Notice all the chatter about the razing of the trees at River Park? And the comments about new ones being planted in the spring. How long does it take for a tree to get to be the size of the downed ones? Depends, but lots of folks may not be around to see the growth. Here are the “fastest growing trees.”

Kind of disturbing to know there are some “elected public servants” who would rather blindly follow party tripe than follow the intent of the Constitution. Among the beautiful, lasting tributes to our form of government is that positions in the branches of government can be filled in an orderly manner. The appointment process has precedent.

See here.

Or here.

Or here.

Or here.

“Nobody listens to us!”

The divisiveness in politics is at the root of the current malaise in government. This column in today’s LNP – Always Lancaster kind of “nails it” we think, as the author plainly speaks out: ““Nobody listens to us!”

Politicians, increasingly career politicians, march to the dogma spewed by party leadership rather than than those they’re elected to represent. Ergo, the “elected public servants” are serving the wrong masters. Stop them – vote them out!

Why does it seem that Columbia never appears in the Municipal Briefs or the School Briefs?

In some cultures, when there’s a major screw-up impacting public safety or ethics, the perpetrator “falls on his sword” or resigns or is arrested. Why is it that we don’t get the same from the folks who screw up in this country?

For instance, when the folks at the helm of the protected monoply, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, “left more than 500 vehicles stranded on the turnpike in Somerset County, some for more than 24 hours” recently, the highly paid leader, turnpike commission Chairman Sean F. Logan said, “We want to learn from this. Our team recognizes that we need to be held accountable for our management of this emergency.”

More than 75 people with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission get paid more than $100,000 plus generous benefits – the chief executive officer made nearly $195,000 in 2014. Ah, again, the beauty of being on the career political merry-go-round.

Wouldn’t you think if you were paid that much you’d get weather reports right; particularly if you were handed  the instruction manual that included many of the things that were identified in the Valentine’s Day Massacre?