Every Saturday, the South Jersey Times cheers those who make our area a better place in which to live and jeers those whose actions merit derision.
Every Saturday, the South Jersey Times cheers those who make our area a better place in which to live and jeers those whose actions merit derision.
CHEERS: To news that Narcan has been used 95 times in Gloucester County to save victims of drug overdoses in the last year. Now that police are able to administer the anti-opiod, drug abusers stand a much better chance of surviving. This is a key step forward in the battle against addiction, but it's hardly the end of the story. Now we need to figure out why so many people fall under the spell of heroin and other powerful substances and how we can end this destructive cycle. It begins with saving lives with remedies like Narcan, but it must also include long-term approaches to treat addiction.
CHEERS: To pizzeria owner Anthony Marino for standing by his faith and rejecting pizza boxes bearing a depiction of Pope Francis. The pizza boxes shipped to Marino's Pizza in Mullica Hill and many other establishments around the region were adorned with the Pope's image to commemorate his upcoming visit to Philadelphia. It was a neat idea and one that many will appreciate. The boxes will probably become collectors items. That said, though, Marino took issue with the idea of putting the pope on his products. It runs counter to his Roman Catholic faith and contradicts everything he feels Francis stands for. The boxes were created with the best of intentions, by an artist at Savona-Stavola Foods in West Deptford, but we respect Marino's view that merchandising of the pontiff's image has gotten a bit out of control.
CHEERS: To an arrest in a chilling incident of alleged child luring. Gregory S. Scott, 27, of Washington Township, is accused of opening the apartment window to a 6-year-old girl's bedroom from the outside, leaning into the window and taking her photo. He allegedly told the girl he was a doctor. The intruder ran off when the child's mother confronted him. After several days of hard work by local police, they arrested the suspect on Tuesday. Stories like this send a chill through any parent, and it reminds us all of the importance of remaining vigilant.
CHEERS: To recognizing the service of those who fought to their country. On Tuesday, after a long effort by many volunteers, five new headstones provided by the federal government were installed on the graves of five black Civil War veterans in historic Mt. Pisgah Cemetery in Elsinboro. These men, at a time of segregation, enlisted in the U.S. Army -- one in the U.S. Navy -- to fight for the preservation of the Union. The new stones and the recognition of their names -- Thomas D. Moore, Herney Turner, James H. Anderson, Frank Abe Watson and James Moore.
JEERS: To the resurgence of the West Nile virus. A human case was just reported in Cumberland County earlier this week, marking the seventh case in a human in New jersey this year. The news on the disease is event grimmer. It has been reported now that one of those infected in Passaic County has now died. A very wet early summer provided plenty of breeding grounds for the carriers of West Nile, mosquitoes. Let's hope this recent dry spell will slow the growth of the mosquito population and the danger of West Nile.
If you know of someone or something you would like to nominate for a cheer or a jeer, please send the information to Cheers and Jeers at letters@southjerseymedia.com.