Cheers & Jeers
Cheers: Mapletown’s Landan Stevenson won the 2021 蘑菇视频 Touchdown Club title. Stevenson will receive a trophy for finishing in first place and Mapletown High School will be given custody of the roving Touchdown Club plaque. The senior running back scored 188 points, the second-highest total since the award was established in 2005, with 27 touchdowns, 16 extra-point kicks and five two-point conversions. He scored 24 offensive touchdowns and also returned a punt, an interception and a fumble for TDs. Stevenson is the third Maples player to win the award, following Ryan Geisel in 2005 and Dylan Rush in 2016. All three played under George Messich, who became the second coach to have three different players win the award, joining former Beth-Center and current California coach Ed Woods.
Jeers: The parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley were charged with involuntary manslaughter last week for their alleged culpability in the rampage that left four students dead and seven others wounded at Oxford High School, located north of Detroit. Parents are charged infrequently after such incidents, and the case could well be precedent-setting. One chilling detail emerged in the news stories about the 15-year-old Crumbley’s family life – his parents gave him the semiautomatic handgun he used in the shooting as an early Christmas gift. It beggars the imagination that anyone would think giving a teenager a semiautomatic handgun is a good idea, even if that teen is the most happy and well-adjusted on the planet. The elder Crumbleys may or may not be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, but they are without a doubt guilty of horrifically bad judgment.
Cheers: Kudos to Greene County Chamber of Commerce for successfully coordinating its second annual Reverse Christmas Parade at the county fairgrounds on Dec. 4. Roughly 250 vehicles and 800 parade-goers traveled through the parade route to see 50 colorfully decorated stationary displays that proudly showcased holiday spirit before concluding with a ride through “Santa’s Shop” featuring Saint Nick and his wife. The parade was a true community event, as numerous businesses, agencies, organizations, churches, schools, scout troops, county departments and individuals set up displays, volunteered their services or donated items for giveaways and raffles. Several school marching bands provided live holiday musical performances. We applaud the chamber and its executive director, Melody Longstreth, for working diligently to organize such a special holiday event while dealing with ongoing uncertainties brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cheers: The news has not been good lately when it comes to COVID-19, as case numbers surge around the region and the newly uncovered omicron variant has put everyone on edge. But there may be some good news to report where the latter is concerned. Earlier this week, White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci reported that preliminary data about omicron indicated it might generate symptoms that are less severe than other coronavirus mutations. If this proves to be the case after additional testing and analysis, it will indeed be good news. However, more people need to be vaccinated in the United States and around the world to ensure that more lethal variants do not emerge.