Oct 17, 2003 5 min read

Wow: Judy Rizor, an administrative assistant in Greene County’s election bureau, makes an excellent and timely point about citizens shirking their civic responsibility. Greene has no problem registering voters, but prompting them to turn up at the polls is as pervasive a problem there as it is in the rest of the country. The county averages about a 40 percent turnout. “Registration is not the problem that we have in this county. It is the voting,” Rizor said. “If you think about 10 people standing in a line and four of those people in line choosing for the rest, well… that is giving up a lot of rights I don’t want to give up.” With many local offices at stake next month, voters ought to take notice and spend just a few minutes of their day exercising their rights and duties by casting ballots. —

Wow: Robert and Elouise Eberly continue to build a legacy that will allow many people in years to come to lead longer, healthier lives. The couple, well-known for their philanthropy in education and health, this week announced a $2 million gift to the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to support research that will potentially help those with organ failure from diseases such as diabetes, and a $1 million gift that allowed the Uniontown Hospital this week to begin offering patients the option of an open MRI scanner. The addition of the new MRI unit will better serve larger and claustrophobic patients who in the past either were unable to comfortably undergo MRI in a closed unit or who were forced to travel far from home for the tests. The Eberlys will never know how many people will benefit from their generosity. Nor will patients know that their better health is due in some part to the Eberlys. Somehow a simple thank you seems inadequate.

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Scowl: Numbskull season has arrived. Four idiots ripped mailboxes off their posts from homes in Franklin Township and threw them through windows at Franklin Elementary School, causing about $10,000 in damage. In addition, police reports continue to log a growing number of smashed windows, sliced tires and stolen yard decorations. It isn’t as though vandalism isn’t a year-round problem but it tends to escalate during a time when dim-brained kids carry tricks too far. Tossing corn or toilet paper, while messy, is rather harmless. Anything that destroys property is out of bounds and should earn the culprits the treat of steeping in a cauldron of hot water.

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Wow: For the seventh consecutive year enrollment at the Penn State Fayette campus increased. This is despite continual rises in tuition and declines in the number of local high school graduates. It speaks well of this area that more people, including teens and adults, are seeing the value of continuing education. Penn State Fayette continues to grow and add more programs that will benefit those willing to set goals and work toward a better future.

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Scowl: Pity the poor Chicago Cubs fan who will go down in sports annals as the man who may have cost the team a berth in the World Series. It was the eighth inning of the sixth game in the championship series. The Cubs were ahead when a ball headed toward the stands. The fan did what comes natural and reached for the ball, but he snatched it away from leftfielder Moises Alou. This kicked off a series of events that left the Cubs on the wrong side of an 8-3 score. The Cubs blew the tie-breaking seventh game as well, and the Florida Marlins advance. But few will remember that seventh, decisive game. Instead, wrath will be visited forever upon the unfortunate fan who was immediately pummeled with hurling beers and most likely will find few friends in his hometown.

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Wow: There are people in our community who deserve a spotlight cast upon them for lifting spirits or bettering their little corner of the world. This week we especially note these achievements. Residents of Lemont Furnace spent five years working to complete the honor roll to acknowledge community members who served in wars. The group shows that diligence pays off. They can relax knowing they did well for their community. Dave Slusarick, a junior at Uniontown Area Senior High School, is worthy of commendations for working to install a granite monument to Uniontown’s police officers. Slusarick, who’s late grandfather was a former city officer, started his Eagle Scout project as a way to extend gratitude to the current and retired officers who continue to protect the public’s safety despite adversity. Charlotte Grant through her handmade donations to Operation Christmas Child showed that one is never too old to contribute. Mrs. Grant’s work was featured in a Sunday story detailing the gifts that she made to be placed in her church’s Love in a Shoebox program. Our congratulations to Mrs. Grant are offered belatedly as we learned that she died this week. Yet her work still proves inspirational.