Cheer

It’s good news for hunters throughout Pennsylvania that the Game Commission recently gave preliminary approval for them to use semi-automatic rifles and shotguns out in the field.

If some were concerned that the move — signed into law last year by Gov. Tom Wolf — would decrease hunter safety, they should breathe easy. The commission looked into the safety issues and, on Wednesday, announced that neighboring states that permit the use of semiautomatics didn’t see any impacts.

Instead it appears the new rules, which will go through a final vote at the commission’s next meeting in March, will bring Pennsylvania up-to-date when it comes to rules and regulations governing hunting firearms. Pennsylvania is the last state to prohibit the use of semi-automatic weapons for hunting.

That was a ridiculous state of affairs, and it’s long past time Pennsylvania, which has some of the most beautiful hunting preserves in the eastern United States, stepped into the 21st century.

Hunting and outdoorsmanship is a legacy and birthright shared by millions of Pennsylvanians. It’s time to start accepting the fact that they know what they’re doing out there in the woods.

Jeer

Is anyone surprised that the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s first round of liquor license auctions has been dominated by corporate interests?

The second round of bidding is under way, but the first was a runaway success for companies like Sheetz, Giant Eagle, Giant Food Stores and Weis Markets. The companies put up bids in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain the licenses — and squeezed out smaller bidders in the process.

That’s not to say any of this was improper — in fact, it’s what state officials wanted: money to help prop up Pennsylvania’s flagging revenue collections.

But anyone who thought that the state’s liquor reform bill was a step toward decentralizing control of Pennsylvania’s alcohol industry should think again. It’s simply shifting it to chain stores and big businesses that can afford to pay a premium for the right to sell alcohol.

That wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that independent business owners are paying an unfair price amid the reshuffling.

Cheer

Cheers to Preston’s March, a Wilmington, Del., company that was in Butler County last week to donate adaptive bikes to some students at Haine Elementary School in Cranberry Township.

The bikes are tailor-made for special needs students, who took them for a spin in the school’s cafeteria to the delight of teachers and other students at the school.

Riding a bike came seem a tiny thing to those of us who are able-bodied. But to people who struggle with mental and physical disabilities, it can be a mountain of a task — even impossible, unless the right equipment is present. And that is often very expensive, The bikes donated last week cost between $1,400 and $2,500 apiece.

We wish the Haine students happy riding on their new bikes, and offer Preston’s March a much-deserved thank-you for their efforts at opening up new horizons for children with special needs.