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126353969_web1_covid-by-zip-1-22-2021

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Diamonds to Tony Bonczewski for his amazing work ethic and long career as a shoe repairman in the Jordan National Shoe Repair on Wilkes-Barre&rsquo;s Public Square. Bonczewski has decided to hand up his cobbler tools for good at the age of 90, and that&rsquo;s no misprint. As reported this week by Bill O&rsquo;Boyle, Bonczewski graduated from Coughlin High School in 1947 and worked with shoe repair most of his life, operating at his current location for the last 44 years. We have waxed poetic in the past about the value of keeping this venerable and vanishing trade alive, but considering he&rsquo;s turning 91 next month, Bonczewski certainly has a right to finally relax. &ldquo;All I&rsquo;ve done for all my life is work, work, work,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s time to retire.&rdquo; Enjoy it, Mr. Bonczewski, and thanks for both your years of service and your inspirational example.
				Coal to Kingston for deciding to no longer accept glass in curbside recycling pick ups, or more precisely, coal to this nation for continuing the massive failure of dealing with re-usable refuse. Kingston dropped the service because tipping fees (dollars per ton) of material has been shooting upwards. The good news is that residents can still drop glass off, free of charge at the Department of Public Works warehouse on Church Street. We don&rsquo;t blame Kingston for the change. It is one of an endless list of signs that we do not take the value and importance of recycling seriously enough as a nation, letting the manufacturers avoid the true cost of dealing with their packaging and ultimately their product disposal.
				Diamonds to schools that still teach handwriting, and to all those who still write personal thank you notes &mdash; rather than simply sending a text, say &mdash; after benefiting from a gift or an act of kindness. We bring this up because today is National Handwriting Day. Why? This is John Hancock&rsquo;s birthday, arguably a man best known for his penmanship in signing the Declaration of Independence so large his moniker dwarfs all the other signatories. And as an aside, in case you forgot, our area boasts a cursive writing Grand National Champion in Lake-Lehman student Aubriella Wojnarski. She won the fourth-grade title in the Zaner-Bloser annual national handwriting contest. You don&rsquo;t need to know how to write longhand these days, of course, but it is one more way to express yourself and communicate with a distinctly personal touch.
				Coal to people who don&rsquo;t respect police and the difficult work they do. The latest example: Wilkes-Barre police say Christal Mutua screamed, then managed to slip one hand out of cuffs on her wrists, then kicked an officer in the knee. Yes, there are officers who can be too aggressive or short-tempered, and occasionally one will bring shame to the profession. But they are men and women keeping us safe, doing the hard things most of us don&rsquo;t want to think about, and risking their lives in the process on a daily basis. They don&rsquo;t deserve invective, and certainly do not deserve assault for just doing their jobs.
				 &mdash; Times Leader

Our View: Diamonds to Wilkes-Barre’s ‘Shoe Guy’