Cheers & Jeers
Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter
Cheers: When you mention Ohiopyle, everyone automatically thinks of the state park, and understandably so – thousands of visitors are drawn every year to its hiking trails, waterfalls and opportunities for biking and camping. The borough of Ohiopyle doesn’t receive as much attention, but it is getting its moment in the sun, thanks to being designated the Best Small Town in the Northeast in a readers’ choice survey sponsored by USA Today. It beat out heavy-hitters like Gettysburg in the contest and won plaudits for its “rugged charm and variety of natural wonders.” Even though the 2020 census only counted 38 residents in the borough, officials hope being named Best Small Town in the Northeast will lead visitors to check out the borough’s businesses and eateries. Pamela Kruse, a borough councilwoman and business owner, said, “Ohiopyle is free. It’s never mattered – the economy has gone up and down – and you can do all these things for free. That’s what makes it so special to visit.”
Cheers: Before Monday’s solar eclipse happened, there were reports that some communities where the eclipse would be total were declaring states of emergency because of an expected influx of tourists. The National Guard was even called out in some states. Thankfully, however, there were no reports of any major problems within the line of totality that stretched from Mexico to Canada and had states from Texas to Maine in its path. In this region, the eclipse was at 96% totality, and some clouds obscured the view of the moon briefly blocking out the sun. Those who traveled to Erie or west into Ohio, where the eclipse was total, were given quite a treat – a subtle, gradual darkening, and then just before totality was reached, streetlights coming on followed by a couple of minutes of nighttime darkness, with the sun standing in the sky like a ring as the moon covered it. Then, just as quickly as it began, it was over. Within about a half-hour, it was a regular spring afternoon again. Polls have indicated that some Americans no longer trust science, but the fact that we are able to predict eclipses decades in advance to the minute is a powerful argument that scientists deserve our trust.
Jeers: In his short-lived campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy put forth a proposal that would raise the voting age from the current 18 to 25, unless those younger than 25 got a passing grade on a citizenship test or served six months as a first responder or in the military. It all sounded very high-minded, but it looked for all the world like an effort to get voters who largely don’t support the GOP off the voting rolls. Now, Eric Hovde, a Republican Senate candidate in Wisconsin, apparently supports an idea that would take away voting rights from older adults. He recently said on a Fox News podcast that older adults who live in nursing homes should not be able to cast ballots because they only have “five, six months life expectancy.” Of course, residents of nursing homes often live quite a bit longer than five or six months, but perhaps Hovde was mixing up nursing homes with some hospice programs, which do care for people expected to live only six months or less. But people have the right to vote until they draw their last breath, unless they have been found incompetent. It’s just that simple.