Downward Spiral

The offer was a good one, Bill Galanti thought. A New York man was dangling $1.4 million for the old, four-story brick apartment house at Arrott and Leiper Streets in Frankford. For Galanti, the time to sell seemed ripe. It was just before Christmas in 1987. By then he had spent 13 years and untold dollars tending carefully to his investment, the 112-unit Arrott Arms Apartments. He had seen personally to the fixing of leaks, the upgrading of kitchens, the righting of wrongs in the bowels of the basement boilers.

Joseph McAndrew Jr. withdrew from social events, ended a relationship with an Argentine woman he had met on the Internet, and became increasingly paranoid in the months before he allegedly killed his parents and twin brother, friends told Upper Merion investigators this week. In a search-warrant affidavit filed Tuesday, Montgomery County authorities recounted several interviews with those closest to the 23-year-old, while asking a judge for access to computers in the McAndrew family home as well as any books and personal correspondence that might shed light on his mental state.

The tennis courts are overrun by vegetation, and the adjacent swimming pool is crumbling and filled with trash. Discarded furniture and construction debris are piled along a chain-link fence, waiting to be picked up. In nearby buildings, utility rooms are locked to discourage their use for prostitution and drug transactions, and plumbing backups have been known to fill the basements with sewage. Across the Arborwood I, II, and III condominium development in Lindenwold, the evidence of decay is everywhere - and many owners blame the Camden County borough for the downward spiral, which they say escalated in 2004 when the council designated the area a redevelopment zone.

"I'm not a sick person, you know. I'm just your average intellectual . . . I may look like I'm crazy but I'm not. " - Sylvia Seegrist, Oct. 31, 1985 Before the Springfield Mall shooting spree, 25-year-old Sylvia Seegrist dreamed of mushroom clouds, wore sunglasses to dim the colors that "jumped out" at her and refused to seek help from mental-health professionals, Seegrist's mother told a jury in Delaware County Court. Ruth Seegrist said that in the days that preceded the mall violence, her daughter's dress consisted of camouflage pants, wrap-around sunglasses, a red Arab-style headdress and two T-shirts: one lettered with the phrase "Kill Them All," the other with the word "Jihad.

Stock prices fell slightly yesterday. The dollar continued its downward spiral, and trade talks between the United States and Japan faltered.

Today, for the first time, I picked up the Daily News, looked at the front cover, and put the paper down in disbelief WITHOUT buying it. I don't need to tell you that the cover of the sad individual who killed all those Virginia Tech people pointing a gun at me was indeed the most outrageous, self-serving, greedy, deplorable and downright wrong cover you could ever come up with. You are just as much to blame as this kid who killed these people because by putting this on the cover, you sensationalize murder and violence and make it seem like it's a joke just to sell more papers.

The School District of Philadelphia today named veteran educator William Wade to head the low-performing Martin Luther King High School in East Germantown. Wade, who most recently served as head of Vaux Promise Academy, has had success "in reversing the downward spiral of academics at some of the country's most underperforming schools," said Jamilah Fraser a district spokeswoman in a statement. In taking the post, Wade was optimistic. "In the weeks ahead, I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and preparing a comprehensive academic overhaul plan for this school," Wade said.

Better play for officer's death I am disappointed that the Daily News chose to run the story of the death of Philadelphia policeman Thomas Bray on Page 16 (Nov. 14). I know there are many important news events these days, but the death of a policeman, even by accident, deserved some priority. Officer Bray had a long and distinguished career. Tom O'Neill, Philadelphia Prayer, yes - sorcery, no The Harry Potter craze demonstrates the downward spiral of the good morals we should teach our children at home and in school, like the Ten Commandments.

SURPRISE! Fatimah Ali attacks Glenn Beck. As she points out, class divisions in our country are widening, our economy is in a downward spiral and there's anger and turmoil. Who does she blame? Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, the tea party and oh, yeah, the favorite black person's scapegoat, George Bush. But all this is going on while your guy Obama is supposedly running the show. As a white man, unprotected by civil-rights law, I'm calling for our elected officials to step up and fight for the civil rights of white people, too!

Last week, Eagles coach Ray Rhodes sensed a crisis of confidence on his sideline at the end of the first half against San Diego and sat on the ball rather than try to score in the last 71 seconds. People booed. This week, Rhodes found himself in a very similar spot. The Eagles had blown 10 points of a 17-0 lead to the Raiders. There was 1:53 left. This time, Rhodes chose not to sit on the ball. This time, the whole thing blew up. People here cheered. Randall Cunningham threw a safe little screen to Ricky Watters.

The subject line on Malikka Saeed's e-mail proclaimed the good news: "Malikka from First Person is graduating!" This time of year, I get dozens of e-mails pitching inspiring graduation stories. But I stopped short when I saw "Malikka. " How could I forget the young woman whose life filmmaker Ben Herold chronicled in First Person , his powerful 2008 documentary about six Philadelphia public high school seniors struggling to make it to college? What made Herold's film so affecting was that it took an unflinching look at the overwhelming hardships the kids faced.

The School District of Philadelphia today named veteran educator William Wade to head the low-performing Martin Luther King High School in East Germantown. Wade, who most recently served as head of Vaux Promise Academy, has had success "in reversing the downward spiral of academics at some of the country's most underperforming schools," said Jamilah Fraser a district spokeswoman in a statement. In taking the post, Wade was optimistic. "In the weeks ahead, I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and preparing a comprehensive academic overhaul plan for this school," Wade said.

Joseph McAndrew Jr. withdrew from social events, ended a relationship with an Argentine woman he had met on the Internet, and became increasingly paranoid in the months before he allegedly killed his parents and twin brother, friends told Upper Merion investigators this week. In a search-warrant affidavit filed Tuesday, Montgomery County authorities recounted several interviews with those closest to the 23-year-old, while asking a judge for access to computers in the McAndrew family home as well as any books and personal correspondence that might shed light on his mental state.

TO THE good people of Philadelphia, the thought occurred to me that no one appreciates you even at Christmas. The economy is in a downward spiral, bills are piling up and our local politicians don't seem to care. Mayor Nutter comes off as fake in every photo-op. He should try to help his fellow citizens in any way that he can. Maybe he and all his fellow politicians should cut their salaries and see what it is like to barely get by. We all are struggling. Whether you are a police officer, firefighter or Philadelphia Parking Authority lot officer, you need every dime you can get. It is a shame that these politicians don't care.

Castille is part of downward spiral We've reached a new low in this country when Ron Castille, the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, sees no problem with accepting gifts from attorneys who argue cases before his court ("Castille is accepting of litigants' gifts, trips," Sunday). This attitude further shows that this country is in a downward spiral. Castille seems to imply that the onus for recusing himself for conflicts of interest resides on the parties arguing cases before him. He must have missed the day they taught avoiding the appearance of impropriety in law school.

CHERYL JOSEPH is desperate. Every day, she watches her daughter Tiffany become more withdrawn. The 13-year-old locks herself in her room and often refuses to eat. She obsesses over her weight. The smile that used to light up a room is gone. So is her shock of brown, bouncy curls, which she chopped off. Worse yet, her mother said, she thinks that Tiffany, who has diabetes, tried to kill herself by taking too much insulin. Tiffany's downward spiral sprang from being beaten, bullied and harassed by several classmates at Pepper Middle School, in Southwest Philadelphia - and by some of their parents - because a boy had picked Tiffany over another girl, her mother said.

Does 8-4-1 sound familiar? The Flyers have been here before. Last season, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, they went on a five-game winning streak. After 13 games, the Flyers' record was a welcomed 8-4-1, the exact mark they hold right now as they enter this weekend's back-to-back road games with another five-game winning streak. Unfortunately, last year, they followed that streak by winning only three times in the next 10 games. It cost coach John Stevens his job. And that was just the beginning of a downward spiral that sent the Flyers to last place in the Atlantic Division and 14th place in the 15-team Eastern Conference.

Still trending in a downward spiral: Those leaders who are perceived not to be, for lack of a better term, down with the people. You know. "The People," those constituents who feel marginalized, for whatever reason. You don't have to dabble in witchcraft to realize that it doesn't matter if that feeling is based more on perception than reality. Speaking of witch, I mean, which, the current climate is made for candidates like Delaware tea party darling Christine O'Donnell.

SURPRISE! Fatimah Ali attacks Glenn Beck. As she points out, class divisions in our country are widening, our economy is in a downward spiral and there's anger and turmoil. Who does she blame? Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, the tea party and oh, yeah, the favorite black person's scapegoat, George Bush. But all this is going on while your guy Obama is supposedly running the show. As a white man, unprotected by civil-rights law, I'm calling for our elected officials to step up and fight for the civil rights of white people, too!

Although it seems poetic, it's only coincidence that the 76ers are heading west exactly when most of their fans are heading anywhere but the Wachovia Center. Somewhere along this trip, the Sixers had better find themselves. With five games in nine days, the Sixers will cover a decent portion of the Pacific Northwest and West Coast. Through 29 games - a little more than a third of the season - the Sixers are not the team they were last season, which would be a good thing if they had improved.