Franklin County Washington

3 more electronic recycling dates set for Franklin County

Franklin County has scheduled three more electronic recycling dates over the next year after a successful premier on April 30.

Residents dropped seven tons of electronics equipment at the collection site in Washington Township, according to Daniel Wolf, community planner for the county.

"We got a lot more than we expected," Wolf said. "We were expecting three tons. We got 86 computers, over 100 televisions and close to 90 monitors."

The county is working with Creative Recycling Systems. The company, based in Tampa, Fla., was established in 1994 and recently opened a center in Allentown.

The county and Creative Recycling will conduct three events over the next two years near Shippensburg and Waynesboro and in Path Valley:

n Oct. 8 at the Southampton Township municipal building, 705 Municipal Drive.

n April 8 at the Washington Township municipal building, 13013 Welty Road.

n June 23, 2012, at the Metal Township municipal building at 12034 Creek Road.

The drop-off collections are at no cost to the county.

"Come next year, you won't be able to put televisions and computers in landfills," Wolf said.

A typical computer processor and monitor contain five to eight pounds of lead, plus heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury and arsenic.

Creative Recycling is recycling the material in the U.S., Wolf said. The company has a no-landfill-polluting policy for all electronics and is committed to health and safety, according to the company Web site.

Some companies ship obsolete electronics overseas. A bill to stop sham U.S. "recyclers" from dumping electronic waste on developing countries has been introduced to the U.S. House. The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act, supported by environmental groups and electronics manufacturers, also would create recycling jobs in the U.S.

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Jim Hook can be reached at 262-4759 and jhook@publicopinionnews.com .

Obama Donors Get Government Jobs | Franklin County Va. Patriots ...

Craig Holman of Public Citizen, a liberal advocacy group said that Obama has taken steps to avoid some of Washington’s power-and-money issues. Obama wouldn’t take campaign money from PACs or lobbyists. And once in office, he ordered up tough revolving-door restrictions and more transparency rules. “Even though he is being run largely by money, he is making a massive effort to try to avoid any serious conflicts of interest.”

That being said, The Center for Public Integrity reported that Obama supporters who raised $50,000 or more for his 2008 presidential campaign have been tapped for ambassadorships, government jobs or unpaid advisory positions. The report also said that at least 19 fundraisers are connected to businesses that could benefit from government spending programs.

The center’s report found that 80 percent of Obama backers who raised more than $500,000 landed in administration posts. It also reported that about a third of the ambassadors he has named, 24 were fundraisers. 

Carney rejected the suggestion that money was a factor in government appointments. “Those people are highly qualified individuals who happen to be highly successful in the things that they’ve done in life,” he said, argueing that the Obama administration has imposed tough ethical standards [ hee hee hee ] and that its activities have been more transparent than other administrations. [ If you can call ‘behind closed doors’ transparent. ]

During his campaign, Obama released the names of more than 550 fundraisers who collected, or “bundled,” $50,000 or more from contributors. The report said those fundraisers and their families, many of whom are friends or acquaintances of the president, also accounted for more than 3,000 visits to the White House for either meetings or social events.

One example cited by the report is Penny Pritzker, who was Obama’s campaign finance chairwoman and heir to the Pritzker Hyatt hotel chain. Obama picked her to be one of 16 members of his Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board. When that board expired, Obama included her in his 26-member Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

The Obama record has disappointed the American Foreign Service Association, which believes these appointments should mostly go to career diplomats.