Hits and Misses
Associated Press
HIT: There are a lot of tough, thankless jobs out there, and one of them has to be being a flagger. Those are the folks who stand on either end of the work zones on streets and roads. Most drivers aren’t happy to see them, they have to be on their feet for long stretches in all kinds of weather and they face the danger of being hit by distracted or heavy-footed drivers. Jon Andreassi detailed the ins-and-outs of their job in a story that recently appeared in the Observer-Reporter and Herald-Standard. It’s a reminder that we should feel some appreciation for flaggers and other people who do that kind of hard, everyday labor. Robert Ballentyne, assistant highway manager for PennDOT in Washington County, told Andreassi that he began his career as a flagger, and explained, “You can’t do anything without a flagger…. If you don’t have them, who else is going to protect your crew and your guys that are out there working?”
MISS: The new school year has started, and it was tough not to feel a sickening sense of deja vu on Wednesday afternoon with the news that four people had been killed and nine people wounded in a shooting at a high school about an hour northeast of Atlanta. All told, it was the 417th school shooting in the United States since the horrific 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, which took 13 lives and left 21 injured. The Washington Post noted on Wednesday that 2022 saw the most school shootings since 1999, and that 383,000 students have experienced gun violence in their school buildings over the last 25 years. The Post noted, “Beyond the dead and wounded, children who witness the violence or cower behind locked doors to hide from it can be profoundly traumatized.” When will we finally decide that enough is enough?
MISS: There have been several instances in American history where notorious criminals have gained a measure of celebrity – think Al Capone and Bonnie and Clyde. A more recent example would have to be Anna Sorokin, the con artist who passed herself as a German heiress and managed to swindle more than $200,000 from friends, hotels and banks. Sorokin’s scam was dramatized in a Netflix miniseries, and now Sorokin will be one of the contestants on the next season of ABC-TV’s “Dancing With the Stars.” Described as a “notorious ankle bracelet fashionista,” Sorokin is under house arrest in New York and had to make a deal with prosecutors so she can travel to Los Angeles for the series. Including Sorokin in the “Dancing With the Stars” line-up will certainly get tongues wagging and draw attention to the show, so the program’s producers must feel like an important mission has been well and thoroughly accomplished. But doesn’t it ultimately send a message that crime – at least in some instances – actually does pay?