Category: default || By jt3y

As much as the Almanac practices a form of Mon Valley chauvinism little seen since Tom Mansfield retired from the Daily News, it's obvious that each and every one of us has a vested interest in the health of the city of Pittsburgh (that community of some size north of Our Fair City).

Thus it is particularly distressing that Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor has a rare form of lymphoma and has developed two tumors --- in short, he has brain cancer.

There may be two scarier words in the English language ("President Santorum"?), but "brain cancer" is near the top of my personal list.

I've only met O'Connor, briefly, on two occasions that I remember, but I don't mind saying that I got a catch in my throat when I read the news last night (on Dave Copeland's blog, of all places). Besides the obvious sympathy I feel for O'Connor as a fellow human being --- not to mention the fact that he strikes me as a genuinely nice guy --- I feel as if having him out of commission for any length of time would be bad for the city.

Doing a web search on any medical condition is a good way to turn yourself into a hypochondriac, and turns up a wealth of misinformation, and contradictory and confusing information. One article, from the American Journal of Oncology, says conditions like O'Connor's are "curable" and that treatment results are "excellent"; another, from that noted medical journal WebMD, says that patients survive only about a year and a half.

Somewhere in between is the truth; one problem is that only about 1,000 cases of "primary central nervous system lymphoma" are diagnoses in the U.S. each year, so there simply haven't been many comprehensive studies.

The TV news yackers sounded upbeat and positive tonight, but they're so desperately trying to hype the baseball All-Star Game that they would have put a positive spin on an explosion in an orphanage.

And I couldn't help but think of the late Dick Caliguiri, another dynamic mayor of Pittsburgh who was diagnosed with a serious disease while in office. (Being a bit of a pessimist, my first thought, in fact, was "oh, no, not again." I certainly hope not.)

I'm not comparing O'Connor's performance to that of Caliguiri's, of course --- it's a bit early in his term to do that --- but I have been impressed with O'Connor's performance so far. His sunny outlook and positive energy are just what Pittsburgh needed after a long period of tension between the mayor's office, city council and the county; and even if some of what O'Connor says are platitudes, they're at least the right platitudes.

If it sounds like I'm babbling, I am. I'm saddened, and a little worried, and I don't know quite what to say.

I just know that I feel bad for O'Connor, and I'm pulling for him, and if you're a praying person, it sure wouldn't hurt. Besides the fact that I hate to see a fellow human being struck down, I'd like to see what his vision and energy can do for McKeesport's downstream suburb.

. . .

A brief aside: Not only did I learn about Bob O'Connor's illness from Cope's blog, but Cope learned about it from Mark Rauterkus' blog. I don't know what this says about the future of conventional news media, but it wouldn't seem to be good.

Also, I don't know if I ever mentioned it here, but Cope is training to run in a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society. As a guy who only runs his mouth, and who gets winded opening a beer, I'm impressed. Find out more here.

. . .

Finally, as the self-appointed online pundit for all news stories regarding the Mon-Yough area, I feel compelled to comment on the recent death of a suspect in the custody of McKeesport police.

I have no personal knowledge of this case. And yes, I have heard plenty of stories about local police in the Mon Valley behaving improperly --- people even email me lengthy treatises --- but no one ever offers hard facts. (It's always, "a friend of a friend told me, and it seems like a strange coincidence," etc.)

Nevertheless, I feel qualified to state that no one ever died as the result of a police chase if they didn't get chased by the police in the first place.

I have sympathy for the family of the person who died. He was wanted for questioning in connection with a domestic dispute --- he was not convicted of anything.

If the police acted properly --- and it should be noted that preliminary reports from the medical examiner's office indicate that no signs of injury were found on the victim's body --- then this was a tragedy.

I realize that I write as a white, working-class male who's been stopped by the police maybe a half-dozen times in my entire life. But no situation involving police won't become worse if you fight or run.

Keep your mouth shut, act polite, and cooperate --- and if the police are wrong, you're going to have one hell of a good lawsuit, and you'll be alive. The ACLU (of which I'm a member) gives exactly the same advice.

Also, according to a story in last week's Daily News, city police are getting anonymous phoned-in death threats over this case.

In an age of caller ID, there may be stupider things to do than crank call the police station -- but I've been thinking all day, and I haven't come up with any. Seriously: Borrow a clue.