Cheers & Jeers
Cheer: The Uniontown American Legion baseball team advanced to the state tournament. Uniontown rolled through the Region 6 American Legion Baseball Tournament held at Hutchinson Field with three consecutive victories, including 14-7 over Hopewell in the championship game on Tuesday. Before that Uniontown, coached by Brad Yohman, defeated Smithfield-Fairchance, 8-1, and Brighton Township, 8-0. Uniontown, Smithfield-Fairchance (coached by Steve Strange) and Charleroi (coached by Luke Mollis) all advanced to the regional out of the Fayette County league by finishing first, second and third, respectively, in the regular season, and each of those teams won at least one game in the double-elimination tournament. Uniontown, which outscored its opponents 30-8 in its three Region 6 games, will travel to Boyertown to participate in the state tournament for the second time in four years. Uniontown is scheduled to begin play Saturday morning against an opponent to be determined. Region 6 Tournament Director Ron Popovich and the entire crew at Hutchinson Field should also be commended for an outstanding job at hosting the regional event.
Jeer: Farley Toothman “engaged in misconduct so extreme that brought the judicial office into disrepute.” That was the verdict of the state Court of Judicial Discipline Monday. The nine-judge panel found that Greene County’s former president judge violated several judicial rules when he retaliated against a courthouse custodian by posting a union grievance that contained personal information on a public bulletin board, and interfered in a 2017 retail theft investigation targeting his law clerk. To make matters worse, he apparently ordered the woman who accused the law clerk of shoplifting to serve a 25-day term in the Greene County jail over an unpaid fine, a decision the judges deemed “inexcusable.” Toothman will eventually be punished by the board, though there is no indication when that will be. Nevertheless, it’s clear that Toothman’s reputation is now irreparably tarnished.
Cheer: A study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh and released earlier this week has found marijuana is almost certainly not a “gateway drug” and legalizing it could help stem opioid addiction. It looked at 2017 data from four states that legalized marijuana for recreational use, and found that opioid use decreased by 7.6% in those states. It could be that marijuana functioned as a pain reliever for some users and prevented them from turning to vastly more dangerous drugs like fentanyl or heroin. At the very least, it suggests that using cannabis does not push anyone toward the use of harder drugs. Pennsylvania lawmakers need to take this data into consideration as calls to legalize marijuana for recreational use gather steam.
Cheer: As widely expected, the board of the State System of Higher Education unanimously voted last week to merge California University of Pennsylvania with Edinboro and Clarion universities. It also supported the consolidation of Lock Haven, Bloomsburg and Mansfield universities in the eastern part of the commonwealth. From the moment the proposal was made to combine the faculties and administrative functions of the schools it has been controversial. But, as board member Samuel Smith put it, “I believe this is the best thing we can do.” He’s probably right. Enrollment has decreased by more than 20% at state system schools over the last decade, while the cost of attending those schools has kept increasing. Were there any better options given the demographic and financial realities? It doesn’t look like it.