Laurel: To Joe Glorioso of Indiana Township. The 24-year-old this week spoke to Highlands Middle School students about the dangers of drinking and driving. That's what put Glorioso in a wheelchair. He and two buddies were drinking on Halloween night in 2003 when their car slammed into a tree along Squaw Run Road in Fox Chapel. They all lived. But Glorioso shattered a vertebra and almost died from an infection. The young man's talk should open the eyes of teens who are just beginning to drink. We hope so.
Lance : To the Freeport Community Park vandals. Police say two vehicles drove through the soccer fields, tearing up the grass recently. But, thanks to security cameras, officials have good pictures of the vehicles and drivers. One soccer official said they've spent $9,000 in the last three years to repair vandalism, including a break-in at the concession stand, repairs to a kicking wall and three incidents of people driving onto the field. We hope part of the culprits' sentence is to repair the damaged field.
Lance: To the Lower Burrell vandals. Some teenage boys apparently like to vandalize houses and cars in the Donnell Plan in Lower Burrell on weekend nights. We've had reports of eggs thrown at houses from a car and paint thinner thrown on parked cars. We hope the kids are still amused when they are working to pay for the damage.
Laurel: To the reopened road beside Giant Eagle in New Kensington. It is a busy link between Tarentum-Bridge Road and Craigdell Road. It was closed several months ago after a huge sinkhole appeared. Workers spent much of the summer digging up mounds of dirt and replaced a large sewer line.
Observation: Why are state lawmakers and Westmoreland County commissioners getting an automatic 3.5 percent cost-of-living raise when Social Security recipients are getting only a 2.3 percent increase in 2008⢠Certainly seems out of whack. And they are all based on federal inflation indexes.
Lance: To the Alle-Kiski Medical Center. Our school districts have been quick to inform parents about cases of MRSA so they can take precautions. But officials at the hospital will not comment on a reported case on the staff. They don't have to report infections to health officials now, but will beginning in February under a new state law.
On the "Watch List ": Kids and lighters. Luckily, no one was injured. But an 8-year-old East Deer boy caused about $5,000 in damage when he started a fire in a pile of clothes in the second story bedroom of his home last week. A nearby family friend luckily saw the smoke and rushed to help extinguish the fire with a garden hose.
Laurel: To Alcoa researchers. They are working to develop an aluminum-based light military vehicle to replace the Humvee that will better protect servicemen from exploding bombs. Researchers at the Upper Burrell technical center say even though steel is stronger, its shrapnel is deadly. Aluminum doesn't splinter near an explosion.
