Laurels & lances: Partners, verdicts and a voice
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Laurel: To assembling assistance. Chris O’Donnell is the state humane officer for Armstrong County. That means she has more than enough on her plate trying to handle cases of abused or neglected animals. But some cases are bigger and more challenging than others — like the St. Patrick’s Day 2021 incident in Templeton, where 20 animals were rescued but more than twice that many found dead. The property owner was charged with 198 counts of animal abuse and neglect.
It raised the question of what would have happened if all of them — more than 60 animals total — would have needed rescuing. How would that be handled? Where would they go? O’Donnell is affiliated with the Orphans of the Storm shelter in Kittanning, but she knew more would be required for a major hoarding case, prompting her to develop a network of organizations for major rescues.
“There was a realization that none of us can do this alone, so we need to work together,” she said. “This is all about creating partnerships.”
Lance: To skirting the law. On Tuesday, Tobitha Sasso, 42, of Greensburg was found not guilty of failure to comply with child protective service laws. Her husband, Brad Geyer, 39, was found guilty.
Sasso is a Norwin Middle School teacher and was director of the school musical “Frozen Jr.” in February 2020. Police say she let her husband volunteer despite his 2018 arrest in connection with reports of multiple sex crimes and subsequent 2019 guilty plea to lesser counts of corruption of a minor and furnishing alcohol to a child. That came with a three-year probation sentence. It also made him ineligible to volunteer with the musical.
The defense claimed he was never a volunteer — just a good husband. That is ludicrous. A good husband doesn’t do things that get his wife suspended (she was suspended after the criminal charges were filed). A good husband doesn’t do things that threaten his wife’s career.
Regardless of Sasso’s verdict, every teacher knows what clearances are required to lend a hand in a school building — and that someone on probation couldn’t get them.
Laurel: To raising a voice. Communicating is one of the most important things children learn. They communicate with the people they love, the people who teach them and the people with whom they interact.
But Tyler Winfield, 10, of Hempfield, couldn’t do that until he was 5. That was when Variety, the Children’s Charity based in Pine, gave him a specialized iPad that allowed the almost nonverbal kid with an autism diagnosis to communicate by typing in words and phrases.
Today, the iPad isn’t necessary. Like training wheels, it helped him learn to find his own way to power forward.
Variety has provided $7.75 million worth of adaptive equipment like bikes and Tyler’s digital “voice” to help kids with different needs since 2012.