Maybe Not 'Bitter,' But Aware of the Loss In Western Pa.,

[EV_Ares]

Witnessing a Steady Decline

CHARLEROI, Pa. -- Sitting with friends over 74-cent cups of coffee at the McDonald's here, Bob and Michael Jeanmenne can see more than a few things that might affect their moods. The Monongahela River, which runs cleaner than when they were young (not a good sign); the trains, which rumble along the river but don't stop, since the station was replaced by a Rite Aid years ago; and the main drag, McKean Avenue, where the streetcar is long gone, half the storefronts are vacant and many others are on the verge of shuttering.

"You couldn't walk down one block without bumping into 30 people. Now you walk down three or four blocks at 8 at night and you won't run into anyone," said Michael Jeanmenne, 80.

Yes, the Jeanmenne brothers concede, they are somewhat "bitter," the word that Sen. Barack Obama used at a San Francisco fundraiser to describe small-town Pennsylvania, in a riff that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton seized on to cast him as elitist. The steel mill where Michael worked as a stenciler is slated to shut down this year; the GM parts manufacturer where Bob worked is also on its last legs. All eight of their children have left town. "There's an awful lot of resentment around here," said Bob Jeanmenne, 84.

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