Mariella Savidge, Patch Staff

About Mariella Email: mariella.savidge@patch.com

Phone: 610-390-3802 

Hometown: Scranton, but I've lived in the Lehigh Valley for 31 years.

Birthday: November 4

Bio: Though Mariella did not know she wanted to be a journalist until after she graduated from Marywood University with a degree in English, she made up for lost time. Though most folks think that writing obituaries is the bottom rung of the journalism ladder, there is one lower. Mariella launched her journalism career giving tours at a local newspaper before being promoted to writing obits. She spent 13 years as a business writer, several years writing municipal stories about Lehigh Valley communities and several more writing feature stories. Along the way were three National Press Association Fellowships and an award from the National Press Foundation, a shared Keystone Award and several honors from the Pennsylvania Womens Press Association.

My Beliefs At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. Patch hopes that the knowledge that my beliefs are on the record will cause me to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that I have failed in this mission, please let me know. Politics At this point I'm a registered Democrat, but I have voted for the occasional candidate outside of the party. I spent decades as a registered Independent until I started to feel I was missing out because I couldn't vote in primary elections. Apparently I couldn't be more middle-of-the-road if I was standing on a double yellow line. Religion The best way to describe my religious beliefs appeared in a newspaper opinion piece I read years ago: "I'm Catholic like my eyes are brown. It has always been this way, and there's nothing I would do to change it."  Local Hot-Button Issues Since I live here too, the local hot-button issues affect me as much as they do everybody else. I want good schools, but I also want to be able to pay my mortgage. So keeping taxes reasonable is definitely an issue. I have enormous respect for our first responders  -- particularly the Macungie Ambulance Corps always assisted by the Macungie Police Department -- who have provided my family with excellent care time and time again. I'm concerned about preserving our beautiful farmland, but I'm not sure how adamant I am about it.