EDITORIAL: Hanover woman true to faith
- A Hanover woman left $1.6 million to her church to fund it for "as long as the Earth rotates."
- Two newly confirmed judges have taken the bench, alleviating a considerable caseload.
- Donald Trump, at a rally on Tuesday, advocated for Saddam Hussein's method of justice.
Thumbs up to the late Caroline John, the Hanover woman who created the Caroline and Adolph John Fund, named after her and her husband, to support her lifelong church, Emmanuel United Church of Christ at 124 Broadway.
The 95-year-old librarian died in October 2014. She was born in 1919, according to her obituary, which ran in the Hanover Evening Sun in October 2014. In 1941, she graduated from Wilson College in Chambersburg before receiving her master's in library science from Drexel Institute of Technology — which is now Drexel University — in Philadelphia.
She bounced around from library to library for a few years, starting in Hanover before moving through Chardon, Ohio, and the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, before landing on Long Island, New York, where she spent most of her career in Valley Stream and then Amityville.
"She was a trailblazer, sitting in boardrooms of men, telling them how to make community libraries," said Bryan Tate, vice president and chief development officer of the York County Community Foundation, the organization charged with handling the investment of the endowment.
The church will get $72,000 per year for “as long as the Earth rotates,” according to the directive left by Caroline John.
Here is someone who quietly lived her faith, and in these noisy times it’s beyond refreshing to see — and be reminded of — the inherent good in most people.
Thumbs up to the quick swearing-in of York City attorney Kathleen Prendergast and federal prosecutor Christy Fawcett, York County's newest judges, who will serve in family and criminal courts, respectively.
Prendergast and Fawcett were confirmed last week by the state Senate to fill two vacancies on the bench.
The pair “jumped right in,” as Prendergast described it, to relieve sitting judges of a larger-than-normal caseload that has accumulated during the vacancies, which began last year.
In March, Gov. Tom Wolf put out an open call for applicants to come forward to fill the state's 30 open seats on counties’ Court of Common Pleas, magisterial district courts, state Supreme Court, state Superior Court and state Commonwealth Court.
Prendergast and Fawcett were selected after a regional advisory commission reviewed qualifications of all the candidates and presented their findings to Wolf, a Democrat from York County.
A formal swearing-in ceremony is slated for Wednesday, July 20, at the judicial center.
Thumbs down to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who said the following at a campaign rally Tuesday night in Raleigh, North Carolina:
“Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right? … But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good,” Trump told the crowd. “They didn’t read ‘em the rights, they didn’t talk. They were a terrorist, it was over.”
Trump praises late Iraqi leader Saddam as terrorist killer
Fear and hate mongering are below the dignity of this nation — which just celebrated Independence Day — or anyone who aims to represent it. The price of freedom has been the lives of brave troops sent to defend our country. This type of language, which flies in the face of our values, should give all voters pause.
A speech that promotes denying those accused of their rights is not only unbecoming of anyone seeking to hold the highest office in such a great nation, it’s downright dangerous.