Laurels & lances: Police and consequences
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Laurel: To carrying on. Though the hole created by the loss of Chief Justin McIntire remains, the Brackenridge police are getting back to business as usual.
Police from across the region covered the department following McIntire’s death Jan. 2 in the line of duty, allowing the Brackenridge officers an opportunity to grieve their fallen co-worker.
But it won’t be the same. Without McIntire, the department is down a full-time officer. It also lost part-time officer Theodore Bajack, who resigned Jan. 1.
This means the municipality still will be relying on backup coverage, filling in around-the-clock coverage with help from the state police.
Lance: To political infighting. On Tuesday, Allegheny County Council voted down a motion to censure Councilwoman Bethany Hallam over foul language that arose during an exchange with Jail Oversight Board member Judge Elliot Howsie on Jan. 5.
Hallam called it a political stunt. In reality, it was a situation that should never have happened.
Why should any government meeting devolve to the point of name-calling or vulgarity? Why wouldn’t elected officials or other public servants be able to keep a civil tongue while doing the people’s business?
Hallam might not have been censured, but everyone involved has a lesson to learn.
Laurel: To a judicial opinion. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani expressed the kind of exasperation with Rostraver officials that sounded more like a frustrated elementary school teacher.
“I can’t understand why grown men have to behave in this manner,” Feliciani said.
The grown men in question are Commissioner John Lorenzo and other township leaders, including Manager Jeffrey Keffer.
Lorenzo entered into an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program in June over charges of felony unlawful use of a computer to disrupt government functions and misdemeanor harassment. The charges stem from using fictitious Facebook accounts to harass political opponents and rivals.
Part of the deal for that program was an arrangement in which Lorenzo would only appear in person at voting meetings and would attend other gatherings remotely. He petitioned Feliciani to change that, which was opposed by Deputy Attorney General Heather Serrano.
Feliciani denied the petition. He was right to do that, especially before a March 14 hearing on additional summary charges related to an October incident with township officials. But he also was right in his disgust for the whole situation.
“How do I make grown men and women act like grown men and women?” he asked.
Good question.