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Diamonds to Guerline Laurore, the first woman president of the Wilkes-Barre NAACP chapter. And by the way, kudos to her for not making a big deal about that fact. We achieve true equality in any aspect — gender, race or other — when we stop noticing the differences. Besides, Laurore has a compelling story that tops being the first women in the post: Born in Haiti, smuggled into French Guiana when she was 9, brought to the U.S. legally by her father in 1997 and pushed to be more active in the local NAACP by a daughter who herself was elected president of the chapter’s Youth Council. Good luck to them both.
Coal — with a very important caveat — to Dallas High School football players and district residents — and area residents in general — who show scant interest in school board meetings until a football coach change is expected. The caveat is obvious: The students deserve praise for being active on something that matters to them. But far too often school board meetings are sparsely attended even as important decisions about taxes, staffing and academic programs are made, while a coaching change will pack the house. Those who show up for their first meeting due to a possible coaching change should consider making a habit of it. If nothing else, it helps prevent a board from slipping some coaching change onto the agenda when nobody is looking.
Diamonds to all those area residents who made the trip to Washington for the presidential inauguration. This isn’t about who won, or how campaigns were run, or even whether a person went to cheer or to protest (though coal to those, local or not, who turned some of the protests ugly). This is about participating in our democracy, and celebrating our remarkable history of peaceful transitions of power.
Coal to Wilkes-Barre officials present and past — mayors, administrators and City Council members — for running a $2.1 million deficit in 2016. Obviously a budget is a working document that can change both by action and by forces beyond a government’s control. And granted this was a draft report with more changes possible before the figures are final. But having income fall short of spending by $2.1 million in a budget of $51.5 million means missing the mark by more than 4 percent. Miscalculate a budget by that big a margin a few years in a row and you’re facing a financial crisis.
Diamonds to Mike Klimchok, an 85-year old promise keeper who vowed to provide a gift for every resident in several nursing homes and succeeded. Klimchok carved and painted hundreds of wooden snowmen, reindeer and sleds — so many that his sore hands needed a vacation before picking up any tools again.
Coal to the area’s high credit card debt, at least as measured by WalletHub. The website figured average Wilkes-Barre debt would take a person nearly five years to payoff. They used some debatable variables in their formula, but the basic number is discouraging: Average card balance of $4,984 in Wilkes-Barre.