Laurels & lances: Movies, fights, holidays and theft
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Laurel: To a spotlight on a great neighbor. A little national attention on Pittsburgh is always nice, especially when it’s for everyone’s favorite nice guy, Latrobe native Fred Rogers. “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is giving that wholesome glow with a little red-carpet flair. Thanks a lot, Tom Hanks! You make a great neighbor.
Lance: To the other kind of attention. There’s a flip side to everything, but did the bad light really have to shine so bright right now? The Nov. 14 clash between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns that ended in the Browns’ Myles Garrett being indefinitely suspended for clubbing Mason Rudolph with the Steelers quarterback’s own helmet is a flashpoint.
In addition to showing up on “Saturday Night Live” (in a less-than-hilarious opening that married it to the other tribal battleground — the impeachment hearings) and a pithy “Pittsburgh Started It” shirt in Cleveland, the fight and its fall-out have sparked a bonfire of articles, analysis and comments online.
Let’s hope the Browns’ visit to Heinz Field on Dec. 1 is less explosive.
Laurel: To a wish granted. Rita Ruffner loved Christmas, and when you have a son who designed sets for Hollywood, it’s not surprising that the perfect present won’t fit under the tree. She wanted a Santa sleigh in her Latrobe front yard.
Jeffrey Michaels, 51, of Las Vegas worked on it all summer and finished up in time for his mom’s 80th birthday Oct. 26. She died unexpectedly Nov. 9, but her son’s gift gave her a last glimpse of the holidays.
Lance: To a lenient sentence. Former Elizabeth Borough police Chief Timothy Butler admits that he stole thousands of packets of heroin because of his addiction. He stole them from his own department’s evidence room. He also admitted to the theft of parking meter money and to obstruction.
His guilty plea netted him four years of probation and 325 hours of community service. Maybe that balances out on the scales of justice and the court system’s sentencing guidelines.
But Butler wasn’t charged with a greater theft — the public trust of the citizens in their police. It’s a debt that can’t be compensated and one he leaves other officers to pay.