Beth Ann Rosica: Groundhog Day arrives early in Chester County
Groundhog Day arrived early in Chester County this year — two full days ahead of the typical February 2 date. Shortly after 4 p.m. on January 30, 2025, Jeanne Franklin, the county health director, launched a ridiculous defense of her indefensible decision to ban the volunteers at St. Agnes Church from distributing hot meals to those in need.
I thought I was stuck in the Bill Murray classic movie, Groundhog Day, while sitting in the audience for the monthly Department of Health meeting.
I don’t make a habit of attending these meetings, but I do show up when our health director makes asinine decisions that do far more harm than good. Take for example, Ms. Franklin’s position on school closures and masking during Covid. She single-handedly kept schools closed far longer than necessary, forcibly masked children, and imposed draconian quarantine policies.
Meanwhile in other counties, like Bucks, their health director — an actual physician — took a very different approach, and kids were back in school much sooner without the nonsensical masking and quarantine requirements.
Ms. Franklin, who is not a licensed physician, but rather holds a Masters in Public Health, indicated during meetings back in 2020 and 2021 that she knew best what was necessary to keep children safe in schools. She acknowledged that her guidance was more stringent than other counties in the state. Meanwhile, most of her recommendations have now been proven to be ineffective, harmful, and not based in science.
As a result of her guidance, domestic violence and child abuse skyrocketed in the county, not to mention the mental health crisis and plummeting academic achievement.
Fast forward to January 30, 2025, when Ms. Franklin demonstrates she learned nothing from her past mistakes. At this meeting, she once again admitted that her interpretation and enforcement of certain regulations is more stringent than other counties.
Groundhog Day!
For those not familiar, I highly recommend watching it, as it is quite funny — but the point of the movie is that Bill Murray is stuck in a time loop where he keeps reliving Groundhog Day over and over again. This is what it feels like at times in Chester County. We are hearing the same nonsensical arguments over and over again from the same misinformed county employee — who, by the way, is paid with our tax dollars.
I reported on the current issue at St. Agnes Church last week. Under Ms. Franklin’s leadership, the county health department shut down a hot meal program for needy people in the community, including seniors, children, and the homeless.
Never mind that this program operates 100 percent by volunteers through donations and has been in existence for over 30 years with no problems. The director and founder of the program estimates that they have served over one million meals, and no one has ever gotten sick as a result of the program. The hot lunches are thoughtfully prepared by volunteer cooks in their homes and transported to the church. Yet, Ms. Franklin demanded St. Agnes stop serving hot meals a few months ago, citing the violation of state regulations. Her rationalization is explained fully in my last article.
When I showed up at the health department meeting on January 30, I was not surprised to hear Director Franklin defend her position, but I was shocked when she admitted to interpreting the state regulations far more strictly than other counties. I had not planned to speak at the meeting, I was only there to listen, but suffice it to say, I couldn’t keep quiet. If I were a progressive, I would claim that I was “triggered” by her words, but alas, I am not a progressive.
The situation was so much like the school closures — I just couldn’t believe that we were back in this never-ending Groundhog Day loop. I reminded the health director about her record of overly stringent interpretation, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears as she did not respond to my comments.
Another county resident who attended the meeting, Dr. Frank Speidel, a retired emergency room physician and hospital administrator, had a similar reaction.
“I found the health department meeting Orwellian, reminding me of the Ministry of Truth and Memory Holes. I listened to the ‘Health’ Department argue for shutting down a hot meals program for the needy, run out of the priest’s home, that has been doing so for 31 years without incident. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Speidel. “There’s an axiom in medicine — the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. One would think having a practicing gastroenterologist preparing the macaroni salad would be reassuring about food safety.”
After the meeting, I contacted the county commissioners about Ms. Franklin’s overzealous interpretation of the regulations. One commissioner responded quickly that they were working on a solution. I truly hope this is the case so we can end this Groundhog Day reel.
Yet, based on the meeting, it appears Ms. Franklin learned nothing from past mistakes. In the movie, Bill Murray finally learned to change his behavior, and consequently, woke up on February 3 with a vastly different outcome. Unfortunately, unless the commissioners step in and interrupt the health department’s never-ending Groundhog Day, we in Chester County may be doomed to live in this idiotic loop for eternity.
Beth Ann Rosica is a fan of Bill Murray and silly, snarky movies and opposes government overreach in all shapes and sizes. She resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at barosica@broadandliberty.com.
It certainly is Groundhog Day and Ms. Rosica is belaboring the same issues from her column a few days ago, St Agnes and Covid.
“Ms. Franklin, who is not a licensed physician, but rather holds a Masters in Public Health, ” – Director Franklin relies on her training and the training and experience of those who work for her. Which would include the Board of Health. That consists of;
A PhD with a Masters in Public Health (MPH)
An MD with an MPH and three or more years in Emergency Medicine
An RN with a Master’s in Nursing
An MD
Two people with Master’s in Public Health
Along with countless other medical and health professionals in the region.
Ms. Rosica has a PhD in education; not medicine, epidemiology, infectious diseases, food science, or public health. Her entire career has been as a contract worker for various PACs, spending no time teaching in a school. Is she working directly with students in a classroom to overcome these problems?
I have a question for her. Ms. Rosica has made repeated claims that children suffered emotionally and educationally during Covid. Now that the Coivd restrictions have been lifted is she currently teaching in a classroom to help these children?
Your argument is ad hominem. Do you have an argument concerning why the church shouldn’t be allowed to serve meals to the needy?
I am addressing the points Ms. Rosica raised, including her claim that because Director Franklin is not a doctor she should not be making decisions, that she has a board filled with medical and public health professionals, and that this has nothing to do with Coivd.
If the Church and its volunteers want to serve food made in people’s kitchens. Then everyone should have the required certifications that commercial food handlers are required to have. Instead of whining about the decision, Ms. Rosica could have worked with the Health Department. This all assumes that Ms. Rosica actively participates in the St. Agnes program. Which she does not.
Well written Beth Ann….thank you for researching and informing our community. Just because someone (response above) has a Masters in Public health doesn’t automatically make any of her decisions correct. Esp since this has been going on for over 20 years….
Time for “big brother” to be more compassionate for the people who need these services.!
As I stated in my previous comment…experience is the best teacher. I almost died of food poisoning and had I not been a robust, strapping twenty-three year old, I would have. It took a specialist from the UofP, a friend of our family doctor, to come to the Coatesville Hospital at 3AM to help pull me through. I wouldn’t have died from stale food, outdated food, or spoiled food nor from food that was too hot or too spicy or simply undelectable. But from food prepared by a human being. Not by an evil person but by a person either in too much of a hurry to wash their hands or ignorant. From food contaminated by a byproduct of a human being. We are, so they say, the filthiest creatures on the planet.
It’s bad enough that we can’t trust our servers or cooks when we go out to eat out of fear that their nonchalant Millenialism or GenZerism will do us harm. Maybe they overlooked that last chicken tender at the bottom of a frozen container that was thawing in the blood of layers of other thawing chicken tenders. Or maybe that crab was already dead before they threw it in the pot. Did they wash the lettuce? Is it Milorganite that makes those locally grown tomatoes so big and red? If we have to be careful even when we go out to eat food supposedly prepared by professionals, how much more cautious should we be of food prepared by volunteers.
I get it. Jeanne Franklin, the county health director, is a zealot. She might even believe government is a benevolent Big Brother. I know this, it’s better to have a county health department than not to have one. Lancaster County doesn’t have one thanks to their Republican commissioners. Lancaster County had to administer COVID shots from an abandoned department store at Park City. I’m a conservative, too but I want to know where to go for my potassium iodide when I need it. Lancaster County is minutes from Three Mile Island. Like Beth Ann says, “Ms. Franklin demonstrates she learned nothing from her past mistakes.” She’s not the only one who doesn’t learn from their mistakes. Ms. Franklin wasn’t the only one to get COVID wrong either. I got all the shots and boosters and still have ringing in my ears. Every time I drive passed a radio tower I can hear Chris Stigall.
You know what Richard, this program has existed for 31 yrs. Why now?
Do you ever eat in restaurants?
Your comments are misguided. Get off of it.
And stop getting the shit shot, that had no real clinical trials. They take years to develop.
Gov overreach.
Thank you Mr. Terhune for identifying Judah’s argument as “ad hominem”. Because of you I just spent an hour or so educating myself on the types of ad hominem arguments.
I learned something today and I value that.
Jon,
You might really enjoy this website: https://www.csun.edu/~dgw61315/fallacies.html
It lists all types of logical fallacies. Pointing out a logical fallacy is a way of removing an argument from the debate rather than just weakening it.
“Do you ever eat in restaurants?” Burger King makes the best fries.
“Interpreting” is too kind, and intentionally sounds passive. This behavior is not passive. It is being specifically applied to restrict a religious group’s activity. Why? And what are the ramifications if the Chester County Health Department is found to be WIELDING these state regulations – self-admittedly far more strictly than other counties – AGAINST a specific religious affiliation or group? Are they doing this to other religious affiliations or groups in Chester County uniformly? Why not? And why does this Director think they have the autonomy to “interpret” anything? Who empowered them to have that type of latitude? Don’t they have legal counsel? It seems they have opened themselves to legal action with this public admission, and at a minimum Director Franklin’s supervisor should intervene… on behalf of the Chester County taxpayers.