Newspaper readers can shake their heads
Some newspaper articles are apt to make readers shake their heads, slap themselves and ask, “Did I just read that right?” Yesterday’s edition contained three examples:
• Police arrested a Masontown man this week for a series of armed robberies in three counties. Stephen W. Gaza IV, 34, allegedly began his spree on June 7 when he held up a Kmart in Uniontown and later hit three banks, armed with a pellet gun, before troopers grabbed him after a chase on Monday.
According to Rostraver Township Police, Gaza told the Kmart clerk he robbed that he needed money to pay his rent. Although the most common excuse given by robbers is that they need to feed their drug habits, it’s not uncommon for bandits to propose poverty as their justification. But Gaza later told police he had a better reason for his crime spree: He needed the money to kill his pregnant girlfriend and flee the area.
Oh well, then …
Did he think that such a compelling reason for his crimes would elicit some sympathy, maybe cause the judge to be more lenient?
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently reported hydraulic fracturing has had little effect on drinking water nationally. Yet, the state Department of Environmental Protection is pursuing a record $8.9 million fine against Range Resources for failing to repair a natural-gas well that contaminated groundwater and a stream in Lycoming County. The DEP says these are daily violations that have occurred over four years, and Range Resources claims the methane contamination is not its fault.
Apparently the amount of the fine is negotiable, “depending on the conduct of the company and its response to our order,” said DEP Secretary John Quigley. Does that mean that by paying part of the fine the gas driller can consider itself blameless? Will this incident change what the EPA has reported about the safety of drinking water?
• And now we have Donald Trump joining a very crowded race for the Republican nomination for president. The billionaire star of “The Celebrity Apprentice” gave a speech Tuesday, bragging about his wealth, promising to effortlessly defeat ISIS and defend the border with Mexico from the invasion of rapists. He boasted that, “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.”
The Associated Press article stated: “The speech drew immediate scorn from Republicans who fear Trump will turn an otherwise serious primary contest into a circus.”
We hate to break this to those Republicans, but it’s a little late to close the canvas flaps on the Big Top; too many of the clowns have already exited that tiny car, and the elephants are already dancing on their stools.
Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul and Rick Perry are already running around the ring. Please pass the peanuts.