Laurel: To the sweetest philanthropy. It’s cookie sale time, and the Girl Scouts are out in earnest, selling those Thin Mints, Trefoils, Do-Si-Dos and more at $5 a box.
Funds raised help subsidize camp registration costs, pay for community service projects and troop activities, and assist girls and troops with financial need.
Watching your cookie intake after a sweets- laden holiday season? Make a donation to a troop, or purchase a box for those serving in the military through the Girl Scouts’ Operation: Sweet Appreciation program.
Laurel: To state Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, for her recent appointment to the GOP Senate leadership. Although the Senate remains predominantly a boys club, Ward’s appointment points to her growing status as she returns to Harrisburg midway through her third term.
Lance: To the Westmoreland County judges, and particularly President Judge Rita Hathaway, for not announcing a vote total when the judges appoint a member of a school board, borough council, township commissioners or supervisors.
The judges don’t give voters a clue on whether some of the judges believe more than one candidate is qualified to hold an office, other than the one the president judge says has been appointed by the panel of judges. That means voters in the Norwin School District do not know if any of the judges believed that any of the 11 candidates, other than William Essay, was worth a vote.
There is no reason not to make that information public. Judges publish their opinions in other matters, and they poll juries in their courtrooms to make the way people voted in trials for murder or corruption openly known.
Their opinion, if revealed, might give some voters a reason to consider a particular candidate. It is best for all involved if the veil of secrecy is removed from how the candidates fared in the vote by the judges.
