Three Up; Three Down

THREE UP

BILL MIKOLAY already has a reputation as a shrewd businessman. Now he’s re-crafting his rep as one averse to events downtown. The owner of Main Street Discount, the large store set along West Main, negotiated a compromise Thursday with the organizers of a bike race proposed for next month in Waynesboro. That deal came the same day we gave Mikolay and the City Council majority a thumping in this space for their initial opposition to the idea. We’d expressed hope for a compromise; Mikolay fulfilled it. Here’s to Mikolay for utilizing his entrepreneurial skills to lead the way in getting a deal done for the good of the town. Good show.
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How about renaming Interstate 64 the R.E. LEE-BUFFALO GAP Championship Highway? Those high schools boast two of the central Shenandoah Valley’s proudest athletic traditions, which results in team buses logging frequent rider miles to Richmond. The Buffalo Gap girls basketball team extended the legacy Friday with another state championship. The R.E. Lee girls seek to do the same today. No matter the outcome of that contest, Lee and Gap alike have given the Valley plenty to cheer about in a pair of magical runs destined to join local lore. Congrats, ladies.
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Having prepared by “studying and studying,” ANDREW TRAYLOR now is preparing for a trip to Washington, D.C., courtesy of his victory a week ago in the 62nd Annual Regional Spelling Bee, co-sponsored by The News Virginian, in Charlottesville. The Augusta County homeschooler rattled off a series of tough terms, including adagio and basmati, finally winning on the word exacerbate. Hats off, Andrew.

THREE DOWN

Remington Steele would be a better pick to run the GOP than MICHAEL STEELE. The party chairman’s latest surgical implantation of shoe leather between molars had him declaring that he is pro-choice but later, no, he’s pro-life, definitely one or the other, maybe. This stems from an interview with GQ, the success of which could only be rivaled by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s sit-down with CBS News anchorette Katie Couric. Steele, of course, is the same fellow who was against talk giant Rush Limbaugh before he was for him. Or was it the other way around? In either case, it’s time for the beleaguered GOP to put itself out of Steele’s misery.
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In the category of obligatory dissing falls BERNARD MADOFF. The father of all Ponzi schemers pleaded guilty Thursday to 11 fraud charges after bilking thousands of investors out of billions of dollars. Heaping insult on widespread injury, the former Nasdaq chairman explained matter-of-factly that he simply couldn’t help himself. “I felt compelled to satisfy my clients’ expectations, at any cost,” Madoff said. Well, yes, at any cost to the poor souls who’d invested life savings with him and, in the process, swallowed hooks, lines, sinkers, reels, rods and tackle boxes. Good riddance, Bernie.
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A space here should be reserved permanently for President BARACK OBAMA’S FINANCIAL TEAM, including principally Obama himself and perpetually beleaguered Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Economists of all walks panned the pathetic pair in a Wall Street Journal forecasting survey, chiefly over their sketchy plan for stabilizing the banking industry. If the experts are right, the best hopes for a change in the economy is that matters will worsen.