The former sheriff of Arapahoe County in Colorado, Patrick Sullivan, had an embarrassing moment last month. Just days after Thanksgiving, the retired lawman allegedly offered to share a bit of crystal meth with a young man he had taken a liking to, in exchange for some unspecified favors, apparently of a sexual nature.

Our police department appears before the nation as incompetent and petty. Our district attorney parades before the national media as an anger management case. Our basketball coach, in his zeal to defend a friend, attacks and intimidates those who have ventured to accuse that friend of a crime.

Obama campaigned as the one who could usher in a new era of post-partisan politics and, if you look around Onondaga County today, you might almost think that new world order has come and gone. In Syracuse our Democratic mayor gets along swimmingly with our Republican county executive, who seems to be BFF with the Democratic governor.

It was a few minutes after 8 on a clear late autumn night, and the sun had been down for hours. I found a parking spot in Armory Square, stretched out for a few minutes and headed across West Fayette Street, following the yellow line that serves as the guide for the newest cool place in Syracuse.

You don’t think much about retirement when you’re a Marine in Vietnam. You don’t think much about retirement when you’re a hard-charging, harddrinking international correspondent in Africa and Asia.

I’m sure that when all the dust settles it will become clear that the mess involving Section III football in Skaneateles was drummed up by the Jordan-Elbridge Central School District. It was the perfect ploy.

It isn’t illegal to hunt whales with a harpoon gun in the city of Syracuse, but it could be. The whale population worldwide is endangered, and statutes to preserve the existing herd against the world’s thirst for whale oil and blubber are certainly welcome.

Two guys walk into a bar. Except one of them isn’t a guy. She’s a woman. Or let’s say they walk into a restaurant, or a cell phone store, or their favorite combination vegan pierogie outlet and cigar bar. Doesn’t matter.

Did anyone else notice that as soon as the city announced it would ease enforcement of parking regulations by offering a 10-minute grace period after the meter runs out, that dozens of protesters immediately flocked to downtown to set up camp in...

The Benderson Center, 205 S. Salina St., has been serving as a gathering place for seniors for nearly four decades. Mayor Stephanie Miner announced last month that the center would close on Oct. 1 to save the city the $10,000 monthly rent.