Laurels & lances: Filming, pleading, bargaining

Laurel: To lights, camera and action. While Pittsburgh has become a popular filming site and spent plenty of time on the big and small screens over the years, sometimes it can feel like the wealth of other communities can be left on the bench.

But Greensburg hit a home run this week with an upcoming Amazon Prime series filming in the area. “A League of Their Own,” based on the critically and commercially successful 1992 movie which starred Tom Hanks and was helmed by the late Penny Marshall, is taking the community and other Western Pennsylvania locations back in time to World War II and the era of All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Let’s hope it scores big and brings more of Hollywood’s productions — and the business that surrounds them — to the area.

Lance: To lessons not learned. It seems as though being a police officer should get someone an understanding of how to follow the rules. That doesn’t seem to happen for Michael Diebold.

The former Leechburg police chief was in court again on Wednesday when he pleaded guilty in Armstrong County to charges of failing to provide accurate information in registering as a sex offender.

That registration was a requirement of his sentence following his previous guilty plea to statutory sexual assault, attempted statutory sexual assault, unlawful restraint and criminal use of a communications device after being caught in a child predator sting orchestrated by the state Attorney General’s Office in 2018.

Diebold also violated the terms of his release when he used the internet to contact a woman on social media, something precluded in his sentence.

Someone whose job was enforcing the rules should have a better grasp of how to abide by them.

Laurel: To a sharp bargain. Slippery Rock University President William Behre is so willing to get more of his students vaccinated that he’s willing to go under the needle himself.

To motivate students to boost their vaccination rate from a sluggish 52% to a minimum threshold of 75%, Behre has put an offer on the table. “Rock the Shot, Ink the President.” If they get vaccinated, he will get a Slippery Rock themed tattoo. There will even be a contest to submit and select designs.

“While I have to admit that getting a tattoo hasn’t exactly been a lifelong desire of mine, it would be a memorable – and permanent – way of making clear just how important I think it is for our students at Slippery Rock University to get fully vaccinated,” Behre said. “If getting a tattoo needle in my arm will inspire others to get the vaccine needle in theirs, then it would be well worth it.”

While plenty of universities are struggling with ways to increase vaccination rates, Behre may be making his effort the most personal.