Former local teacher gets jail time

On May 14, Gurniak walked out of school during the middle of the day and went to rob Chase Bank in Minoa.  Gurniak had a 12-gauge shotgun and pleaded guilty in August to second-degree robbery.  He stole roughly $20,000 but was caught.  He apologized to the bank and to his friends, family, and students.  Many students sent him letters regarding the incident and Gurniak acknowledged that as a teacher, he let his students down by making a decision of poor judgment.  Gurniak had a gambling addiction and accumulated severe debt, driving his decision to rob the bank. 

My Take:  Gurniak should not have gone to extreme measures and put his life on hold like this.  He now faces four years in prison and has shattered his image as a local East Syracuse-Minoa educator.  It looks like he was in a cash struggle, but robbing a bank and putting yourself in a criminal situation is not the way out.  I hope Gurniak understands that.

College costs continue to climb

Increasing tuition is ascending faster than the availability of financial aid, according to cnn.com.This year, tuition and fees rose over 4% at private universities and 6% at public universities. 

Public schools are suffering from a drought in state funding and private schools have seen endowments decrease.  Financial aid is not keeping up, and grant money isn't increasing at the same rate that tuition and fees are.  Student loans are also climbing, which adds to post-college debt.  Some students have even had their grants dropped.

My Take:  Due to the recession, it may not surprise many that colleges continue to get more expensive, but the numbers give us the hard evidence.  Financial aid rates are not keeping pace with tuition and fees, and until things start to balance out, college will continue to be a strain on our wallets.

Chargers staff member dies from fall

Espn.com reported that a San Diego Chargers game-day staff member died today after falling from a press box during last night's Monday Night Football contest between the Chargers and Denver Broncos.  Walt Daniels, 66, was pronounced dead at 2:30 a.m. at a San Diego hospital.  Daniels fell 25 to 30 feet from the box to the lower loge level and suffered a head injury.  He was given CPR and was rushed to the hospital.  The fall occurred before kick-off and delayed the start of the game for 40 minutes. 

My Take:  I immediately was struck by this story because this kind of event is incredibly rare.  My thoughts go out to Daniels' family members and friends.  I know falls can happen, but I've only heard about them during over-crowded world soccer contests where balconies collapse under the weight of too many spectators.  This kind of "freak accident" is very unexpected.