Cheers & Jeers
Cheers: There are precious few animal shelters or rescues in Fayette County, so it was exciting to hear that county officials plan to reform the board and again open the Fayette County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The shelter closed nearly a decade ago amidst a number of legal difficulties, including allegations of subpar treatment of the animals they were tasked with caring for. Officials said they will house the shelter near the county蘑菇视频 new prison in Uniontown, with plans to use inmates as supervised labor at the facility. As plans for the new shelter progress, we urge the new board to carefully explore the feasibility of making the local SPCA a no-kill facility, which is how the Philadelphia SPCA operates. Animals do not choose to be surrendered, and with time and care can find a home where they will thrive.
Cheers: The Frazier girls volleyball team won the WPIAL Class A championship Saturday with a 3-0 victory over top-seeded Serra Catholic. Cheers also to the Mount Pleasant girls and Charleroi boys soccer teams for their victories Tuesday night in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs, a program first for both schools, after finishing as the runner-up in the WPIAL championships.
Cheers: Since the Pennsylvania Turnpike has switched to all electronic tolling since the start of the 2020s, it has resulted in millions of dollars of unpaid tolls. In the 2020-21 fiscal year, the amount reached $104 million, and in the following fiscal year it was $155 million. Last week, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law that will put additional pressure on scofflaws to pay up. First, it could start the vehicle suspension process if the tolls are not paid after several notices. It also lowers the dollar amount that would trigger a registration suspension from $500 to $250, and allows the Turnpike Commission to go back five years in suspending registrations rather than the current three years. Mark Compton, the Turnpike蘑菇视频 chief executive officer, said the new law will 鈥渕aximize chances of collecting from those who think it蘑菇视频 OK to ride free. We are here to tell you, it isn鈥檛.鈥� Whether tolls are too high or the Turnpike Commission effectively manages its money are debates worth having. But the simple fact is that if you travel on toll roads, you have to pay for it, just like everyone else.
Cheers: Voters in the Norwin School District in Westmoreland County displayed a great deal of sense by soundly rejecting a ballot referendum Tuesday that would have eviscerated funding for the community library that serves North Huntingdon, Irwin and North Irwin. Sixty-four percent of voters said no to a proposal that would have lowered the library tax from 1.2 mills to just 0.2 mills and costs just $22 per household every year. Supporters of the referendum argued that the library is no longer as necessary in an age of iPhones and laptops, but libraries are so much more than repositories of information. They also serve as community centers. And, of course, not everyone can afford iPhones or laptops, which can become obsolete or fritz out very quickly. Libraries continue to stand, no matter how the technological seasons change. If any other communities were considering gutting their library funding, the abject failure of the effort in Westmoreland County will hopefully discourage them.