Laurels & lances: Seizing, teaching, tasting and hoarding
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Laurel: To doing the right thing — eventually. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has returned $82,373 to an Allegheny County man after confiscating it from his daughter.
Rebecca Brown boarded a plane with the cash that had been saved for years in her father Terry Rolin’s South Fayette home. She was headed back to Boston after a wedding, and was planning to open a joint account to help manage his money. The DEA managed it instead, seizing it after the Transportation Safety Administration notified them it was in her carry-on.
It took six months and a lawsuit to get the money back, causing financial hardship for Rolin.
The DEA was right to return the cash. It should have been right sooner.
Laurel: To the value of a good education. Especially when the price is a value, too. Westmoreland County Community College is marking its 50th year providing quality instruction.
Since the affordable, backyard post-secondary option first started offering classes at Jeannette High School, its scope and reach and broadened. Today thousands of students are learning important skills and preparing for critical careers at seven locations.
Laurel: To good taste. Coffee is good. Chocolate is good. Coffee and chocolate are great together. A new shop where you can get them both at the same time is a no-brainer, and it’s also been popular in Tarentum where Desiree Singleton has returned to her hometown.
Harvest Moon Coffee & Chocolates opened recently and is doing more than giving people a jolt of caffeine. It’s also providing a nice place to meet a friend and making use of an old building in the heart of town.
Every community can use another entrepreneur making use of existing spaces with a little warmth and sweetness.
Lance: To hoarders and price gougers. Seriously, people, it’s good to be prepared. It’s not good to overreact. You don’t need a lifetime supply of toilet paper. And you definitely don’t need to unethically capitalize on fear.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has set up an email (pricegouging@attorneygeneral.gov) to accept reports of absurdly inflated costs during the coronavirus pandemic. His office isn’t reporting problems yet. Let’s keep it that way.