Down River 7/15

By John Lipez

Not Taking One for the Team:
The Philadelphia Phillies, on the cusp of making a second half run for semi-greatness in the National League’s mediocre Eastern Division, suffered a setback just before the All-Star break when starting third baseman Alec Bohm tested positive for COVID-19, knocking him out of the lineup for a minimum of 10 games. The young Mr. Bohm also took three teammates with him, including starting pitcher Aaron Nola; the latter three knocked out of service because of contact tracing protocols from Major League Baseball. All, according to Philadelphia media reports, elected not to be vaccinated.

Major League Baseball has encouraged its teams to be vaccinated, but had not mandated the shots. So now the Phillies are at a competitive disadvantage as second half play begins because some team members chose, for whatever reason, not to be inoculated.

The league had set up an 85% threshold for team members and staff to be vaccinated in order to relax that team’s COVID-19 protocols. The Phillies are one of a handful of teams that has not hit the 85% figure. As a result, they find themselves shorthanded for a minimum of ten days.

Phillies manager Joe Girardi said he doesn’t believe the team should demand shots: “I think it’s a personal choice. You have to deal with it, that’s all. You’re going to have little things like this pop up probably more than teams that are vaccinated. You just pray that they’re either a false positive or the guys that are nearby don’t get it. That’s your prayer.”

“But in the meantime, sometimes you have to lose players that don’t necessarily have it, and that’s the frustrating part.”

There is one Philadelphia writer, Marcus Hayes, who is less understanding than the Phillies skipper. He called the impacted major leaguers “knuckleheads (who) just don’t care that they risk the health of others as much as they care about themselves, their inconveniences, and their ignorance. Life’s a lot easier when it’s led without conscience.”

Meanwhile it’s frustrating to see that Clinton County too lags in the percentage of its citizenry getting vaccinated. This is not surprising as Clinton and other counties where the vaccination percentage is low had high voter support for former President Donald Trump in his unsuccessful bid for re-election. Let’s just say the ex-president was not exactly whole-heartedly behind the call for vaccinations and let it go at that.

Down River has family members and friends who for one reason or another have eschewed getting their shots. I can’t make them, but I wish they would. I see the numbers, I read the stories. Most frightening are the COVID off-shoots spreading across parts of the United States. Forty-two states have seen an increase in COVID cases over the last two weeks; it’s the delta variant showing up in significant pockets around the country. If Clinton County, with a high percentage of the un-inoculated, gets hit by one of these strains because a relatively high percentage of our population has chosen not to be vaccinated, the whole county will suffer. And think about this: 99.5 percent who have died from COVID-19 were unvaccinated. If that’s not motivation to get a shot, what is?

It doesn’t have to be that way. If you haven’t had your shot(s), Down River respectfully suggests you do so. Take one for the team, your team, our team. Not like the Phillies’ Alec Bohm.
******
And a Quiz:
Since the Clinton County Historical Society this year is observing its 100th birthday, why not a quiz with an historical bent? Why not one about the Fallon Hotel, Victorian England’s gift to Water Street in Lock Haven?

We all know the Fallon, dating to 1855, came about from the Fallon Brothers. According to Historic Lock Haven, the English emissaries for Maria Christina, Queen of Spain, put up $34,000 towards the total project cost of $50,000. The hotel has changed hands periodically over the last 160 years or so, one recent sale in 1997, $104,000 the price paid by Terry and Dolores Mantle of Jersey Shore. The hotel did not flourish under their watch and now there may or may not be new owners in C&Q Investment Properties. The City of Lock Haven and its Redevelopment Authority are trying to sort out the ownership issue in an effort to save the once glorious landmark from further decay.

And then, just last week, there was activity in front of the Fallon and we’re not talking about picking up all the shards of broken glass which remained in the gutter in the front of the hotel for better than a week after a recent storm. Nope, actually a small construction crew was spotted at the old Christian Science reading room, a much dilapidated one-story appendage on the building’s east side.

Here’s your quiz: what were they doing?
(A) Putting in another cigar store to make that stretch of Water Street the cigar capital of central Pennsylvania.
(B) Converting its inside into a future mausoleum for local musician/entrepreneur/philanthropist Steven P. Poorman.
(C) A juice bar.
(D) A law office for Paul Welch after a change of heart following his recent retirement from the firm of Coploff, Ryan, Welch & Houser.

You may or may not be disappointed to know the answer is “C.” Word on the street is the C&Q gang hopes to have the juice bar open by late August; stay tuned.