Sounding off: McIntire's death, Steelers, Biden/Trump, speaker battle, Ziccarelli's crash on readers' minds

Rest in peace, Chief McIntire

The horrific death of our beloved Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire has devastated our community.

It brought to mind a song by James Taylor, “Fire and Rain.” The words “Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone” echo the stunned feelings of everyone throughout our humble community. This is something no one ever imagined happening here. What we lost can never be restored.

Sadly, one thing this tragedy shows is the love and respect we will always have for McIntire. He is a true hero. He did his job and gave up his life to protect the citizens of this community. Deep gratitude also goes out to Tarentum Officer Jordan Schrecengost. I can’t imagine what this courageous young man is feeling knowing that he, too, could have been killed, and the loss of his brother in arms.

Our community is blessed to have the local police departments of Brackenridge, Tarentum and Harrison. I suggest that the next time you see any of them, you thank them for their service.

The shots that wounded Schrecengost and killed McIntire wounded everyone in our communities. We not only lost a chief, we lost a son, a brother, a neighbor and a friend.

The closing line in “Fire and Rain” is “I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought that I’d see you again.” Yes, Justin, you’ve seen fire and you’ve seen rain. That rain is our many tears. May God bless your family. Thank you for your courageous sacrifice. May you rest in peace.

Edward A. Svitek

Brackenridge

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Great job, Steelers

Aside from all the naysayers, the Steelers have a bright future. After a dismal 2-6 start, they turned it around to finish 9-8! The emergence of Kenny Pickett, George Pickens and Jaylen Warren bodes well for the future. They also have three of the top 50 draft picks next year.

Mike Tomlin takes a lot of heat, but he did a heck of a coaching job this year. I am not convinced Matt Canada is the right man for the offensive coordinator job.

Regardless, keep the faith, Steeler Nation — next year should be fun!

John Naugle

Ligonier Township

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What sank the Steelers

Rookie mistakes or Mason Rudolph’s revenge?

Maybe both sank the Steelers. Were Art Rooney and mediocre Mike Tomlin the culprits? Uh-huh. They’ll never learn. The refusal by Rooney to address his coach’s shortcomings can only mean one thing. We’re getting pierogi races at halftime and Zambelli fireworks after the game. Surely this will pacify the fan base who will watch another team lift the Lombardi trophy. Somebody tell Art the definition of insanity.

Not to be outdone, Tomlin committed the ultimate rookie mistake. He chose to play a rookie quarterback over two healthy veterans. Kenny Pickett didn’t win the job, but it was handed to him, guiding the Steelers to a 2-6 start.

Only Mason Rudolph is laughing harder than yours truly when you think you belong in the playoffs. This quarterback debacle this year will have veterans like Cam Heyward, T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick in a tizzy all winter as to why you wasted their prime years.

Better draft another quarterback because Rudolph will be gone, and Mitch Trubisky will be looking to get off your crazy train. Maybe Pickett can actually get a touchdown pass to No. 1 receiver Diontae Johnson next year … or not. Kenny is a rookie, but Art and Mike should know better. Shameful.

Rob DiSanti

O’Hara

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Biden, Trump are too grown up to be president

It looks like President Biden and ex-President Trump are both considering running again. Hvaen’t we taken the phrase “anyone can grow up to be president” a bit too far? Our country has a population of over 330 million. Is this the best we can do? C’mon, man.

Alan Critchlow

Lower Burrell

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Biden administration gets an F

The Biden/Harris administration has been in power for two years now with total Democratic control of Congress. How should they be graded?

Foreign policy — F. The world is far more dangerous now than two years ago.

Russia has invaded Ukraine. China is preparing to invade Taiwan, Iran is posturing throughout the Middle East and is fast-tracking nuclear weapons development. North Korea is firing ballistic missiles toward Japan and threatens the entire region with its nuclear arsenal. Bad actors around the world see the weakness of this administration and are taking advantage of it. Our armed forces are being degraded by idiotic woke policies being forced upon them, resulting in recruitment shortfalls.

Economy — F. The middle class is being crushed by rampant inflation brought on in large part by this administration’s overstimulating the economy with unnecessary spending and eliminating our energy independence with unnecessary green energy policies. Americans’ retirement savings are being wiped out in the stock markets and the economy is on the brink of a recession.

Domestic policy — F. Our southern border is being overrun by illegal migrants. Deadly drugs are pouring in, resulting in over 100,000 American citizens dying annually of overdoses. Supply chain problems persist post-pandemic. Crime is rising at alarming levels, while the Democrats coddle criminals with no cash bail and early release policies. Our public education system is failing while pushing woke ideology on our children.

It’s hard to imagine any rational American citizen not longing for a return to the policies of the past administration regardless of their views of the past president personally.

Ed Davis

Greensburg

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Insanity virus hits Republican reps

A classic definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results each time.” Clearly, Donald Trump over the past seven years has successfully infected the Republican members of the House of Representatives with the insanity virus.

Kenneth Powell

New Kensington

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Ziccarelli should pay for repairs to county vehicle

There are no accidents, only collisions. Collisions are preventable (i.e., reduce speed after dark and in bad weather).

Why are Westmoreland County taxpayers expected to pay for the transportation needs of elected officials (“Westmoreland DA: Crash involving county vehicle was ‘minor’,” Jan. 7, TribLIVE)? While commendable that District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli was on a mercy mission to assist the needs of a family friend at 3 a.m., she should have been using her personal vehicle.

That the DA is on call 24/7 and may need to respond to county business requiring a vehicle is a rationalization for her poor judgment. Stuff happens. It shouldn’t happen at taxpayer expense.

Ziccarelli should have used her personally owned vehicle. If called to duty (on a taxpayer-provided cellphone), she should use her own vehicle and charge mileage to the taxpayers.

County officials should not be using taxpayer paid vehicles for personal use. Period.

Westmoreland County commissioners need to reexamine the transportation budget — vehicles, costs, fuel, maintenance, (self) insurance — to save “we the taxpayers” money.

As for Ziccarelli, repairs to the SUV entrusted to your care should come out of your paycheck. “We the people” expect better judgment of someone in your position.

David A. Scandrol

Lower Burrell