LET’S TALK ABOUT THE FALLON
By Lou Bernard
It’s hard to come out and say this without feeling like some sort of drama queen, but I’m going to try. I am in pain. I am in actual pain because of what’s happened at the Fallon Hotel recently.
The Fallon, which may be Lock Haven’s most historic hotel, was built in 1854 for the Queen of Spain when she made investments in the area. After considerable neglect, it was purchased recently by new owners, who have the intent of repairing at and making it a thriving business.
No, that’s not the bad part. The part that upsets me is that recently, someone broke in and vandalized the place, spray-painting swastikas and other offensive graphics and slogans.
It breaks my heart to see this.
The whole thing hurts on several levels. First off, it hurts me when I see any historic building damaged. The Fallon is one of the most notable historic buildings in the county, and has taken more than its share of abuse. In addition to over twenty years of neglect, it’s survived two arson attempts. The Fallon Hotel was once a classy place, built for a queen. Mark Twain and P.T. Barnum stayed there. The building deserves better.
As for the hate graffiti…..I’ve been very outspoken against hate speech in the past. Swastikas and hateful, bigoted views have no place in this community. We’ve had Nazi flyers posted in the past, and I’ve spoken out against them. This may be some teenagers who broke into the building, because obviously the best way to prove you’re a tough guy is to paint a building unsupervised. Not that that would excuse it—I don’t like this crap coming from actual Nazis, and I’m not about to give some flaky teens a pass, either.
Hate speech is not welcome here—I’ve said it before. Clinton County has plenty of flaws, but we also value diversity here. We had the first African-American soldier in a white unit in World War I, we had the Underground Railroad, we’ve had a thriving Jewish community since 1840, and I’m not about to let some creeps with spray paint start dictating what this community stands for.
So I’m upset with the Nazis, which is nothing new. But I’m somewhat upset with the new owners, too.
On Facebook, they shared photos of the vandalism, and I completely sympathize with them for that. But they said it “shed light on the hate and racist character of this city,” which is a slap in the face to the majority of Lock Haven.
Don’t judge the entire city by the actions of a few criminals. Don’t you dare.
I’m not denying that there are racists here. Of course there are; I’m not innocent enough to think Lock Haven is a utopia. But in my experience, it’s a good place filled with good people. To judge the whole city for the actions of a few is an insult to all of the good people who are disgusted with this vandalism. This community was good enough for the Queen of Spain to build that hotel in the first place—While you’re painting the walls of the Fallon, don’t paint us all with the same brush.
Want to start a thriving business in a community? A little advice for you: Don’t insult the community.
I hope the new owners were speaking in anger (which I can understand; I’m basically doing it right now) and think better of it, and apologize. And I hope the vandals are caught and punished. If they’re teens, fifty hours of community service doing yard work at Beth Yehuda Cemetery would be lovely to see.
Lock Haven is a good place. There are flaws. There are some bad people here. But there are plenty of good ones, too. Prejudice is prejudice….Don’t condemn everyone uniformly, not a race, a religion, or a city.
