Category: default || By jt3y

Cluttered thoughts from an empty mind:

A friend and former cow-orker who shall remain nameless pointed out the cover story in this week's Pittsburgh City Paper, saying that it made him "want to beat Marty Griffin to death with his own microphone." Ouch!

The story's about Griffin, a KDKA-TV "investigative" "reporter" (I use those words in the loosest sense, since we're talking about Tee Vee "news"), and his pursuit of the Rev. Brent Dugan, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon. Griffin filmed portions of a service and a festival at the church before springing on Dugan the real reason for his interest --- parishioners suspected the pastor was gay.

Naturally, there's a connection to Our Fair City, or else the Almanac wouldn't care. After Griffin confronted Dugan while he was purchasing pornography at the "adult novelties" store on West Fifth Avenue near the Mansfield Bridge, the station began airing promos for its "expose" that was going to uncover "illicit, possibly illegal, activity by a local minister, activities which at the very least violated the rules of his denomination."

Suddenly, Dugan disappeared and KDKA withdrew the report, making a sanctimonious on-air announcement that congratulated itself for its "unprecedented decision not to air the story" out of fear "the pastor may be in danger to himself." By then, the damage was done, because Pastor Dugan had checked himself into a motel and blown his brains out.

. . .

From Penn State's Don't-Call-Us-McKeesport Campus comes some good news that I missed in Wednesday's Almanac round-up of warm-hearted stories.

Penn State alumni Ann E. and George R. Kemp have pledged $100,000 to create two undergraduate scholarships; one will target students at the No-Seriously-We're-Not-McKeesport Campus, while the other will support home-schooled students in the College of Agricultural Sciences.

Mrs. Kemp was an elementary school teacher for 20 years, while her husband was a landscape architect. Together they also operated the former "Fishers of Men" Christian bookstore in Olympia Shopping Center in McKeesport.

. . .

Rejected names for Penn State's Greater Allegheny Campus:

• Linebacker U., WPIAL Branch



• Penn State University Park, Extremely West Campus



• Penn State Pay-No-Attention-To-The-City-Across-The-Street Campus



• University of White Oak



• R.I.T. (Renziehausen Institute of Technology)

OK, OK, I'm just funnin', I can't help it.

. . .

Thank goodness for Detroit, which makes every other urban area look better by comparison, as Nancy Nall so often eloquently points out:

The city provides — hold onto your hats — no residential snow removal. Seriously. Main arteries and business districts are plowed, but residential streets fend for themselves. Neighborhoods that still count a few members of the middle class in their number form associations and pay for plowing privately. Everyone else buys boots. In apocalyptic winters, whole streets can become impassible. My friend Ron did some stories about this a few years ago, and said the first thing that happens is, everyone passes the word when the mail will be arriving, and residents gather at the closest navigable corner. The mailman arrives, distributes the mail and leaves. If you miss it, come back tomorrow.

I understand that "Mayor Opie" was on tee-vee the other night acknowledging that the roads were, quote, "bad." Personally, I was instantly able to tell on Tuesday night when I had crossed from the City of Picksberg into West Mifflin Borough --- I was able to relax both my sphincter and my death-grip on the steering wheel. My experience has been that Our Fair City usually does a fairly good job of keeping the streets clean, too.

You're welcome to sound off on snow removal efforts in your little portion of the Mon-Yough area (good, bad or otherwise) in the comments, or shoot me an email.

. . .

Finally, I don't want to set off a hissing match with an occasional Alert Reader of the Almanac. I have few enough readers without chasing them away, and more than enough enemies without making new ones.

But why are you doing this, Mark Rauterkus?

South Side resident Mark Rauterkus, who has run unsuccessfully for state Senate, Pittsburgh City Council and mayor, announced yesterday that he will run for six political offices at once in the November election.

A 47-year-old swimming coach, he said he will run as a Libertarian for Allegheny County chief executive, county councilman at-large, county councilman for District 13, mayor, city controller and city councilman for District 3.

Nobody asked me, but I tend to think the public would be better served if Rauterkus focused all of his energies (and a powerful grassroots campaign) on one office and didn't give up until he won. Dick Caliguiri was elected mayor of Pittsburgh as an independent, so there is no reason that a Libertarian couldn't be elected to council.

If Rauterkus is on a quest to become the Harold Stassen of the Liberty Tubes, I can understand. Otherwise (and maybe I'm missing something), running for six offices at once just makes a person look like a dilettante.