Cheer

This time of year it’s never hard to find people wishing each other peace on earth and goodwill toward men. Sometimes it can be a bit harder to find someone putting those thoughts into actions.

First United Methodist Church’s Thanksgiving basket program, which this year reached out and touched the lives of nearly 200 needy families, is a perfect example of a group of people putting those words into practice.

For the past decade volunteers at the church have filled bags or baskets with Thanksgiving staples, as well as $10 gift certificates from Rotary Club of Butler, which are intendment to help the families get themselves a Thanksgiving turkey.

This year, said Mindy Hildebrant, the project’s team leader, the church gave out 190 baskets.

That’s an incredible amount of outreach, and the project is powered by the volunteers who collect food and congregants who donate complete packages or specific items.

Volunteers, members of the church and Rotary Club all deserve sincere thanks for their work on this project each and every year. It’s the spirit of Thanksgiving put into action.

Jeer

Nancy A. Fields, 34, of Beaver County is not unique. The story of her deranged, immoral and illegal conduct is not uncommon these days.

The former hotel employee pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and indecent exposure after fondling two teenage boys and performing lap dances for them in 2013 at the Candlewood Suites in Cranberry.

Fields was sentenced this week to 6 to 18 months in prison followed by 5 years of probation, after telling a judge she “just want(s) to go home to my kids.”

It’s become clearer than ever that our criminal justice system has not found an effective way to deal with perpetrators like Fields; people who manipulate and exploit young victims, often causing a lifetime’s worth of damage.

That’s not the fault of the judges who sentence these criminals under the law, or the police who investigate their cases. Their tools are simply inadequate. The applicable punishment never seems to fit the crime.

Fields’ sentence is yet another reminder that we need to seek out reforms that will help our criminal justice system respond more appropriately to these cases.

Whether that’s stiffer sentences in general, more nuanced alternative punishment options for judges to choose from, or better post-incarceration treatment and regulation; there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

The only way to find one is to commit to a messy, public discussion of what exactly our society can and should do when faced with these tragedies.

Cheer

Cheers to Slippery Rock Township officials, who followed through this week and approved an ordinance that will allow the municipality to fine property owners who host nuisance gatherings. It’s a well-crafted piece of work.

The fines, which can be $500 to $1,000, aren’t arbitrary or capricious; the threshold to qualify as a nuisance — at least 10 people gathered and three citations from law enforcement — isn’t unnecessarily strict; and excluding political and religious events preserves peoples’ First Amendment rights.

The township, which is setting the table to deal with raucous parties at off-campus college housing complexes around Slippery Rock University, still needs to include an ordinance dealing with amplified sound systems.

That appears likely to get done in coming months, with a proposed amendment better defining and pairing the ordinance with the township’s new nuisance gathering regulation.

A third ordinance, this one penalizing property owners for having too many false fire and emergency calls in a year, will also be considered next month — though that is not yet ready for a public hearing.

These are even-handed regulations that will hopefully result in safer, less intrusive parties in and around the college town. It’s a win for students and the people who call Slippery Rock home year-round.