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Diamonds to restaurateur Rob Friedman and operations manager Sheila Humphrey for re-opening the Le Manhattan Bistro in Wilkes-Barre. The restaurant hasn’t had the smoothest of histories, but has been a welcome addition to area’s fine dining scene, thanks in part to the ambience of a nicely remodeled bank and to a menu with a classical French touch. Here’s hoping gourmands and casual diners alike stop by to sample the fare and make this incarnation of the Bistro a success. In fact, do the same for other restaurants you may have yet to sample.
Coal to Hanover Area School Board Member Frank Ciavarella for taking so long to step aside as board president amid the damaging wake of over-payment to his parents for student transportation services. Ciavarella would deserve diamonds if he had done this sooner, and in this case it is better late than never, and this saga has yet to fully unfold, but the problems were serious enough from the start to warrant stepping aside more completely than he initially did. Yes, he abstained from the vote to approve the contract with his parents, and he recused himself from the vote to terminate it, but it looks like he voted monthly to pay them in between those moves. Even if that was an oversight justified by the lack of detail provided in board agendas — many bill payments are lumped, unlisted, under a single generic approval of “check registers” — he could have assured public trust more quickly by stepping down as president as soon as the problem was discovered in December.
Diamonds to the apparent success of Luzerne County’s inmate reduction efforts. As Jennifer Learn-Andes reported in a story last Sunday, the county correctional facilities population has dropped by 15 percent since 2016, from an average of 712 inmates to 602. Of course, we want dangerous criminals off the streets and locked up, but much overcrowding was caused by delays in processing those charged, not in holding those sentenced. Back in 2016, officials estimated between 75 and 80 percent of county inmates were awaiting adjudication. Efforts to reduce that backlog appear to be working, and in turn saving taxpayers money.
Coal by the ton to the depressing number of adults who put themselves ahead of the safety and well-being of children. The latest example occurred when an 11-month-old girl was found, as Ed Lewis reported in Thursday’s paper, within “arm’s reach” of fentanyl and heroin after agents from the Luzerne County Drug Task Force and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed a search warrant in Edwardsville. The case, of course, remains in the works, but there is little doubt too many adults let addictions and personal needs consume them to the point of ignoring and endangering children who had no say in their circumstances. It is tragic enough when individuals decide to endanger their own lives for drugs or alcohol, it is tragedy magnified when they endanger innocent children in the process. To those not addicted, it surely seems inconceivable that love of a child can be trumped by love of a fix.