Wows and Scowls
Wow: The Marquette Explorers of Alton, Ill., had the best shot ever of winning the football playoffs this year, but 16 of the team’s starters were arrested at a party and charged with underage drinking. The Catholic school’s penalty for this type of offense is suspension from football. No exceptions were made, even though one of the kids was the coach’s son. Unlike the Central Catholic High School parents who went to court in an unsuccessful attempt to force the school to reconsider suspending the team, Marquette parents and fans cheered on the second- and third-stringers.
They were slaughtered 63-0. But that loss was a winner in the lesson it taught the students: There are consequences for every action.
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Scowl: Former top Citigroup analyst Jack Grubman was one of Wall Street’s most powerful analysts.
His advice was closely followed by top executives making billion-dollar deals. But even that wasn’t enough to get his twin daughters into an exclusive nursery school. Grubman said in e-mail that has come to light, while Grubman is under investigation by New York state for alleged stock manipulations, that he raised the rating of AT&T stock because his boss agreed to help the girls get into a premiere nursery school.
Grubman, commenting on the disclosure, said, “I have said a number of inappropriate, even silly, things in a few private e-mails that have been made public over the last few months. The contents of these particular e-mails, while personally embarrassing, are completely baseless.”
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Wow: West Virginia University has finally recognized that college campuses ought not to limit student protesters. Under pressure from the Rutherford Institute, the university’s Board of Governors rescinded a policy that limited dissenting voices to “free speech zones” on campus.
Less than 5 percent of the campus was included in the zones and many outdoor areas were excluded.
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Scowl: Under a bill unanimously passed this week by the state Senate, students in private and public schools would be required each morning to either recite the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the national anthem.
While promoting patriotism is laudable there’s something anti-American about the government forcing speech.
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Scowl: The U.S. Senate voted this week to accept a pay raise for the fourth consecutive year. Senators, who tie their pay hike to inflation, will receive a 3.1 percent increase, raising their salaries from $150,000 to $154,700. Contrast this with the 1.4 percent raise for Social Security recipients, whose cost-of-living adjustments Congress also tied to inflation.
Seniors will get about $13 more a month. During the last four years, lawmakers salaries have gone up $18,000 a year – more than most Social Security recipients live on.
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Wow: Commissioner Sean Cavanagh has seen the light in hiring professional services, at least when it comes to engineers.
Cavanagh this week disapproved of naming Fayette Engineering as the county’s engineer because the firm already has a three-year contract with the bridge department and that other local firms should be given a shot.
This is the same commissioner who adamantly stands by sticking with the same architectural firm on county projects because he has been pleased with their work, even with substantial cost overruns.
Does this now mean he understands the concept of requesting proposals? Or is this politics served up Cavanagh style?
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Scowl: If politics weren’t so petty in Connellsville, there probably wouldn’t now be an impasse between the mayor and two council members and the New Haven Hose Co.
The city, since cutting its paid 24-hour fire department to a weekday business operation, has been subsidizing the volunteer New Haven Hose with a $25,000 a year contribution. The mayor and council do have the right to ask for assurance and documentation that the tax money is spent on legitimate activities.
New Haven says it has provided the city with this but that the mayor and two council members insist on reviewing every nickel and dime raised, which is none of their business. As it stands now, the city is refusing to allocate the money and New Haven is refusing a city audit to prove it needs the money, probably out of fear that someone will latch onto some petty expenditure and blow it out of proportion.
By not funding New Haven, Connellsville places at risk the department’s financial stability and ability to keep pace with replacing and repairing equipment and training volunteers. Should New Haven fold, the job of fire protection – a costly venture – would fall back on council to fund.
Perhaps the two sides could set aside personality conflicts and political posturing then sit down to negotiate acceptable terms.
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Wow: Volunteer firefighters spend much of their time and effort raising funds. Last year the South Brownsville and Brownsville No. 1 (North Side) stations sent $5,000 to a fund to help the families of firefighters who perished in the World Trade Centers terrorist attack. Now the Proverbs 31 Quilt Guild is helping the local firefighters replenish their treasurer by donating a Stars and Stripes queen-size handmade quilt to use for an additional fundraiser.