Con- cerned Farmers Wives of Somerset County. “According to my reports, about 80 farmers out of 1,500 in SR things as a $22,000 breeding cow,” said Secretary McHale. “These people are angry, there are threats of violence. I think these farmers have a right to find out what happened in their county,” said the secre- tary in reference to his call for a Senate investigation. The FHA emergency loans had a $5,000 forgiveness feature for each borrower and carried an interest rate of one percent. Farmers at the Berlin meet- ing claimed that most of them did not know the federal emer- gency program applied to them, but only flood victims. They said Somerset had no flood, only extremely wet weather. The FHA emergency pro- gram was terminated in Penn- sylvania last Jan. 15. The pro- gram was reopened this spring under Congressional pressure to states that had suffered natural disasters, however, Pennsylvania was excluded. “Our exclusion from the re- opened program and the ap- parently inequitable distribu- tion of the money from the pro- gram before it was abruptly terminated should be explained in any Senate investigation,” said McHale. A farmer at the Berlin meet- ing said he was an Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) committeeman in his local district and never heard until recently of the FHA A, relief program for Somerset County at any regularly sched- uled meeting. The ASCS local committees had the job of assessing farm damage for eli- gibility in flood relief programs. “It seems,’ said John J. Ferko Jr., Central City RD 1, “that a choice few were in- formed in one way or another about this program (FHA) and just how it was being operated. A few farmers seemed .to re- ceive notices that it was avail- able.” He said that it was not until the end of May that the chair- man of his ASCS committee acknowledged that the FHA program should have been mentioned. Other farmers at the Berlin meeting claimed that the 82 farmers who benefited from the program. were ranking mem- bers in the Pennsylvania Farm- ers Association or otherwise connected in influential farm groups. They allegedly learned how they could obtain FHA monies through information passed by these private organi- zations. “If these allegations prove true,” said McHale, “then we have a serious case of the Federal Government favoring the PFA with information, in what can only be construed as an attempt to enhance that organization’s prestige and power.” : tho ported by a half-million-dollar grant from the National Insti- tute for Mental Health, is not one to underestimate what might lay ahead. With 15,000 client contacts (each family is considered one contact) under his belt since last Aug. 9, Mr. Hefferon bluntly says that his team of experts think there is a need for services now. more than ever before. The need might get greater in months ahead, he is quick to point out. “But our people are leaving now. Our funding may get cut back, and besides we are only operational through Aug. 9. A crisis may develop after that time.” Mr. Hefferon’s team of 50 para-professionals have been on the street trying to help the mental stability of valley citi- week for the last 11 months. They have not only been subject to act ina capacity of “crisis in- tervention’’ during this interim with a telephone counseling ser- vice that operates around the clock except for the wee hours, but have gone door-to-door in trying to find people who need help. “Our job has been as than working in the mental health area,” he confesses, “and most of our people have been on the street just trying to be human.” Mr. Hefferon says that his team has tried to prevent men- tal health problems which might have developed because the government was not fast enough in bringing in mobile homes, not willing enough to consider the human frailities of flood victims, and not patient enough with such services as debris clean-up, free rent, and more personal people-to-people relationships. ‘Some of the vic- tims must vacate their trailers very soon,” he explains, ‘‘and they have no home to go back to. Many decided to wait out the winter in a temporary shelter, but winter is now over and there is no place to return. Some re- fused to take government help, can you believe; we had to motivate them to take the help. left, and particularly the older ones are becoming more and more depressed. You can sense the despair.” Many of the flood victims are just beginning to understand what faces them, Mr. Hefferon explains. ‘‘Personally,’”” he says, “I think it will be three or four years befere we are pro- tected from the river. During the interim, the river could do the same thing again. If it even rises above normal flow, the victims begin to feel the anguish all over again.” Many flood victims scorn the prospect of living in what may develop into an instant slum clean up, remodel, or rebuild their homes. Some know they could return to the old neighbor- hood and put their property back in shape within a year or so. But they are afraid of what their neighbors are not going to do. Often they know the family down the block has no plans to return. The property will even- tually be reposessed by the mortgagor. With thousands of homes in this category, they ask bluntly, who’s going to restore such real estate as long as everyone knows the river could do it again. Mr. Herfferon says that the government was simply not geared to handle the aftermath of such a devastating civil dis- aster. “What we have done in sending mental health trained people out on the street has never been done before in this country on such a grand scale,” he says, ‘“‘and it will be a long time perhaps before we can really tell how effective we've been. But there is no question about the need, the future need.” Dr. Edward Whalen, a Wilkes-Barre psychiatrist working with a state mental health unit, has treated a host of flood vietims. It’s his contention that most flood victims with emotional problems don’t need his treatment, but rather need relief from “reaction to a situa- tion,” which usually does not warrant psychiatric treatment. Experts at the National Insti- tute of Mental Health, he says, now say they can predict a leveling off period of mental disorders thanks to data com- piled in other disaster areas. But he’s not so sure, and he has been to Washington to so testify on two recent occasions. Dr. Whalen points out that in the case of the state supported Bureau of the Aging under the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare, there is now a staff of about 50 as compared to perhaps a half-dozen before the flood. And while there is no appreciable increase in cases needing psychiatric treatment, he thinks there is a long-range effort needed before the mental health of the valley will stabilize ‘to the point it was “prior to Agnes. ‘‘Appreciate,” he ex- plains, ‘‘that there are those over 50 who feel that they must hang on to whatever they have left, and they want to stay in the valley. They are not going to throw their keys in the river and go elsewhere.” Robert Hallett concurs with the position of those experts who forecast that the worse is yet tocome. A former insurance executive, Mr. Hallett has succ- essfully helped hundreds of flood victims through his volunteer group known as Inter- faith, an ecumenical movement supported by churches. He has tried to assess the mental health ne EARS Ap problems of the valley. ‘‘Make no mistake, there are mental health problems,” Mr. Hallett maintains, ‘‘and the worse is yet to come. Lots of money has been poured into the valley (the Federal Govern- ment has spent at least $750,000 on mental health here). But will the economy remain on an even keel? If it begins to crumble, then what; particularly dealing with the aged?” There are no psychologists and psychistrists on the street treating the masses, as some have reported outside the area, he points out. ‘Rather, we had trained social workers out there trying more than anything else just to be human. They were trained in suicide prevention, and the like, but this was not where most of their energy was spent.” Right now, Mr.” Hallett says, ‘‘we need our young people to stay in the valley.” But he are likely: to"go begging should the false economy begin to slide downward. “We need industry to provide high and middle income jobs,” Mr. Hallett says. “Too often we are finding both the wife and ni husband working. Industry, the right kind of industry, would give us more hands on the boot- strap to pull ourselves up. Cor- porate people should be happy here.” One of the overlooked aspects of last year’s flood, Mr. Hallett contends, is ‘how do you measure how much people can take. Some ‘are really better people because of the flood. Others are ruined for life. Some should have been in a mental health program before the flood. When they have to vacate their trailers and go back home, this is when the carpet is going to be jerked from under them.” Mr. Hallett recalls that during the height of flood recovery before last year’s election, with 230 separate help organizations and agencies in this part of the state, there were so many government workers in the flood area that each depart- ment developed its own turf is"not ‘the case, and he sees ‘a need lasting for at least two more years. Mr. Knauer also agrees. He predicts that if the worse is yet to come with mental health, it will probably not occur for two years. “It will take that long for the money to run out,” he observes. Others are not so sure the real crisis is that far away. ’ One who is concerned about the months ahead is Pennsyl- vania Gov. Milton. Shapp. He testified to his & last month before a subcomittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Public Works during a Wilkes- Barre hearing. While Gov. Shapp charged that immediate flood recovery efforts last year were hampered because of administrative confusion on the part of federal officials, he disagreed with a current Nixon Administration proposal to place HUD officials in control of flood recovery efforts in Wyoming Valley. ‘It’s like turning the operation of a morgue over to the corpse,” he told the subcommittee. As another observer sugg- ested, ‘These people remind me of lemmings, the small the sea and drown. I wonder why these people remain on the banks of a ~y despair, trying desperatelyXto survive in the face of obstacles beyond their control.” A group of 17 South Wilkes- Barre property owners filed suit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Develop- ment, (HUD), Wilkes-Barre City Council, and the Wilkes- Barre Redevelopment Author- ity last week, seeking damages caused by injustices in flood re- covery. The civil action, filed Thurs- day by Scranton Atty. Morey Myers in U.S. District Court, seeks jurisdictional damages in the amount of $10,000 for each of families, pre-flood value for the citizens’ properties, court costs and lawyers fees. The detailed complaint charges that the plaintiffs rights under the U.S. Constitu- tion have been violated because the Wilkes-Barre Redevelop- ment Authority has failed to meet requirements of the law and HUD regulations in not ac- quiring the plaintiffs’ properties in the South Wilkes-Barre Re- newal Project. Among other charges, the complaint states that HUD re- gulations require the urban re- newal authority to consider the “financial ability of property owners as a factor in determin- ing the feasibility of rehabilita- tion, on the basis of a memoran- dum to that effect from Francis G. Haas,” former director of the Scranton Community De- velopment Disaster Recovery Office of HUD whose job was ‘to provide policy guidance for all flood projects and to review and approve all flood projects within the jurisdiction of the Philadelphia Area Office.” The complaint points out that newal plan must give due re- gard to preventing residential reuse or other uses which might lead to danger to human life or to serious economic loss on the site of recurring floods or other recurring catastrophies and re- quires that the probability of re- currence be based both on past history and future expectation. It charges that the application for federal assistance ‘‘bears no evidence of the regard given to the possibility of reeurrent flooding in the South Wilkes- Barre Area.” The document charges that the urban renewal project vio- lated each of the 17 plaintiffs’ right to equal protection of the law, as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Consti- tution, in that the standard was arbitrarily established without any rational or justifiable basis for limiting its application to buildings which suffered struc- tural damage, and such limita- tion denied to each plaintiff the right to have his property ac- quired because of the severe flood damage it sustained.” The complaint charges that standards were used based on contradictory criteria regard- ing the economic feasibility of rehabilitation, so that the appli- cation of these standards denied plaintiffs an equal opportunity to have their properties acquir- ed on the basis. of economic in- feasibility of rehabilitating to meet reuse requirements, al- though this is the basis for ac- quiring obsolete structures under guidelines of the renewal project. . The complaint charges the re- development authority ad- ministered its acquisition pro- gram in the project area “in an inconsistent and discriminatory manner; thus denying to each plaintiff an equal opportunity to have his property acquired, in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.” The document states that under statute and HUD regula- tions, due regard must be given to the removal or relocation of GE ! ! : A dwellings from the site of recur- ring floods, which was not done by the redevelopment author- ity. The authority, further vio- lated HUD re #@ations, one charge states, in promulgating standards for acquisition of pro- perties which fail to give due re- gard to preventing residential reuse or other uses which might lead to danger to human life or serious economic loss on the site of potentially recurring floods. It further charges that the authority is forcing property owners to rehabilitate their pro- perty while denying them the protection intended by the re- gulations. : Considering that city govern- ment is requiring that its build- ing codes be met, the authority, according to the complaint, is forcing each of the 17 property owners to undertake an infeasi- ble and burdensome expense to rehabilitate or to dispose of his property, thus effectively de- priving each his property with- out due process of law, or in the alternative, forging him to “face criminal f¥inctions for failure to undertake this bur- densome expense of rehabilita- tion. thus depriving him of his liberty without due process of law.” ra Listed as plaintiffs in the ac- tion are Mr. and Mrs. Francis McCullough, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Sokola, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Rowlands, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Mera, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Pezzner, Josephine Yarrish, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Rockman, Donald Will, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Meyer, Mr. and Mrs. Ir- win Gelb, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Vilensky, Anne M. Hanahue,, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Green- berg, Mr. and Mrs.. David Mitchneck, Mary Drey, Mr. and Mrs. Alan Dukes, and Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Newman. TPT ———— a ARS —— pt A pet A TS at I mE Bb’ mt TN CW pa I i a pi SE NPR IE ——CT As — BY et ~
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers