Story and photos by Mark Peterson
(Beaver, PA) For people who like statistics and data, this story will win a Pulitzer Prize. On Friday, Political proletariat from Beaver County held a closed press conference in court room number 1 of the Beaver County Courthouse to unleash their disdain for a recent decision by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf not to re open Beaver County after seven week shut down to slow down the spread of the COVID 19 virus.
After County Commission Chairman Daniel C. Camp set the tone with strong oratory in his opening statements, he turned the program over to the analytical thinker of the bunch, Commissioner Jack Manning. For the next three minutes and forty five seconds, the gathered media were going to hear just exactly why Beaver County should have been included in the the re opening process, along with every other county in southwest Pennsylvania. The basic gist of Manning’s diatribe was that only a fool could have come to the conclusion that Beaver County should remain closed after taking a closer look at the data. Data that he was more than willing to share. Here is a video of Jack’s segment:
The conclusion was a simple one. Open Beaver County up anyway, regardless of what the governor had decided. Jack Manning, along with fellow commissioners, Tony Amadio and Dan Camp, state representatives, Jim Marshall and Joshua Kail, state senator, Elder Vogel and district attorney, David Lozier, banded together in solidarity and announced that local Beaver County businesses were permitted to open up, in the same fashion as those in other counties, in spite of restrictions in place from Harrisburg. This was accomplished by getting assurances from Lozier, that no business or business owner, who had complaints filed against them by local law enforcement, would be prosecuted. However, businesses having state regulated licenses, such as hair salons, restaurants and bars would not be able to open up under the rogue moment announced by Manning and his cohorts on Friday.
For now Beaver County will “officially” remain closed, according to the Governor’s list, anyway, until at least June 4, 2020.
