Laurels & lances: Duty, responsibility and generosity

Laurel: To doing your duty. Some people plan to vote but don’t get around to it because they get busy or they don’t feel well or the weather isn’t nice. But some people really put in the effort.

Megan Walker of Tarentum is one of those committed voters who doesn’t let anything get in the way of her responsibility as an American. Walker gave birth to son Bryson Drum on Monday, but that meant she was in Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland on Tuesday when she should have been showing up at the polls.

Walker didn’t intend to do absentee voting, so she hadn’t filed for a mail-in ballot. (Bryson showed up two weeks before her due date.) But she still wanted to have her say in the political process. The hospital helped make that happen.

She cast her vote with the help of the Pittsburgh Ballots for Patients program, which helps with emergency absentee ballots in unexpected situations just like hers.

Bryson can rest assured that he’s got a mom who takes her duty seriously.

Lance: To not watching your words. Allegheny County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam became the most recent elected official to be criticized over speaking her mind in what some say is an irresponsible manner.

In what is frequently the case, it all started on Twitter. On Sunday, Hallam liked a post that showed a burning police car and two people celebrating. And then she responded.

“Never burned a police car myself! But (expletive) yeah, let’s riot against fascism!!!!” she replied.

It is unsurprising that the Allegheny County Police Association took umbrage at this, calling on her to resign.

Hallam’s statement wasn’t just a flippant jab on social media. It was a dereliction of her duty as an elected official. Further, it was an offense against common decency, a slur against law enforcement officers who put their life on the line every day. Advocates for police reform lose all credibility when they take such a cavalier attitude.

But she is also not the first to do so. Plum and Norwin school boards have both had directors in similar situations over social media issues. It isn’t a Democratic or Republican vice. Both sides apparently have plenty of room to stick their feet — or their keyboards — in their mouths.

Elected officials don’t surrender their freedom of speech when they are sworn in. But they do have to realize more people are paying attention to what they say — and that carries responsibility and consequences.

Laurel: To finding a way to roll on. The holidays are about giving and one of the best ways to do that is through Toys for Tots, which collects gifts (and the money to buy them) to make sure that underprivileged kids have something to unwrap come Christmas.

The collection stations pop up everywhere starting in November and marching toward the big day. Restaurants, offices, shopping centers. But a lot of those places aren’t as busy as they were last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. A lot of the events where people also donate are being canceled.

So it is wonderful that the annual 40-mile railcar caravan that collects toys along the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad line from East Huntingdon to Hempfield is still taking place.

Trains and Christmas go together like kids and toys. Let’s hope the event scores Santa’s biggest haul ever to make some magical holiday mornings.