Hits & Misses
HIT: As of Wednesday, the initial phase of the state’s Clean Slate law took effect, allowing people to have records of certain misdemeanors they committed years ago sealed from public view. To be eligible for this, people have to have stayed out of trouble with the law for at least 10 years. In June, another phase of law takes effect, under which records of lesser crimes will be automatically sealed. Sharon Dietrich, litigation director at Community Legal Services, told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “For people with simple assaults, it’s really important, because when you’ve got an assault on your record, that often brands somebody as a violent person and, unfortunately, what it may represent is they had one very bad night, they got into a fight at a bar. To get that off their record is probably one of the most powerful things that our sealing law will allow.” People make mistakes, and young people tend to make more of them. A minor offense is not something that should follow them for life, perhaps affecting their ability to rent a home or get a job. The Clean Slate provision is a welcome change to Pennsylvania law.
MISS: The responsibility of local officials is quite simple: Keep their municipality clean and safe. North Franklin supervisors are failing to do the latter after they voted unanimously Thursday to disband their township’s full-time police department to fill an $850,000 deficit in the 2019 budget. Now, the already overburdened Pennsylvania State Police are responsible for patrolling the township of more than 4,500 people, which could lead to longer response times. North Franklin isn’t rural farmland anymore. It’s a growing suburban community around Washington with many housing plans and prominent businesses, most notably Washington Crown Center Mall. The three supervisors, Ron Junko, Silvio Passalacqua and Bob Sabot, claimed cutting other services and raising taxes to fix the deficit would have been “kicking the can down the road.” Instead, they made a short-sighted decision that could cost township residents dearly in the long run.
HIT: For about 10 years, cat enthusiasts have been feeding feral cats that have made their home at the Fayette Business Park in Smithfield, Fayette County, an act of undoubted compassion. But owners of the business park have decided they have had enough of the cats. Much to the chagrin of the volunteers who have been tending to the cats, the owners have gotten rid of the feeding stations and they have contacted an animal control specialist to catch and relocate the cats. Bob Shark, executive director of the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, which owns the park, told the Herald-Standard in Uniontown they are acting out of concern for the park’s employees. Those concerns are well-placed, considering that the food left for the cats has attracted vermin. While the kindness the cat caretakers have shown is laudable, the cats don’t belong in the business park. It is right to remove and relocate them.