Laurels & lances: Service and sentencing

Laurel: To honoring the past. Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of the last American troops leaving Vietnam. In Pittsburgh, that date was remembered with a Vietnam Veterans Day service at the memorial on the North Shore.

It was a reminder of not just a date in the past but of all the people who served there — and the many who died and had their names carved into the wall of the national memorial in Washington, D.C.

“Each name is an individual, but each name is a part of humanity,” Harrison resident Howard Bronder said.

Bronder read his poem, “What’s in a Name,” at the ceremony.

Remembering the end of America’s involvement in Vietnam is a way not only to acknowledge the history but also to try to right the wrongs done decades ago when returning veterans — often drafted — were vilified for their service in an unpopular war.

Lance: To a disproportionate sentence. Randy Frasinelli, 66, will spend 6½ years in federal prison for perpetrating a fraud on the government and taxpayers. Originally charged with 21 counts, including bank fraud and money laundering, the Scott man pleaded guilty to just two counts in October.

It is a good chunk of time, but not as much as one might get for willful, deliberate, continuing patterns of crime with much smaller impacts. Steal a car, and you could get a longer sentence.

Frasinelli’s crime? He took advantage of the pandemic to loot the public coffers of $3.8 million in Payroll Protection Plan money that he spent on multiple luxury cars, jewelry, artwork and other investments.

But he committed additional crimes after his arrest. There was additional fraud. Some was monetary. Some was another assault on public trust as he submitted letters for his sentencing attesting to his character. But this is definitely an instance where your references will be checked, and Frasinelli’s were, unsurprisingly, fake.

Frasinelli’s sentence is at the high end of what was detailed in his plea. However, it still is disgusting that someone who orchestrated such an audacious and unapologetic crime could get away with so little consequence.

“I’m a very flawed man with a good soul,” Frasinelli told the court at sentencing.

He got the first part right. As to his soul, that’s more of a question for the church. But, considering one of his fake references was from the bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, he might have painted himself into a corner.