Laurels & lances: Support, shutdowns and hold music
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Laurel: To community coming together. When Richard McCloskey of Etna hung a swastika flag on his porch late in 2021, some people in the area were understandably upset at a symbol tied not only to the Nazis but also other hate groups.
“I don’t hate nobody,” McCloskey said, claiming he hung the flag as a protest of the Pennsylvania Game Commission over a raccoon problem.
His free speech trumps other opposition, but people have found a way to counteract the perception that they live in a place that supports the values associated with the symbol.
“Instead, we are proud to join the (Etna Community Organization) and fight it with a message of love,” said Borough Manager Mary Ellen Ramage.
ECO has raised money for yard signs and billboards with a different message: Etna is for Everyone. There have been other activities, too, including a virtual community meeting to find ways to promote diversity and inclusivity.
Lance: To bad water. The various streams and rivers of Pennsylvania have been a focus of cleanup efforts for decades after generations of being harmed by things like acid mine drainage and industrial impact. There has been remarkable turnaround with things like freshwater mussels coming back to the Kiski River.
But the Department of Environmental Protection has recently identified portions of Squaw Run in Fox Chapel as “impaired with pathogens” and unfit for recreation.
Heather Hulton VanTassel, executive director of Three Rivers Waterkeeper, points the finger at combined sewage runoff. Municipal officials say pathogens have not been found present in the stormwater and that pathogens could be coming from other sources, including deer, raccoons or geese.
Separating storm and sanitary sewer systems can solve the common problem of overflow in areas where heavy rains and snow melt can flood stormwater sewers.
Laurel: To a music man. Don’t try to figure out the hold music if you call Excela Health. It isn’t a stylized, instrumental version of an 80’s power ballad or a disco classic played on the pan flute. It’s “Excela Theme,” an original composition created for the health system.
And when it came time to pick someone to create it, they stayed local, going with composer, guitarist and banjoist John Marcinizyn, 58, of Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, who lectures at Carnegie Mellon and Seton Hill universities.
It might not seem like a big deal, especially when the commission was made back in 2011, but sometimes small, local touches are important.