Cheer

Cheers to the residents of Jackson Township, where a number of large retail developments are under way or about to break ground.

Last week the planning commission recommended a 42-acre parcel beside the new FedEx distribution center by Route 528 to be the site for a hotel, restaurant, a convenience store and office space.

The area, owned by Zelienople-based Plunkett Motor Freight Rentals, also borders Interstate 79.

“Just like home, we want to see this grow and prosper,” said owner-developer Joe Belsterling, a lifelong township resident. “We would like to see more people come into the area.”

Although the development has received interest from numerous businesses, none have been confirmed.

Township supervisors still must sign off on the plans, which are still in the preliminary stage.

To paraphrase a movie line, if you build it, prosperity will come.

Jeer

The “hard deadline” has come and gone once again in Harrisburg without the adoption of a state budget.

Nothing new there. But by all accounts, the process is way ahead of where it was last year, when the budget was approved nine months into the fiscal year that began July 1. That long delay forced many school districts and counties, as well as the human service agencies that serve them, to take out short-term loans and scramble for other financing when the delay interrupted the flow of state funds they rely on.

The Republican Legislature has approved a $31.6 billion spending plan but still falls about $300 million short of revenue. House leaders are reportedly working this weekend to come up with funding sources to bridge the gap.

But now the real “hard” deadline looms. Monday will be the 10th day since the spending bill’s passage, and the final day for the governor to act on it. While Wolf still has the option to veto the budget before midnight, it otherwise becomes law with or without his signature.

A Wolf veto is unlikely in an election year. Too many legislators, including Democrats, fear an election-booth backlash.

It has become a perennial question: Must the disregarded deadline create this budget crisis every year?

Cheer

We’re blessed to have neighbors like Tom and Marie Grant, both Zelienople Rotarians, involved in a number of community services.

The Grants are reviving and co-chairing the Rotary District Committee on Polio. They plan to raise money and awareness for polio.

The disease has been wiped out in the United States since 1994, but it still afflicts people in foreign lands, particularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the World Health Organization classifies it as an endemic. Polio’s after-effects still grip about 2 million Americans who have recovered  — including Tom Grant, who contracted polio as a high school senior in 1953. Grant recovered quickly, but for the past 15 years has suffered from post-polio syndrome, a condition that forces him to wear leg braces for walking.

The Grants plan to visit all 42 Rotary clubs in District 7280 to talk about polio and the struggle polio survivors face. The district includes clubs from Allegheny County to Erie County.

Cheers and best wishes to them as they embark on a new mission.