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Terry Jarrett, Guest Columnist: A chance to make coal cleaner

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Morning fog and cloudy skies for the Wyoming Valley

New mayor, new holiday season, same old.As the the stupor of too much turkey and yams clears, consider two questionable claims that have become as much a part of this time of year as cranberries and Christmas decorations.1) It&#8217;s the tryptophan in turkey that makes you sleepy on Thanksgiving;2) It&#8217;s a previous government administration&#8217;s fault that a current one struggles financially. Most recently, Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George blamed predecessor Tom Leighton for book-balancing woes.To the former, consider some nutrition tidbits being fed to the public this year, including a recent post on Time magazine&#8217;s website.Yes, tryptophan can make you sleepy, but turkey has about as much as other meats. Turkey is also high in protein, which can actually combat fatigue. And turkey fat is digested primarily in your small intestine, potentially giving you a shot of energy.So stop gobsmacking the gobbler. You probably nodded off because you ate and drank with gluttonous abandon, and without enough physical activity to justify the intake. Your body had to focus most of its energy on digesting all that meat, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, cranberries, and whatever other sides you couldn&#8217;t keep from sampling.One can get tired just thinking about processing such an excess of edibles.To the latter, as staff writer Jerry Lynott <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/609425/same-scenario-different-reason-why-wilkes-barre-delaying-payment-of-bills-says-george" target="_blank">reported </a>this week, Mayor George dipped into Leighton&#8217;s playbook to paper over an end-of-year cash shortfall, arranging an agreement with Highmark to defer payment of health insurance bills.This nettles because George made much ado last December when, as a city councilman, he claimed to uncover a &#8220;secret side deal&#8221; between Leighton and Highmark to do exactly the same thing, for the same reason. Sometimes city revenue trickles in more slowly than bills come due, and a little effortwith the ledgers gets a budget over the hump.Should such tactics be clearly explained in advance and open to scrutiny? Certainly. Should a municipal administration get pilloried for a financing that, while creative, is perfectly legal and arguably reasonable? Almost certainly not.For his part, Leighton took to lambasting George, which is neither helpful nor unexpected. George, on the other hand, took to semantics, insisting this time it was different because &#8220;I never said everything&#8217;s perfect.&#8221;Sorry for the pun, but it&#8217;s time to talk turkey. George has been in office long enough to take the blame when things go wrong, and assume some credit when they go right.Leighton may or may not have counted on unreliable income this year, but it is George who oversaw implementation of that budget, including the collection of income that came up short as the year came to a close.And it is George who has proposed a 30 mill property tax hike and a spending cut in his 2017 budget.If people get tired of George&#8217;s excuses, it is not because of this year&#8217;s turkey tryptophan or last year&#8217;s Leighton budget.It&#8217;s because they are tiresome.

Our Opinion: Talking turkey on WB Mayor George’s budget woes