Aug 9, 2002 5 min read

Scowl: There will always be opportunists looking to make a buck, legally or illegally, off someone’s misfortunes. The arrests of two men who worked on the anthrax-decontamination crew as the screening center for White House mail prove this point. The men, residents of Pennsylvania, are accused of stealing $35,000 in traveler’s checks sent to the White House Federal Credit Union and an unknown amount of cash from thousands of letters sent by the nation’s children to the presidential fund for Afghanistan’s children. If found guilty these men should be sentenced to tour the nation and drop by every elementary school to personally apologize to all these children who did as the president requested and sent at least a dollar to the special fund. —

Wow: The county can add new plaque to the statue of Marquis de Lafayette to note his honorary U.S. citizenship. President Bush on Tuesday bestowed the status to Lafayette, only the sixth person to be conferred with honorary U.S. citizenship. Fayette County draws its name from the French aristocrat Lafayette who fought alongside George Washington at Valley Forge, secured financial aid from France for the struggling American forces and was a key strategist in the Yorktown campaign that led to the British surrender.

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Wow: News that state officials have lifted a ban on poultry exhibits at state and county agricultural events comes too late for organizers of the Fayette County Fair, which closed last Saturday. But it is welcome news just the same as lifting the ban signals the threat of avian flu spreading quickly to farms throughout Pennsylvania has been addressed. Avian flu is not considered a health threat to humans, but the virus kills birds. The ban was instituted to protect the state’s $700 million poultry industry. The county fair’s poultry exhibit this season lacked the usual competitions those members of 4-H look forward to participating in. Perhaps fair organizers could now stage a one-day event this year so that Fayette’s youth still would have a chance to compete at the state fair.

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Wow: If you are one of the growing majority who fasten your seatbelt every time you get in a car, pat yourself on the back. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation reported this week that seat belt usage is at an all-time high in the four county area that encompasses District 12. Apparently, drivers and passengers in Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland county are heeding the message that taking a second to buckle up does indeed reduce the risk of sustaining serious or fatal injuries, especially in what could be just a minor collision. Statewide, safety restraint usage is 73.79 percent. Locally, it is 82.69 percent, up from 78.18 percent last year. Now what about the other 17.31 percent of you?

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Scowl: Those PennDOT numbers reflect seatbelt use. But what about the younger set who need to be riding in car seats. Far too often while riding along local streets we see adults holding babies and toddlers in their laps. Perhaps they are thinking that they are only traveling a few blocks so they will be safe. Perhaps they need to think again. Most accidents occur close to home. And even in a low-speed crash, the force is strong enough to rip a child from the arms of an adult and propel him into the dashboard or windshield. Even if that weren’t to happen, inflation of airbags have been known to kill young children. Why take the chance? It takes less than a minute to secure a child in the rear in a safety seat.

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Wow: Many thanks to all those who worked, played or were spectators at last Sunday’s charity softball game when the Herald-Standard and the Fayette County Commissioners battled it out. The newspaper’s team made about $800 for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. The game didn’t exactly turn out the way we had hoped as the commissioners’ team beat the newspaper 15-13, but we’re not complaining. The weather was brutal, the game was competitive and the real winners might someday be those whose cancer is successfully treated due to the work of the American Cancer Society. The Relay for Life, by the way, begins Saturday night at midnight at the Laurel Highlands High School stadium and runs through Sunday night. We hope to see you there.

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Wow: So much has been written in this space about the deterioration of Brownsville, mostly because of an absentee landlord who years ago bought up most of the downtown and then neglected to care for the buildings. Today, though we wanted to point out the dramatic improvement made by the Brownsville Odd Fellows Lodge with its Market Street building. The Odd Fellows hired designer Cameron Neth to paint the fa?ade, and he was successful in convincing them to go bold. The new look mixes lemons and tangerines and certainly brightens the dreary town. Here’s to hoping that upkeep is as contagious as blight and quickly catches on.

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Scowl: Tom Barton just might be the best available person to work as a new part-time plant operator for the Redstone Township Sewer Authority. But if there were a better candidate, the authority board didn’t care to know. The job wasn’t posted. Only board member Robert Shaw found fault with the practice of hiring without taking applications or resumes. While the authority’s solicitor said the law doesn’t require the authority to advertise positions, common sense says that it should.