close

Wows and Scowls

3 min read

Wow: Kudos to the Laurel Highlands School Board members, led by Beverly Beal, who are balking at an administrative recommendation to raise property taxes this year. All too often, school board members cave in to such requests, following the administration’s line that they have no other choice. It’s far too easy to justify raising school taxes when no one is willing to look at the other big option: cutting costs. And it’s borderline ridiculous when administrators making hefty salaries treat tax increases as something that should be automatic. Just what would the proposed .75-mill hike mean to the average property owner? Beal and fellow board members Angelo Giachetti and Mary Conway deserve credit for taking a stand against runaway spending. And Beal is dead-on accurate when she says it’s imperative to cap salaries. —

Scowl: It’s inexcusable that a “roll of paper” containing possible write-in votes was left in one of the five voting machines at South Union Township District 1, an oversight apparently uncovered by county Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites. Why this wasn’t discovered during the laborious official vote count is anybody’s guess. We understand that mistakes can occur on Election Night, when things are very hectic, but the public should have total confidence in the official vote count and the double-checking it provides. It doesn’t bode well that the books were already forwarded to the commissioners, who serve as the Election Board, for official certification prior to the oversight turning up.

Scowl: Gov. Ed Rendell is way off base in saying that he’ll horse trade an increase in state legislator pay for a $2 boost in the state’s minimum wage, with the latter phased in over an unspecified period of time. With politicians so eager to engorge at the public trough, we wonder if our form of government isn’t morphing from democracy to aristocracy. State legislators already earn $69,700, on which they get annual cost-of-living increases. Their package includes top-notch health insurance and a fully paid pension, $7,800 for a vehicle and $129 per day for those who live more than 50 miles from Harrisburg. How many average Pennsylvanians have it that good? If Rendell wants to phase in any increase, let it be the one for highly paid legislators, judges and the like. And set the phase-in period at something like 100 years.

Scowl: The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision that people who smoke marijuana on doctor’s orders can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws smacks of wrong-headedness. It simply makes no sense to invoke federal interstate commerce laws when ruling on something like homegrown reefer, especially in an era when doctors can write you prescriptions for dozens of legal drugs to get and keep you “high.” The Supreme Court ruling overrides medical marijuana use laws in 10 states, including California, where the case originated. Where was the conservative “state’s rights” crowd on this one?

Wow: The number of highway deaths in Fayette County fell from 24 in 2003 to 21 in 2004, a slight drop but one that’s trending in the right direction. Noteworthy is the fact that non-seatbelt wearing deaths dropped from 10 to six, which is at least circumstantial evidence that more people are buckling up. State police report, however, that the county’s highway deaths might track upward this year, based on the number of fatalities thus far. Let’s hope that the law of averages catches up and the number of deaths levels off. You can help by buckling up and driving safer.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today