Hits and Misses
Stories about parents and spectators getting into fist-flying melees at K-12 sporting events have, unfortunately, become all too common. But what makes the report about a brawl that broke out at a middle school basketball game in Vermont stand out is the fact that one of the participants died shortly after the incident. It hasn’t yet been determined whether 60-year-old Russell Giroux of Alburgh, Vt., succumbed due to an injury he sustained in the brawl, or if his death was due to unrelated causes. One official was quoted in The Washington Post that it wasn’t clear why the fight started, that it mostly consisted of adults and “there was one parent who had blood all over their face.” Ugly events like these underscore the need for students, administrators, coaches and, yes, parents, to step back, take a deep breath, and realize what scholastic sports should be about – physical fitness and working with others on a team, learning to win gracefully and, yes, learning how to lose gracefully. Whether a team, or a particular player, is successful or not should take a back seat to these goals. Participating in a sport should be another means to prepare a student for adulthood, and they can come to realize that they’ll win some and they’ll lose some.
In March, additional benefits some families have received through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic will be coming to an end. And they are coming to an end at a very inopportune moment, with grocery prices having gone up by 10% in the United States in 2022. Val Arkoosh, the acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, pointed out in a story that appeared in the Observer-Reporter and Herald-Standard this week that those additional payments have been “a lifeline” for families and individuals struggling with food insecurity. She also said that they are looking toward “heroic charitable partners” to help fill the gaps. However, the Salvation Army has reported receiving fewer food donations recently, and monetary donations don’t go as far as they once did. It’s always good to assist our neighbors or community members who need a hand, and the need is particularly urgent now. Help if you can.
Washington’s City Council was set to vote Thursday night on whether to join the Washington County Land Bank. The land bank does important work in communities that are struggling with blight and abandoned properties. It uses resources to help return derelict properties to usefulness once again. Once that happens, it can help spur economic development in the wider community. East Bethlehem Township, along with Charleroi, Marianna and West Brownsville, participate in the land bank. Scott Putnam, Washington’s mayor, explained, “It’s important for the city of Washington, and it’s important for the land bank that the county seat is a part of that agreement.”