EDITORIAL: Odds and ends

Sharon Herald

October 16, 2009 10:39 pm

— The announcement that Mahoning and Pulaski townships plan to end their joint police venture is disappointing.
The Northwest Regional Police Department is an example of what local government needs to do in the name of efficiency and accountability. Police services are expensive, and if municipalities merge operations, they can lower costs.
Supposedly, a key reason for calling an end to the Northwest police agreement is that the townships of Mahoning and Pulaski are simply too large of an area for a single department to cover. That argument is absurd.
If that’s the rationale, why not have a separate department for Hillsville, Edinburg and New Bedford? Every community and every neighborhood could have its own police department — and pay through the nose for it.
State police cover all of Lawrence County through a single department. Surely a local police force can patrol two townships. If there are not enough officers, that’s a different matter.
Rest assured, if the Northwest police force is disbanded, it will cost taxpayers more money over the long haul. It’s as simple as that.
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The Lawrence County commissioners say they won’t replace stained glass windows at the former Second Presbyterian Church on Countyline Street.
The county acquired the building earlier this year with plans to use it for government offices. But a recent letter to the editor to the New Castle News raised questions about the religious nature of some of the structure’s windows.
Along with raising a potential problem with church-state separation, the writer suggested the windows could be sold to help the county with its well-publicized financial problems.
Commissioner Steve Craig this week rejected the idea of selling the windows, arguing they are not religious.
Looking at windows that depict Jesus and the Virgin Mary, we find that view likely to offend a wide variety of people. Should some organization file a complaint against the county, we wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if a judge disagrees with Craig.
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Librarians aren’t very intimidating.
When it comes to serving up political pie, public libraries frequently find themselves near the end of the line. And this year, in tight budgetary times, it’s no exception.
Harrisburg is trimming its contribution to public libraries by 20 percent. That’s better than the 55 percent originally proposed, but it’s still a hit.
We marvel at the lip service state officials pay to the benefits of education and information, and then they take an ax to libraries at the first opportunity. Such cuts are routine when spending is under pressure.
The sad truth is that libraries are not a potent political force in Pennsylvania. If they were, these massive cuts wouldn’t happen.