Wows and Scowls
Wow: To members of our community who spent yesterday making sure those without families or means to buy or prepare Thanksgiving dinner had a place to go for hot food and warm fellowship. —
Scowl: Rita Marie Roley reminds us of things that are unimportant: a trophy, camcorder, set of Pullman luggage and bragging rights to the 1998 Mrs. Pennsylvania Pageant crown. We admit we had forgotten about the scandal-plagued pageant of that year, when it was alleged votes were fixed so that another woman would claim the prizes. Once exposed, Mrs. Roley was declared the belated winner. She has yet to receive her prizes.
Last week, arbitrators ruled she is entitled to the $1,300 worth of prizes that the removed winner claims she tossed out in a fit of spring cleaning. What a miffed Mrs. Roley won’t get, according to her attorney, is compensation for “some sort of hassle and lost opportunity that Rita went through over the last five years.” To that we suggest she move on already.
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Scowl: Isn’t it nice that state Rep. Larry Roberts can find the time to engage in a little chit-chat with Fayette County Commissioner Ron Nehls.
Roberts must be an awful busy man, what with the state still failing to pass an education budget or clear up the medical malpractice mess that might send doctors scurrying out of state next month. Yet he still had time, according to Nehls, to call to congratulate him for leaving their shared Democratic Party to join the county’s GOP. And by the way, Roberts asked the lame-duck Nehls not to make any appointments to any boards in the time he has left in office.
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Wow: Gov. Rendell this week tapped the first woman aviator in the Army National Guard to serve as the next head of the Pennsylvania National Guard. Brig. Gen. Jessica L. Wright, a Monessen native, has earned the respect of both parties, and her nomination is expected to pass the Senate easily. Wright will become only the second woman in the nation to serve as an adjutant general.
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Scowl: Breaking gender barriers is difficult. That is why it is noted that Wright is a woman and is breaking the mold. Unfortunately, women in leadership positions are still not representative of their numbers in society. The adage that a woman’s place is in the House, and in the Senate, has yet to come to pass. Take a look at Pennsylvania’s elected representatives. Only one of the 19-member congressional delegation is a woman, and just eight of the 50 state senators and a mere 27 of the 253 representatives in the state House are women.
More women need to be persuaded that they have the qualifications to run for elected office.
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Wow: Those who know the value of a vocational-technical school education aren’t just waiting to see if Congress re-enacts the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical School Act that helps pay the bills at the Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School. School officials have launched a letter-writing campaign and intend to forward pleas to President Bush to not cut the program. We would suggest the copies also be forwarded to U.S. Reps. John Murtha and Bill Shuster, and for the vo-tech to ask our congressional representatives where they stand on funding vo-tech education.
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Scowl: Connellsville Township Supervisor Janice Fosbrink, who hasn’t attended a meeting since May 2002 and who is residing in a Maryland personal care home, needs to resign.
Fosbrink, when healthy, served the township well, but she hasn’t been able to give the people she represents the attention they deserve.
There is a movement to have her removed from office, and Fosbrink said she is reviewing the court documents and didn’t want to comment on what she might do. We would hope that she does the right thing and resigns before turning this into an ugly, prolonged, expensive court battle.