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Diamonds to Wilkes-Barre for staging today’s multicultural parade and festival, and if you are reading this early enough and live close enough, consider heading downtown. The parade begins 11 a.m. and runs from the intersection of South Main and South Streets and heads along Main to Public Square (Main Street will be closed from Ross Street to the square from 9:30 a.m. to noon). If past is prologue, you can expect to see Jamaican stilt walkers, Lithuanian women waving their ancestral flags, and dancers showing off the garb and moves of Panamanian and Dominican cultures, among others. The third annual parade and festival present a good opportunity to celebrate the fact that, even in these times of fierce debate about immigration, we are and always have been a melting pot of many nations. We benefit from this in many ways, and today’s events are one small example. The event continues until 9 p.m.
Coal to the legal system — particularly Pennsylvania laws — regarding legalized medical use of marijuana. A serious shortcoming was exposed in last Sunday’s front page story when Jennifer Learn-Andes reported the plight of Shanelle Dates, who apparently had the green light for medical use of marijuana, yet ran into problems with Luzerne County Children and Youth. The story exposed a simple problem that seems both predictable and avoidable: Reporting requirements regarding drug use and C&Y don’t seem to have kept up with the medical marijuana changes. It sounds like a case of different government bureaucracies not staying on the same page, and that’s something that always needs to be watched.
Diamonds to The Plymouth Historical Society and all those involved in marking the 150th anniversary of the Avondale Mine Disaster. The massive mine fire and 110 miners lost helped reshape safety standards for an industry that, history clearly shows, loved to cut corners at the expense of workers who had little choice but to endure the danger, both for their own family’s sake and for the comfort of the many who benefited from the success of King Coal. It’s important to remember these and other mining disasters first and foremost because of the lives lost and families impacted, but more broadly to remember the importance of vigilance in job safety and the need to keep all workers sufficiently empowered to prevent greed from topping concern for human life and dignity.
Coal to both Luzerne County officials and County Council candidate Walter Griffith for the dispute about voting district reconfiguration. Griffith filed a lawsuit trying to delay the changes, and he makes valid points about the timing of the reconfiguration and the risks that voters will not get the message soon enough to assure everyone affected is aware of the changes. It’s not unreasonable to ask why the county didn’t do this sooner. It is also not unreasonable to believe the county can handle the modest changes in the time left before the November election. Besides, the courts already had a say by approving the changes Sept. 6 (while allowing objections to be filed). This is one dispute that just feels unnecessary.