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khaosworksCrusty debate rages in Legislature over official state cookie
Bill Toland, Times Staff 03/14/2003
Bill Toland, Times Staff 03/14/2003
Of all the half-baked bills to come through the Pennsylvania Legislature, these two are undoubtedly the flakiest.Personally, I'm in favor of Thin Mints, but that's just me...
Seems that, once again, the separate chambers of the Legislature are at odds when it comes to designating an official state cookie.
The Senate is pitching anew for the chocolate-chip cookie, whereas the House is supporting the Nazareth sugar cookie, in a bill sponsored by eight representatives, including Moon Township's state Rep. and Senator-elect John Pippy.
The House and Senate have been in disagreement since at least 2001, when the original versions of the bills were introduced. But six days after the House introduced its Nazareth cookie bill, terrorists steered airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the issue of a state cookie no doubt seemed a little trite, given the gravity of the day.
But the bills are back, introduced last month, just days apart. On Feb. 13, two state senators reintroduced the chocolate-chip measure, Senate Bill 320. That came in response to House Bill 219, the Nazareth cookie act, resurrected two days earlier.
That bill was sponsored by, among others, Pippy, R-44, as well as Rep. Craig Dally, R-138, Nazareth, naturally.
"Gosh, I hope I'm not on that list," said state Rep. Sue Laughlin. Laughlin, D-16, Conway, said she has nothing against sugar cookies, but she's never baked any. "Personally, I'm partial to chocolate-chip cookies. I bet the chocolate-chip wins."
Not if the good people at the Nazareth Chamber of Commerce have anything to say about it. For two years, they've been pushing for its sugar cookie to be designated as the state's favorite. The recipe was perfected by the Moravians, Protestant settlers from Germany who made Nazareth their home during the mid-1700s.
The modern version's big selling point is that it comes in the shape of a keystone - Pennsylvania is the Keystone State.
