Local environmental watchdog launches news Web site

Schuylkill County residents looking for information on important political issues including toxic dumping, local control, corporate welfare and property tax reform have a new online source to turn to.

Dr. Dante Picciano, director of the Tamaqua-based environmental watchdog organization Army for a Clean Environment, has launched a Web site at www.dante7.com that aims to serve concerned citizens with news and commentary on these and related political matters.

Picciano explains why (hotlinks added by me):

Experience has taught me that the information being disseminated by the media is filtered. There are two examples from the website. Recently, the Pottsville Republican & Herald reported that incumbent Schuylkill County Commissioners Frank Staudenmeier and Robert Carl said that they never considered John Schickram a serious challenge to their re-election effort. John sent a response to Staudenmeier and Carl's criticism but the newspaper refused or failed to publish it. The response was published in the Lehighton Times News and now it is posted on my website.

Second, the Pottsville Republican & Herald reported on the Schuylkill County unemployment rate as evidence by the Commissioners of the success in the county economic development efforts. I sent a response pointing out the fallacy of the Commissioners' interpretation of the the unemployment rates but the newspaper again failed or refused to publish it. My response was published in the Lehighton Times news and now it is posted on my website.

All I read in the newspapers and see on television are stories about the number of jobs that our politicians have created, about their efforts to lower our property taxes, about what they are doing to stop the dumping, about what they are doing about our cancer problems, etc. The politicians are claiming that they created more jobs than there are people in Schuylkill County, our property taxes are constantly increasing, we are continually being assaulted with contaminated, hazardous and toxic wastes from outside the county and the cancer rates continue to climb. All of the media are guilty of one-sided reporting and it is time for a more balanced presentation. Our politicians represent industry and I want to let everyone know the truth.