EDITORIAL: Roses and raspberries

By The North County Times Opinion staff | Monday, June 23, 2008 12:35 AM PDT ∞

The 'Timely Tuning' award

A bright rose to Wendell Shoberg for repairing the 1890 Mason and Hamlin three-manual reed organ in the Rancho Guajome Adobe in Vista. Rancho volunteer Jerry Colling said Cave Couts Jr. had the organ transported from Boston to Vista in the 19th century.

Shoberg ably repaired all of the problems that had surfaced in this unique instrument over the last several years. Keys that were once silent now produce sound. Stuck notes that sounded continuously now produce music only when an organist touches a key or a foot pedal.

And the work was finished in time for volunteer organists to perform on it at the next adobe event scheduled for July 19.

'You Have to Be Kidding Me' award

Maybe it was the full moon glowing radiantly over the North County Transit District offices in recent days, or maybe ---- with all of the recent cutbacks and reductions in staff ---- someone also emptied the common-sense drawer when the district signed up for a national campaign to encourage people to "try mass transit." The district gave away 800 free passes as part of a national "dump the pump" promotion designed to leverage consumers in shock over gas prices to use district buses, the Coaster or the Sprinter.

We're lobbing a not-so-bright raspberry at the overwhelmed district for announcing expected cuts in bus routes and increases in ticket prices on the same day.

And, just to prove that the common-sense drawer is still empty, district officials announced last week they will limit the number of Sprinter passengers rolling their bikes on board to four. No more.

The 'Perfect Attendance' award

At a time when area high schools are experiencing truancy and dropout problems, we offer a rose to Rancho Bernardo High School senior Megan Bunting for accomplishing a rarity: perfect attendance from kindergarten through high school. School officials said she wasn't the first, but we have to salute her reason for such diligence: "Education is important."

An 'Earned His Eagle' award

A rose to Boy Scout Nick Kovsky and his brother Aaron who spent two years erecting a statue of an eagle atop a white pillar in tribute to veterans and active military members serving in the Iraq war. The statue was recently unveiled at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall off Old Stage Road in Fallbrook, capping a project that the longtime Boy Scout hopes will earn him his Eagle Scout medal. Nick Kovsky deserves it.