WACKO OF THE WEEK, 02/25/07

Yes, it would be easy to simply declare Britney the winner. Clearly she's silly and maybe crazy. She treats rehabilitation like she treats marriage: today it's on, tomorrow it's off. But ARBORETUM will pass on this slam dunk.


We were tempted to give the award this week to Dick Cheney. It's not that he's been out hunting again, but rather that he's been traveling the world further damaging American foreign policy interests. Now, he's fulminating against China, one of the few countries in the world which might pose a serious threat to us.

But, once again, we pass.

Then there's the weeping judge who decided to let Anna Nicole get buried. He looks and sounds like a wacko, but he seems to have arrived at a sound and well-reasoned decision with which most people agree. So, he may weep and be weird, but we don't think he's wacko --- at least not this week.

SO THEREFORE, let it be known:
This week's honor is shared by two educators.

1. Anthony Giancola, principal of a middle school in Tampa Florida, was arrrested in the lobby of his school, during school hours, after buying crack cocaine from a policeman right in the school office.

2. Bernadette Burks an elementary teacher in Saginaw, MI, arraigned on counts of maintaining a drug house and resisting a police officer.

The burden of being in charge of other people's children, or any children at all, is huge and can be daunting. But the responsibility is even greater, and the duty to be good to those kids is absolute.