Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Self Destruct

There are two people of note in the "self destruct" mode this week.

One is Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.  He faces a civil suit over a sexual abuse allegation, and now a young woman accuses Roethlisberger of abusing her in a Georgia bar.

Roethlisberger denies it.  Even so, Roethlisberger is guilty of a horrible mistake in judgement.  He's putting himself in bad situations and is just asking for trouble.  Grow up.  Stop bar hopping and acting like a kid.  Roethlisberger doesn't have to be a saint, but he has to realize that he's a target and there are a lot of things he just can't do.

The second one in today's self destruct parade is former Wilkes-Barre Area school board president Jim Height.  he was in federal court yesterday to be sentenced for taking a bribe.  that sentence:  six months in jail, followed by four months of home confinement.  We heard the standard speech from the defense attorney-- that Height has already suffered through the loss of his $64,000 a year job, plus the embarrassment and humiliation of being dragged into court.

That's all well and good.  We all make mistakes.

On the other hand, is it too much to ask of public servants that they be honest and law abiding?  It's all so simple.  If you want to stay out of jail, whether you be quarterback or school director, just use a little common sense.