http://www.standardspeaker.com/index.ph ... 4&Itemid=2

Barletta to make Philly cheesesteaks
Thursday, 21 September 2006
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta will be making cheesesteaks in South Philadelphia Monday.

Barletta is among the regional celebrities who will take part in a fundraiser for the Gennaro Pellegrini Memorial Scholarship Fund in Philadelphia.

Barletta was invited to participate by Joey Vento – an organizer of the event and owner of Geno’s Steaks, Ninth Street and Passyunk Avenue.

Pellegrini was a Philadelphia police officer and a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He was also an up-and-coming boxer who’d attracted national attention.

He was one of five National Guard members killed in action in Iraq Aug. 9, 2005.

Geno’s gained notoriety for the sign in the window of the eatery. It reads, “This is America – Order in English.”

Vento heard of Barletta’s proposal to make English Hazleton’s official language and became a supporter – he even taped a copy of the Standard-Speaker’s story about Barletta’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act in the window near the “order in English” sign.

When Barletta testified in front of a panel from the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee at the Constitution Center this summer, he stopped at Geno’s. He and Vento have become friends since. Barletta invited Vento to Funfest and now Vento asked Barletta to take part in the fundraiser.

“Joey called and asked me if I’d do it and I said sure,” Barletta said. “They’re closing off the blocks around Geno’s, and there will be live radio coverage. I’ll be making cheesesteaks.”

Pellegrini, then 31, had two weeks left in his six-year National Guard stint when he was told his tour of duty would be extended to at least a year. In March 2005, three months after his unit arrived in Iraq, Pellegrini wrote to Don Elbaum, owner of the well-known Blue Horizon boxing venue in North Philadelphia, to say he was still working with a coach and punching the heavy bag daily so he could return to the ring when he returned home.

The scholarship fund was set up shortly thereafter and is actively supported by the Philadelphia Police Department.


On the Net: http://www. pellegrinischolarshipfund.com