Years ago, in a building that no longer exists, an assorted group of early risers would meet for coffee. By 6:30, most of us had arrived at Jerry's for the early morning sessions. Included in this group of civil critics was Lou Hershman. Lou's rants were almost exclusively centered on the city budget, year after year, rant after rant.
What takes me back to that coffee shop is a current post on facebook. A local Black Lives Matter advocate is supporting a local gays rights advocate, who is offended by the adoration being given Lou Hershman, who passed away last week. She claims that Lou was a bigot against gays. In all the years and all the conversations that I had with Lou, he never once mentioned gays. As for the young BLM activist, I'm sure that he never met Lou, and probably never even heard of him before last week.
Back then, fifteen years ago, when I would drive to the coffee shop at 7th and Hamilton at six in the morning, I would always think about how calm town seemed at that time of day. I knew that as the day progressed, so would the commotion. Unfortunately, the streets are considerably more violent now than they were then. Allentown would be better off if the young BLM leader concerned himself with making the streets safer. In fifty years, if he contributes as much as Lou Hershman did to Allentown, let's hope nobody slanders his good deeds.
photocredit: Bernie O'Hare
reprinted from October of 2020
Lou was a true public servant and a good freind to all alentownians.
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