The News-Item's cheers and jeers from the past week of news:
- Cheers to the volunteers who came to the aid of John Seedor and his dog, Sophie, in the woods between Marion Heights and Natalie on Nov. 9. Seedor told his story, which had a happy ending, for The News-Item's annual Thanksgiving Day "Thankful for" feature. And while the rescue of Sophie was appreciated by the Seedors, the selfishness and bravery of our volunteer rescue personnel is something everyone can be thankful for.
- While we're in the holiday spirit, cheers to the Shamokin-Coal Township Salvation Army staff and volunteers who, beyond their normal efforts to make the holiday better for others, have a new project this year aimed at collecting boxes of food needed to make a holiday dinner. The special drive will help supplement the bare shelves at the Army's food pantry and ensure some 600 needy families in the area will have a good meal for Christmas.
- Cheers to the U.S. Marshals Service for their capture of Scott J. Binsack, and jeers to Binsack for his online taunts of these and other public servants. Debating the justification of one's parole is one thing; hiding out from the law while taunting those who would bring you to justice is quite another.
- Jeers to the law that sets statewide rates for county common pleas judges ($173,212), district attorneys ($168,541) and magisterial district judges ($86,608) (2013 figures used here) without consideration of local economics. In the case of Northumberland County, that's more than $1 million in salary for eight people.
