Cheer

Clandestine cheers to Jim Shearer. The 39-year-old native of Butler Township received a Distinguished Service Award this month for his work as a supervising FBI agent. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch presented the award on Nov. 10.

Butler Township native Jim Shearer has tangled with outlaw bikers, religious extremists and domestic terrorists.

Shearer, the son of retired Butler Township Police officer James Shearer, was the supervisor of Operation Short Fuse, which worked out of the FBI’s Seattle Division and its Washington, D.C., base and prevented the trafficking of biochemicals and toxins over the Internet by operatives in the United States and abroad.

Operation Short Fuse’s undercover operations and intelligence collection have been part of 95 FBI investigations, according to the Justice Department. It’s credited with disrupting 18 subjects who tried to buy, sell or use chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive materials in the U.S. and around the world.

Jeer

We admire the “duck test” for its simplicity: If it waddles, has webbed feet and quacks, then it’s probably a duck. And in some cases — like this one — maybe a whole flock of ducks.

Philly.com reports former Gov. Ed Rendell is getting $5,000 monthly from a South Pacific island casino that’s been linked to a possible money laundering operation.

Rendell told Philly.com he began receiving the payments about seven months ago as part of an advisory committee to the Best Sunshine Live casino, located on the U.S. island of Saipan and run by Mark Brown, who once ran President-elect Donald Trump’s Atlantic City casinos.

The Bloomberg financial news organization revealed Rendell, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, was on the casino payroll as part of a report suggesting the wildly profitable casino’s revenue appears far too high.

Rendell said he doubts the casino is a money laundering front. A casual conversation with Brown was enough to assure him of that. He admits the vacation there was persuasive, too.

Rendell says he was brought on to ostensibly to provide guidance on American regulations. But the only substantial thing he’s done for Best Sunshine Live was recruit former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a prominent Republican, onto the committee.

Aside from Rendell, several other high profile names showed up on checks from Best Sunshine Live — including former FBI director (and Penn State scandal report author) Louis Freeh.

There are ducks on this pond, quacking loud as thunder.

Cheer

Thanksgiving cheers and a nod of gratitude to Victor Gould. The South Street resident and grandfather of eight rescued a 3-year-old girl last Sunday from a slippery, snow-covered porch roof next door.

At 59, Gould is a little old for such things, but he did not hesitate to climb a porch railing to rescue the troubled tot.

She apparently was fascinated with her first sight of snow. Barefoot and wearing only an oversize sweater, the adventurous tot managed to open a window, step out onto the porch roof and close the window, all by herself.

“She was pretty cold but she seemed all right,” Gould said. “She’s lucky because if she’d have fallen, she’d have fallen 12 feet.”

The toddler, after being rescued, told authorities that her father was still asleep when she went out the window. Police and the Butler County Children & Youth Services were investigating the incident. The girl, unharmed, was turned over to her grandmother’s custody.

While the investigation is important and necessary, it’s more important that the little girl is unhurt, thanks to the selfless action of a vigilant neighbor. Maybe it does take a village; if it does, then the village should be populated with grandpas like Victor Gould.