Wows and Scowls
May 23, 2003 Scowl: New Jersey’s state budget is in so much trouble that bake sales, car washes and strip tickets might be in its future. But that would be small potatoes compared with the kind of cash that can be raised at benefit concerts. Two lawmakers are approaching Bruce Springsteen and fellow Garden State rocker Jon Bon Jovi about holding concerts to infuse some much-needed money into the state treasury. When did New Jersey become a Third World Country?
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Scowl: Following Tuesday night’s airing of American Idol a whopping 24 million people voted as to whether Ruben or Clay was their favorite singer. Keep in mind that neither man would ever make an iota of difference in those24 million lives. That same day Pennsylvania held its Primary Election, for voters to nominate their choices in municipal, school board and county races. Statewide just 20 percent of the registered Democrats and 16 percent of Republicans bothered to drop by the polls to select their choices of the men and women who will directly impact their lives. Fayette County voters showed a bit more spunk than other parts of the state as turnout was pegged at 43 percent. Perhaps this is because some of the races were entertaining.
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Wow: Here’s to hoping that Uniontown Mayor Jim Sileo is just a late bloomer. After seven years in the city’s top elected post, we have been discouraged that the mayor has failed to do much of anything. A contested campaign season seemed to jump-start him on entertaining ideas to improve the downtown and to recognize that the neighborhoods have been neglected. On securing the Democratic Party nomination and virtually assured re-election in the fall (there is no Republican running), Sileo said, “It’s high time we cleaned up this city. I’ve waited too long. I’m not fooling around any more.” We hope that his actions follow through with his words. We’ll be watching. He can start during today’s meeting by recognizing the city has little to lose in extending Keystone Opportunity Zone status to the soon-to-be-on-the-market school administration office building.
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Scowl: This ruling by a federal judge erases any doubt that tort reform needs to include prohibitions that keep attorneys from profiting far beyond compensation awarded to injured parties. A Pittsburgh police officer won a $113,000 federal jury award in November after proving the department retaliated by demoting him for testimony he gave in a criminal case. His attorneys, according to a federal judge, are entitled to more than $500,000 in legal fees. No attorney should collect five times the amount awarded to a client.
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Scowl: It has been called to our attention that the arrival of the spring road construction season has brought out the perennial ugly drivers. The ones who can’t stand to wait a few minutes so they whiz by waiting traffic just so they can cut in the head of the line, or who cut through gas stations and other corner businesses to swing around intersections. Laws were enacted to double fines for moving violations in construction zones. More enforcement could only help.
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Wow: In an Associated Press story about the development of a radar-based device that will eventually identify people simply by the way they walk (gait signatures) we came across this tidbit that is as difficult concept to comprehend as the system itself. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said, “The amounts of data that will need to be stored and accessed will be unprecedented, measured in petabytes.” One petabyte is roughly equal to 50 times the Library of Congress, which holds more than 18 million books. Astonishing.
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Wow: On any given day some group is announcing that some august body or another has proclaimed this day or week or month as its turn in the spotlight. All this proclaiming dilutes the really important causes that should be advanced every so often. This is National Emergency Medical Services Week and it deserves recognition. These are the men and women who rush toward calls for help. Some are paid, others volunteer. Regardless it takes a special breed to risk one’s life to help another. Last week firefighters and ambulance crews proved this point once again in helping evacuate an apartment complex for the elderly when fire broke out. While a few residents were treated for smoke inhalation, this could have turned out far worse. So hats off to EMS.