Shocked about all the bailout? Not me.
History just repeats itself, over and over again, as if history was an insurance salesman trying to sell you a whole life policy. Yes, I remember the uproar when certain deep-fried food stand owners in the county cried for financial assistance back in the late 1970s. It all started with the bleenie stand operators. It appeared that they would all go “pot belly-up” if the County Commissioners would not come to their rescue. Many blamed it on the brutal winters in Schuylkill County, which was especially hard on those in the concession food industry which in those days was a year round industry.
Do think it was fun waiting in sub-zero weather; treading through two feet of snow and ice to buy bleenies? I almost lost four of my toes one winter waiting behind fifty other people in a bleenie line when the woman at the front of the line had a large bucket container for take-outs. Immediately after that incident, the Schuylkill County Emergency Management Agency outlawed take-out containers from Christmas through St. Patrick’s Day at all stands.
For those ignoramuses out there a bleenie is an eastern european potato pancake. Bleenie stands were quite common in every community. Historical records indicate that Shenandoah had more bleenie stands than any other community at one time, beating out Warsaw, Minsk, and New Philadelphia for the honors. Pottsville, the county seat had forty four licensed bleenie stands, although most were referred to as german potato cake stands. German potato cakes are generally much thicker and not as tasty by the way. The number of unlicensed bleenie stands in the county was estimated to be between 400 and 1200. All of these concession stands drew large crowds to the downtowns of every community, keeping the economy charged.
Running a fried food stand is not an inexpensive endeavor; start-up capital runs into the thousands of dollars for the stand or a truck, and then there are the fryers, ranges, and ingredients – potatoes, eggs, flour, and onions. Don’t forget the paper towels, plastic forks and paper plates. Salt and pepper cannot be overlooked and I almost forgot the large investment in sour cream.
The payoff in this “cash only” enterprise can be phenomenal for those not feint of heart. And at one time the bleenie industry welding a lot of political power, causing a fearful President Nixon to impose federal price controls on vegetable oil. Historians are now still listening to the Bootleg Nixon tapes (volume 8 "Tell Tale Signs") unraveling his scheme to cripple the bleenie industry for their overt support of one of his rival opponents, Senator Edmund Muskie. Yes, the bleenie vendors were right up there on the top of Nixon’s Enemies’ List and his shenanigans are referred to as his "geasy tricks." The recent movie "Nixon-Frost" also bears this out; watch Nixon closely as he pretends to enjoy his bleenies that he shares with David Frost, wiping the grease away with his napkin rather than licking it away as most bleenie lovers do.
Do think it was fun waiting in sub-zero weather; treading through two feet of snow and ice to buy bleenies? I almost lost four of my toes one winter waiting behind fifty other people in a bleenie line when the woman at the front of the line had a large bucket container for take-outs. Immediately after that incident, the Schuylkill County Emergency Management Agency outlawed take-out containers from Christmas through St. Patrick’s Day at all stands.
For those ignoramuses out there a bleenie is an eastern european potato pancake. Bleenie stands were quite common in every community. Historical records indicate that Shenandoah had more bleenie stands than any other community at one time, beating out Warsaw, Minsk, and New Philadelphia for the honors. Pottsville, the county seat had forty four licensed bleenie stands, although most were referred to as german potato cake stands. German potato cakes are generally much thicker and not as tasty by the way. The number of unlicensed bleenie stands in the county was estimated to be between 400 and 1200. All of these concession stands drew large crowds to the downtowns of every community, keeping the economy charged.
Running a fried food stand is not an inexpensive endeavor; start-up capital runs into the thousands of dollars for the stand or a truck, and then there are the fryers, ranges, and ingredients – potatoes, eggs, flour, and onions. Don’t forget the paper towels, plastic forks and paper plates. Salt and pepper cannot be overlooked and I almost forgot the large investment in sour cream.
The payoff in this “cash only” enterprise can be phenomenal for those not feint of heart. And at one time the bleenie industry welding a lot of political power, causing a fearful President Nixon to impose federal price controls on vegetable oil. Historians are now still listening to the Bootleg Nixon tapes (volume 8 "Tell Tale Signs") unraveling his scheme to cripple the bleenie industry for their overt support of one of his rival opponents, Senator Edmund Muskie. Yes, the bleenie vendors were right up there on the top of Nixon’s Enemies’ List and his shenanigans are referred to as his "geasy tricks." The recent movie "Nixon-Frost" also bears this out; watch Nixon closely as he pretends to enjoy his bleenies that he shares with David Frost, wiping the grease away with his napkin rather than licking it away as most bleenie lovers do. 
His subsequent price controls on vegetable oil surely resulted in a shortage causing long lines at the bleenie stands.So it was not long for the bleenie lobby to push for a massive rescue plan. One spokesman said that if the county could waste money on a Sportsman Complex and so many other ridiculous ventures, then certainly two million of federal revenue sharing could be pushed its way. The bleenie industry would be very “grate-ful.”
Such a rescue plan would be unprecedented, but the bleenie industry was as much an integral part of the county’s economic backbone as, say, coal mining or even illegal numbers. It was just too big to fail. As an aside, the county did turn down a bail-out to the numbers racketeers when their revenues plunged after the state lottery commenced.
Besides a call for two million immediate cash infusion to bolster the floundering bleenie industry, another plan called for county coupons as a “stimulus package,” as there is nothing more stimulating than a golden brown mouth watering bleenie. Each adult would be given cards to purchase 172 bleenies. It was never decided but some wanted the cards to be used one per day to keep the lines manageable. Some Schuylkill County officials proposed and “odd-even” distribution of bleenies, that is only odd people as determined by Turning Point could purchase bleenies on odd days and even-keeled individuals, again determined by Turning Point, could purchase bleenies on even days, with all the others left to figure it out for themselves.
In the end, the massive bailout was rejected by the County Commissioners, who found more interesting things to waste the money on; they were also afraid of a government take-over of the bleenie industry on constitutional grounds. Others cynically said that the commissioners were in the pocket of the french fry capitalists and had no interest in helping the bleenie operators. As a result, our downtowns collapsed, the sour cream industry curdled up, and hundreds of bleenie vendors went under, swelling the unemployment lines to rival those of the pre-1978 bleenie lines. The lucky ones received retraining through SCAM to work in the funnel cake sector. The surviving bleenie vendors drastically cut their work schedule, now only working during the summer months. Look around; there is not a bleenie stand in operation all winter.
Such a rescue plan would be unprecedented, but the bleenie industry was as much an integral part of the county’s economic backbone as, say, coal mining or even illegal numbers. It was just too big to fail. As an aside, the county did turn down a bail-out to the numbers racketeers when their revenues plunged after the state lottery commenced.
Besides a call for two million immediate cash infusion to bolster the floundering bleenie industry, another plan called for county coupons as a “stimulus package,” as there is nothing more stimulating than a golden brown mouth watering bleenie. Each adult would be given cards to purchase 172 bleenies. It was never decided but some wanted the cards to be used one per day to keep the lines manageable. Some Schuylkill County officials proposed and “odd-even” distribution of bleenies, that is only odd people as determined by Turning Point could purchase bleenies on odd days and even-keeled individuals, again determined by Turning Point, could purchase bleenies on even days, with all the others left to figure it out for themselves.
In the end, the massive bailout was rejected by the County Commissioners, who found more interesting things to waste the money on; they were also afraid of a government take-over of the bleenie industry on constitutional grounds. Others cynically said that the commissioners were in the pocket of the french fry capitalists and had no interest in helping the bleenie operators. As a result, our downtowns collapsed, the sour cream industry curdled up, and hundreds of bleenie vendors went under, swelling the unemployment lines to rival those of the pre-1978 bleenie lines. The lucky ones received retraining through SCAM to work in the funnel cake sector. The surviving bleenie vendors drastically cut their work schedule, now only working during the summer months. Look around; there is not a bleenie stand in operation all winter.
Not even on Super Bowl Sunday.
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