Laurel: To listening to the people. Actually, Brackenridge’s problems started with listen to a few people complain about basketball hoops and hockey goals.
In response to some complaints about traffic obstructions and property damage from kids playing sports on or near neighborhood streets, the borough proposed an ordinance that would ban the equipment from use in those areas.
On the one hand, it does make sense. On the other, kids have been dragging balls and nets back and forth to play a quick game with friends forever. It is nothing new and one could argue nothing that deserves a fine of up to $1,000, as was proposed.
When people heard about the would-be ordinance, the response was swift and not supportive. A Tribune-Review article about the proposal and an editorial questioning it garnered huge response on social media, almost all of it in support of kids having the right to play.
When council was set to discuss the idea at a meeting last week, it wasn’t brought up.
“(Council) will not be commenting on it further,” said solicitor Craig Alexander.
They should comment, however, if only to acknowledge that they heard the people’s voices and responded appropriately.
Lance: To a terrible request. Sometimes how you do something is very important. The impression you make at a job interview or in court can affect how things go from there. Meeting your future in-laws or your next-door neighbors can set up a great relationship or years of tension.
So one has to wonder what a Pine-Richland student was thinking when he held up a racist sign to ask a girl out — and why it would prompt anyone to say yes.
“If I was black I would be picking cotton, but I’m white so I’m picking you for Homecoming?!” reads the sign in the picture being circulated on social media. The girl beside him is smiling as she holds flowers and makes an obscene hand gesture.
Pine-Richland officials say they are taking “appropriate next steps,” but what can those even be? How do you use policy and discipline to instill basic decency and humanity? Is that even possible?
The sign should be a catalyst for parents to talk to their children about what is right, what is wrong and what is unacceptable.
