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THE TIMES LEADER www.timesleader.com
FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 PAGE 11A
Editorial
OUR OPINION: W-B AREA HIRINGS
Make it official: No more nepotism
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Clinging to the belief that it’s ITH FEWER than 20 words, the OK to hire a family member to Wilkes-Barre Area fill a taxpayer-funded position School Board’s makes you seem daft or woefulmembers can start to repair the ly behind the times, like somedreadfully poor reputation of one arguing the Earth is flat. this corruption-tainted, dis- Get with it. This newspaper for trusted and downtrodden dis- years and years has decried nepotism, suggesting it’s a breach trict. No family member of a of ethical standards and a baschool director shall be permit- rometer of bad decision-making on the part of ted to obtain full-time public servants. employment with the Clinging to the district. belief that it’s OK Then, in early 2009, area resiInsert these words to hire a family dents learned Wilinto the board’s soonliam Sharkey, the to-be-approved hir- member to fill a Luzerne County ing policy. taxpayer-funded No loopholes. No position makes you court administrator who practically exceptions. stacked the courJust a plain, decla- seem daft or thouse payroll rative and decades- woefully behind with his kin, had overdue end to nepo- the times … used his post to tism – historically the steal tens of thousingle most shameful aspect of the way certain board sands of dollars. Nepotism itself isn’t criminal members in this district have behaved. For the sakes of the (yet). But it creates a poor imschool system and its students, age for an institution and can close the coffin on this outdated damage the work environment. If daddy, for instance, sits on practice. And nail it shut. To do otherwise is to thumb the school board and hires his your nose at Luzerne County’s daughter, will her supervisor many reform-minded residents, feel comfortable giving her a thereby ensuring that the dis- bad performance review? Not trict will face even more skepti- likely. For those, and many other, cism, more public humiliation and potentially more investiga- reasons, it’s important that Wilkes-Barre Area school directions. How many times must feder- tors finally ban nepotism. If al agents subpoena school dis- they are not up to the task, or trict documents, as they did at insist a family member should Wednesday night’s board meet- not be “denied” the opportunity ing, before a majority of current to work there, they can solve board members admit that rad- the dilemma at the next board ical change is required to busi- meeting by uttering only two words. I quit. ness-as-usual protocols?
QUOTE OF THE DAY “Here we go again.” Maryanne Toole The president of the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board lamented this week that the district has been subpoenaed yet again, this time by Secret Service agents who attended Wednesday night’s board meeting. Federal officials reportedly requested emails sent by certain administrators as well as employment and hiring records.
OTHER OPINION: NEW TV SERIES
War has no place on ‘reality’ show
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RASH, BOOM, bang! Those are the sounds when more-or-less celebrities such as actor Dean Cain and Sarah Palin’s husband, Todd, are put on teams with trained military personnel to perform on the new TV reality series “Stars Earn Stripes.” You see the teams shooting automatic rifles, blowing up shacks and doing whatever else they can think of to supply the noise and visuals they hope watchers will equate with suspense. The new NBC show, hosted by retired four-star Gen. Wesley Clark, pays “homage to the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces and our firstline responder services.” At least, that’s its promotional line. But nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates have written an open letter to NBC Entertainment EDITORIAL BOARD
asking it to reconsider airing the program. “Pretending that war and military training is comparable to athletic competition, or any other violence-based ‘reality’ show, is an affront to us all and especially those who experience war and its horrific impact,” said Jody Williams, who received her Nobel in 1997 for her work to ban land mines. The Peace Prize winners make a valid point. This country needs to carefully consider how seemingly innocuous violence depicted in the media impacts this country’s loathsome homicide rate. Real war has casualties. People die. There are no commercial breaks, and the participants don’t stop shooting to wipe off sweat and have a Gatorade. The Philadelphia Inquirer
PRASHANT SHITUT President and CEO/Impressions Media MARK E. JONES JOSEPH BUTKIEWICZ Vice President/Executive Editor Editorial Page Editor
MALLARD FILLMORE
MAIL BAG
LETTERS FROM READERS
Writer believes Scouts must exclude gay leaders
SEND US YOUR OPINION Letters to the editor must include the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number for verification. Letters should be no more than 250 words. We reserve the right to edit and limit writers to one published letter every 30 days. • Email: mailbag@timesleader.com • Fax: 570-829-5537 • Mail: Mail Bag, The Times Leader, 15 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 1871 1
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r. Matthew Kerns, I’m sure, has every intention of being a model citizen in returning his Eagle Scout medal to the Boy Scouts of America, but he is either naïve in the extreme or just plain foolish. Does he think that the Boy Scouts wants another situation like what is happening with Penn State? Former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is a sexual predator who used his position as an authority figure to use young boys to gratify his homosexual tendencies. Organizations that put men into positions of authority over young impressionable boys must be ever-vigilant or they, like Penn State, will pay the price of lawsuits and public disgrace. Putting admitted homosexuals in charge of impressionable young boys is tantamount to aiding and abetting sexual deviants. It sounds like Mr. Kerns had a great experience in the Boy Scouts. He has never had to deal with the shame and selfloathing a young boy has to deal with when taken advantage of by a sexual predator. I am happy for him, but for him to say it is OK for homosexuals to be knowingly placed in positions of authority over impressionable boys is lunacy. Maybe he better return his badge for crime prevention, too. Mark Bielinski Dushore
Reader says the right building hatred for Obama
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rom the start, the right hated Obama. It seemed unreasonably intense and not related to any specific thing. This perplexed me for awhile. Now it all seems to make sense. It is analogous to Hitler’s method of picking on the Jews as scapegoats for all of Germany’s problems in order to generate emotional hatred as a way of consolidating and motivating his base of support. In the same way, the conservatives are using generated emotional hatred of Obama to make him a scapegoat for all of America’s problems and to excite and motivate their base. This also is why there have been no limits to the conservatives’ outrageous, creative “fact” generation. I believe the left needs to change its attitude and its actions. It is like the left is playing softball and the right is playing hardball; it is not an equal game, nor are the rules the same. The left should instead focus on what the right is actually doing and call them out on all outrageous behav-
ior. The right should not be underestimated. The right will stoop to whatever underhanded measure is needed to win. The slogan for America should be this: “Save America from elected conservatives.” Stephen George Bettum Scranton
A difference of opinion should be backed by facts
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n his letter to the editor titled “Real Democrats should reject Obama and Casey” (July 21), Mr. William Levinson did get a couple of things right. For one, he admits that, yes, carbon dioxide is a gas. While he correctly points at carbon particulates, such as the soot from diesel engines, as requiring regulation, he goes on to dismiss carbon dioxide as a benign gas, something we feed plants every time we exhale, inferring that it is totally harmless. He is only fooling himself and the deniers of global warming. Carbon dioxide is the main culprit in the saga of the destruction of the Earth we know and love, though methane (natural gas, the darling of fracking) is a quickly rising star. This is not science fiction; it is scientific fact accepted by most of the world’s scientists. The deniers are a motley crew, for the most part, of petro-financed ostriches and ordinary people such as you and me who don’t know the scientific facts and are too busy just trying to make a living. He also says that cap and trade is just a scam by President Obama to enrich Wall Street. I do believe that cap and trade is next to useless; James Hansen has a more practical plan, but no one wants to listen. That’s too bad, since your children and grandchildren’s lives will be much worse than ours is now. Climate change is being caused by us; if we don’t stop it, then 30 years or so from now we will have a real hell on Earth. It will be our fault for being stupid and listening to the likes of Exxon Mobile and William Levinson. He also blasts Obama for taking so much money from Wall Street during the 2008 campaign. But wait! There’s more. I did what Levinson said: Follow the money.
DOONESBURY
According to Opensecrets.org, in the current presidential brawl, Obama has received far less from Wall Street than has Mitt Romney. Could it be that Obama’s attempts to rein in finance scared a lot of that money away? Obama wants to regulate Wall Street more; Romney and Levinson want to drop the regulations now on the books. Why is that, Mr. Levinson? Could it be the foxes want easier access to the henhouse? Levinson just doesn’t like Obama. That’s all right. We all have differences of opinion and beliefs. But we should not make up facts to support our views. As far as I’m concerned, Obama has been a disappointment, and I feel differently than he about certain issues. But Obama, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and congressional candidate Matt Cartwright are my choices this election, because they are closer in spirit, if nothing else, to the middle class and the working person. Dave Hask Wilkes-Barre
S.W.E.A.T. gym member sings praises of business
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was diagnosed four years ago with breast cancer. I have had many ups and downs, physically and emotionally, especially physically. When my doctor gave me approval to start working out again, I visited many gyms. I almost gave up when my sister introduced me to a place called S.W.E.A.T. This was a little studio with a teacher and owner named Jessica Sands. She empowered me, encouraged me, gave me strength. I started at S.W.E.A.T. more than a year ago, being 47 pounds heavier and being told by my doctor that I was borderline from being put on other medicines for other health issues. Today because of S.W.E.A.T and its crew and clients, I am healthier, stronger than ever in my life of 47 years. S.W.E.A.T. is only a small studio with one room that might hold 60 people, with mats, balls and free weights and nothing more. S.W.E.A.T cares about its clients, its community and its neighbors – showing it in its actions as a small business. A bigger gym apparently is trying to shut down S.W.E.A.T. Shame on it. Our community needs businesses that care about the people, care to make them healthy, strong and feel good about themselves. That is what good businesses care about: the people first, not the money. Mary L. Pierce Kingston