Cheers & Jeers
Cheers: Cheers to the vision of South Union Township’s supervisors, who’ve committed to a nearly $5 million project that will offer the area’s youth a new place to go. The township is moving ahead with plans for a sports complex in the vacant building they purchased from O.C. Cluss Lumber on Pennsylvania Avenue. The complex will include 18,000 square feet of playing surface that will feature turf. Another 6,000 square feet will include an addition on the front and side of the building. The building will also include meeting rooms and concession stands. Supervisors expect soccer teams from 17 municipalities in the area will compete there. It sounds as though the complex will offer a number of opportunities for people in the area, and we are excited to see it filled with players and fans. Construction is expected to begin next month, and will take about nine months to complete.
Cheers: The grief of losing a child in a school shooting is almost impossible to fully comprehend. But imagine if a snake-oil salesman with a national platform recklessly claims to thousands of followers that your child never existed, that they were “crisis actors” and that your grief is fake and part of a larger nefarious plot? That’s exactly what happened to the parents of the children who were brutally murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. Radio show host Alex Jones claimed the whole horrific event was a hoax, and, as a result, harassed and threatened the Newtown parents. This was, as Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson put it, “unspeakably vile.” Last week, Jones received his comeuppance from a jury in Austin, Texas, when he was ordered to pay almost $50 million in damages to the Newtown families. Jones was forced to admit on the stand that, yes, what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School was “100% real.” Jones faces additional lawsuits and, likely, additional humiliation. Maybe it will convince other hucksters and scam artists like Jones that, in the end, you can’t lie with impunity.
Jeers: Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano undoubtedly pleased followers of former President Donald Trump when he declined to answer questions before the U.S. House’s Jan. 6 committee this week about his role in the events at the U.S. Capitol 19 months ago. But Mastriano and his campaign have also seemingly made the decision that they will not talk to reporters unless they are of the far-right, very, very partisan variety. Both television and print reporters have been denied access to events. More recently, Mastriano was at the Cochranton Community Fair last week, claiming that Democrats “have the media in their pockets working for them.” But Mastriano refused to talk to a reporter from the Meadville Tribune before and after his speech, reportedly smiling and walking away each time. If Mastriano is elected in November, he will be accountable to all Pennsylvanians, not just those who voted for him. This will mean speaking to media outlets who will ask probing questions, not just those that heap praise on him.