Diamonds to the organizers and participants in the 4th annual New Year’s Eve Back Mountain Trail 5K race. It’s a wonderful and healthy way to close out the year, clearly giving the competitive types a way to cap their annual efforts while affording plenty of smiles and community spirit to those who opted to simply stroll or go for their “personal best.” The fact that it also shows off the value of the county’s Rails to Trails opportunities is a real bonus. Diamonds, in the same vein, to those who ignored the rain and started their New Year off with a 2.5-mile walk in Nescopeck State Park Wednesday. Environmental Education Specialist Alexis Webber summed the value of both event up succinctly at Nescopeck.”My favorite part about this is just getting to be outside,” Webber said. “It’s so important and so many people are missing it.” These sorts of events give everyone a chance to stop missing out on the outdoors.
Coal to the string of last-day-of-the-year crime stories that filled our page 4 on Tuesday. The New Year’s Eve stories included two men charged in a Hunlock Township burglary late Christmas Eve; a man taken into custody after forcing a vehicle chase, shooting at officers, and stealing a second vehicle before being apprehended across the county line; Berwick police investigating an armed robbery at a service station where he demanded lottery tickets, and a request by Wilkes-Barre Township for help in identifying a suspect who allegedly stabbed a clerk at a store during a robbery. We know the holiday season statistically sees an increase in criminal activity, but this collection came on a day typically used to recap successes and/or celebrate the hope a New Year can bring.
Diamonds to all those who recognize the lifelong service — and human dignity — former President Jimmy Carter demonstrated for nearly a century. Thanks in part to longevity but mostly to endless commitment to helping other, Carter dramatically shaped his own legacy for decades after serving one term as president. In our age of self-serving, hyper-partisan politics, we hope his passing this week will remind more people that we can live our best lives by keeping some humility while helping those in need.
Coal to those who couldn’t wait to criticize law enforcement and other officials in the early aftermath of the horrendous New Orleans terrorist attack. And yes, we include our fellow media reporters on the scene from other outlets who seemed eager to define changing information from investigators into some sort of failure. Yes, the interpretation of the attack shifted as more information became available, but that’s how these things work. We think Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry may have hit the nail on the head during a Thursday morning media conference when he pointed out that, in our instant-everything age, people expect all the answers after watching a 15-second TikTok clip. But with thousands of people mobilized to sort out what occurred, such easy answers couldn’t possibly happen in the 24 hours that elapsed before his comments.
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