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Editorials

All prison options must be considered

It is easy to understand — and be sympathetic toward — the Alto-Reste Park Cemetery Association’s opposition to the Blair County commissioners’ decision to seize association land by eminent domain as part of the plan for construction of a new county prison. It also will be understandable — as well as predictable — for some families with relatives interred in the cemetery to join in opposition to the current prison plan, which would result in the new prisoner facility as a “next-door” neighbor to the cemetery. Geoff Behrens, the cemetery association’s vice president ...

Tragic stories highlight need for caution

Some readers who have followed the tragic story of Kathleen Ann Shea of Tyrone at any time over the past six decades might have paused at one particular point while reading Mirror reporter Phil Ray’s article last weekend marking the 60-year “anniversary” of her kidnapping. Here is a recap of the part of the article in question. Any parent with a child or children still in school needs to reflect on the important message that that part of Ray’s article delivered clearly, despite not actually stating the message. The paragraphs containing the unwritten, though relevant, ...

Trump must keep abreast of new threat

The COVID-19 pandemic is essentially a scourge of the past, although it has not been defeated completely. Unfortunately, though, what is happening at this time in Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo, if it remains a mystery for very long and remains unchecked, could evolve into something even more horrific than the horrors that COVID-19 inflicted. This country must mobilize whatever protective measures and resources it can muster to try to ensure that Africa’s current challenge never reaches America’s shores. But even those most optimistic regarding America’s capabilities ...

Shea case among others still unsolved

Even after the passing of 60 years, Tyrone’s Kathy Shea abduction mystery continues to baffle virtually all who hear details of it. How, they ask, can a child, in a populated and well-traveled area just across the street from her school, simply vanish without anyone noticing that something was amiss, and why there was no scream or cry from Kathy loud enough to attract attention. “There’s no such thing as a perfect crime” — so the theory goes. But March 18, 1965, debunked that belief, and it’s not the only time that theory has been proven incorrect in Pennsylvania’s ...

Americans getting worse at grieving

In her “Turning Points” column in the Feb. 19 edition of the Wall Street Journal, Clare Ansberry attempted to answer the question of why Americans are “getting worse at grieving.” For many residents of Blair County, it is a topic that seems beyond settling on a widely verifiable conclusion. However, the points made by Ansberry in her column provide generous food for thought and, beyond that, food for discussion and lively debate. On that issue, “picking each other’s brains” has the potential to foster interesting outcomes, but it need not sour relationships, if the ...

Consequences of late payments haunt borrowers

Many student loan borrowers are receiving unwelcome messages about their higher education indebtedness, and most of the blame, if not all of it, is attributable to them — their shoulders alone. Lack of attention or mere irresponsibility is coming back to haunt them, in a way that, for many, will take years to resolve, if not more than a decade. Information about these borrowers’ current predicament needs to filter down to the new “class” of borrowers — members of high schools’ Class of 2025 — who will be starting their studies at colleges and universities in the ...