Thorns & Roses

July 03, 2008 10:29 pm

— Thorns & Roses is a weekly feature highlighting the best and worst of the week.

Roses

• To 93-year-old Tony Pasquale, who recently worked his last day as Logansport’s meter reader. Pasquale had been tending to the city’s parking meters as a part-time job since 1978. He often used parts from decommissioned meters to keep others working. In 31 years with the department, Pasquale had worked under six administrations, a feat Police Chief Randy Rozzi said had never been matched. The department honored Pasquale by throwing a party on his last day, and Mayor Mike Fincher delivered a proclamation designating June 20 as Tony Pasquale day in Logansport.

• To Greg Grostefon, who says one of his first orders of business as principal of Columbia Middle School will be to address the school’s gang graffiti problem. Grostefon will attend the National Gang Crime Research Center’s 2008 11th International Gang Specialist Training Program from Aug. 6-8 in Chicago, and he hopes to bring back information about gangs to share in a public forum. It’s good to see school administrators tackling this issue head on.

• To the organizers and participants in the fourth annual Cut-A-Thon held last weekend at the Logansport Mall. Over the course of five hours, six local stylists gave 85 haircuts. The money raised in this year’s event went to former Logansport resident Cathy Gossett, who is terminally ill with cancer.