Cheers and Jeers
Jeers to those who find it humorous to make school shooting threats. The chaos you cause and the stress under which you put your classmates, school officials and police is unconscionable. Districts are keeping closer tabs on their students’ movements and we believe we echo the sentiment of the community when we say: We hope you are caught, and we hope you are prosecuted to the fullest extent that the law will allow. You should be ashamed.
Cheers to those who helped raise a record-setting $225,000 for the American Heart Association at the annual Fayette County Heart Ball. The event, held last weekend at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, highlighted life-saving advancements in cardiovascular research and increased awareness of hands-only CPR. Over the past 21 years it’s been held, the ball’s helped raise over $2.2 million for the AHA. Cheers, too, to the Uniontown Hospital’s dedicated staff, who saved the life of Gerry Canistra. The McClellandtown woman was honored as the 2017 Heart Story, and told the crowd how they saved her life after discovering a 99 percent blockage in her right coronary artery.
Jeers to hearing that conflict of interest and theft charges were filed against Westmoreland County Sheriff Jonathan Held. State prosecutors claim Held, 43, used deputies in his office to solicit and collect donations for his yearly political fund-raiser while they were being paid to work for the county. The state attorney general alleged uniformed deputies driving county vehicles visited gun shops on his behalf over the last three years for Held’s “I Out Shot the Sheriff” fundraiser. Authorities believe Held compiled the list of gun shops using the Federal Firearms Database to which his office has access. Through his attorney, Held has said he is innocent of the allegations. His arrest is a good reminder to all public officials that their elected offices are not their personal fiefdoms, and their employees are there for the taxpayers, not a re-election campaign.
Cheers to Frances McDormand, a Monessen native, who is nominated for an Academy Award for best actress in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” McDormand portrays a mother who rents three billboards to call attention to her daughter’s unsolved murder. It’s her fifth Oscar nomination, and she previously won in 1997 for her lead role in the movie “Fargo.” Here’s to hoping she brings a second trophy home.
Cheers to Brownsville Area School District’s consideration of a pre-K program to give children in that district additional early educational opportunities. Superintendent Keith Hartbauer said the district identified cognitive and social deficiencies in some students entering kindergarten. District officials hope this will help address those challenges. It’s wonderful that officials there have acknowledged the need, and we have faith that they’ll take steps to fill it.