The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 12

of Phillipsburg area mall lands new tenants PAGE B8 INSIDE Roos gets probation in shooting death PAGE B3 Challenges could prove who's right ast week, it was a letter to the ediL tor from Roger Phillips. Phillips said my criticism of social service agency twerps was "meanspirited." He said my "reckless, insensitive" and "rambling, vitriolic diatribe" against such agencies was lacking in compassion. He's right about that. My compassion for the twerps is a tad Paul Carpenter inadequate. Phillips' letter did not mention it, but he's employed by Pinebrook Services, one of the so-called "nonprofit" therapy mills that derive huge profits from county social service agencies.

I have long argued that those agencies are inordinately focused on money. That's based on complaints I have heard from hundreds of parents. Many say their children are unjustly taken, and agency twerps then make "referrals" to force families into the arms of specified therapy mills. Others say caseworkers ignore genuine abuse or neglect if there is no potential for collecting money from medical insurance or other sources. This week, there was a letter to the editor from Daniel Spengler, a lawyer for Northampton County's social service agencies.

He blasted me for a column supporting an organization to represent parents targeted by agencies I view as woefully corrupt. Spengler said agency people "are dedicated to helping the helpless our children" and I'm "biased" and "closeminded" to think otherwise. Could he be right? By golly, I herewith offer to let Phillips, Spengler and the rest of this system's champions help me get my mind straight. Accordingly, I know precisely how they can prove me wrong. By responding to three simple challenges, they can show me the social service agencies are not so corrupt, after all.

Challenge 1: That Phillips, Spengler Either there is mistreatment or there is not. et al. clearly demand that agency employees be as accountable as parents, and that the employees' blanket protection under sovereign immunity statutes must be modified. Challenge 2: That they demand that agency employees have a code of ethics to prohibit financial conflicts of interest. (E.g., caseworkers could not make referrals to a commercial therapy mill operated by themselves or by fellow agency employees.) Challenge 3: That they demand that the welfare of children be a separate issue from any potential source of funding for the agency or the agency's private sector pals.

(E.g., a caseworker investigating an allegation of abuse or neglect must not ask, or be allowed to know, whether the family has medical insurance or other sources of funding. Either there is mistreatment or there is not; a caseworker's findings should not be determined by financial factors.) Regarding Challenge 3, parents consistently tell me that one of the first questions they are asked by caseworkers is whether they have medical insurance. The reason? The seizure of children and the forced treatment of them and members of their families resemble an extortion racket. Tens of millions of dollars can be at stake annually in each county, and it comes largely from medical insurance. When Phillips, Spengler and their ilk start endorsing measures that effectively remove money as the main motivating force behind the actions of these agency twerps, I herewith vow to eat crow.

If they decline to endorse such measures, I'd dearly love to hear them explain why. Speaking of letters to the editor, you may have seen one on Thursday from Gene Arlen of Allentown, blasting me for denigrating Altus, Okla. He likes Oklahoma and felt my comments represented "a cheap shot." I respect Arlen's opinion. At least he is not defending a corrupt system from which he personally profits. However, I got another letter, from James "Cole" Whitsett of Danielsville.

Mainly, he praised me for my views on social service agencies, but noted that he, too, is familiar with the boring Altus, area. "I relate totally to your assessment the area," Whitsett wrote. "But no mention of the tornadoes that tear through there? Now there's some fun and Once again, I have to eat crow. I should have mentioned the tornadoes. FIFTH FIFTH THE MORNING CALL FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1999 Local Police Regional Business News Report Page Page Page B8 B2 B3 B12 Weather Page ALLENTOWN, LEHIGH AND BERKS COUNTIES Disney voice, fair notable dies Candy Candido, 85, was a 30-year feature on the Allentown midway.

By BOB WITTMAN Of The Morning Call The Man of a Thousand Voices whose renown stretched from the Walt Disney studios in California to the midway of the Allentown Fair will be heard no more. Candy Candido, the fair's official goodwill ambassador for 30 years, died Wednesday in his sleep at his home in Burbank, Calif. Candido was 85 and is survived by Anita, his wife of 66 years, their four children, eight grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two great- great grandchildren. "It's been a hard thing to hear this morning," said Edward Charles, chairman of the Allentown Fair's executive committee. Candido last worked the Allentown Fair in 1993, but his voice will live on in the numerous character voices he provided for more than a dozen animated Disney films, including the role Gus, fat mouse, in "Cinderella," the Indian chief in "Peter Pan" and two alligators in "The Rescuers." Candido provided the barks in CESAR L.

LAURE The Morning Call Frisbee over his buddy Brendan WitThe Allentonians took advantage of a sunto rise today, reaching into the upper MCLXXXVI The Walt Disney Company The many faces of Candy Candido. Of all his cartoon voice roles, this one, Fidget, from Disney's 'The Great Mouse Detective' was his favorite. Gun safety isn't just child's play segment tonight will show youngsters are drawn to handguns as toys. By YUNG KIM Of The Morning Call To find the most effective way to teach children that guns are dangerous, a professor at Muhlenberg College let the youngsters play with them. Marjorie Hardy, an associate professor of psychology, conducted her study four years ago in Charlotte, N.C., but she and ABC's re-created the experiment at Little People Day Care in Whitehall Township.

About 30 parents volunteered their 4- to 8-year-old children for the study in April. Half of the children were given gun education classes by an Allentown police officer. The children were then brought to the day-care center a few days later and sent to play with a child who had not attended the classes. The children were left unsupervised but were monitored by hidden cameras in a room that had four real guns hidden among toys. Hardy found 65 percent of the children played with the guns, whether they had gun safety classes or not.

The guns could not fire, but the children didn't know that, and it didn't stop them from pointing the guns at one another or themselves and pulling the triggers. "Had it been a loaded weapon, a lot of kids would have been hurt," Hardy said. "Education alone is not sufficient. To think parents can just say to their children 'Don't touch guns' is a false sense of security." The segment will air on toPlease See GUNS Page B6 Budget would hike taxes Allentown school board Candy Candido Allentown Fair's ambassador "101 Dalmatians" the meows in "'The Aristocats" and came to be known as The Man of a Thousand Voices. He worked alongside Vincent Price, Mel Blanc and other popular entertainers.

His last and favorite voice role was that of the peg-leg, bro- ken-wing bat named Fidget in the Please See CANDIDO Page B6 3 The air up there Michael Loponzski catches some air and a kowski on Thursday at Cedar Creek Park. shiny afternoon. Temperatures are expected 70s. OKs tentative spending plan with 4.1 percent increase. By KATIE WANG Of The Morning Call The Allentown School Board on Thursday night unanimously adopted a preliminary 1999-2000 budget that includes a 4.1 percent tax increase.

If approved, it would be the first tax increase in five years. The board plans to adopt a final budget at its June 24 meeting, but three directors said adamantly they will not support a final plan that raises the tax. The proposed 1.297-mill increase would boost the district's millage rate to 32.57 mills. One mill is $1 for every $1,000 in assessed value, so a homeowner with an assessment of $50,000 would pay $1,628.50, an increase of about $65. The average assessment in Allentown is $37,296, and 1 mill brings in about $1.49 million in revenue.

Superintendent Diane Scott said the district is cutting so close to the bone that she is worried the quality of education will suffer if an increase is not approved. Much of the increase is attributed to hiring additional personnel, accounting for $1.8 million of the $114 million budget. This includes 17 more teachers to keep class sizes from swelling. Board President Jim LeVan said the district cannot afford to boost taxes because it will only drive more people out of the city. The district has been criticized in the past driving homeowners out of Allentown because of its high taxes.

Please See SCHOOLS Page B4 LVH broadcast helps teach surgeons Doctors in Philadelphia watch urinary procedure via satellite. By ANN WLAZELEK Of The Morning Call Lehigh Valley Hospital can Lights! now broadCamera! cast surgical Operate! techniques as With the help of interactive cameras, micro- an educational phones and a satellite, Dr. Vincent Lucente tool via teleshowed about 100 gynecologists Tuesday how to conferencing perform a new procedure to correct urinary in- to doctors continence. who may be His patient, 57-year-old Elizabeth Lennon of far Lake Harmony, was awake but sedated for the away. surgery at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township; his audience was 50 miles away in Philadelphia.

Lucente, a urogynecologist, operated through a scope to insert a special piece of surgi- HARRY FISHER cal tape that acts like a hammock to support and The Morning Call Please See SURGERY Page B4 I.