Of Knothole, grease thieves, fen-phen & Fletcher

Thumbs up to Knothole baseball on the occasion of its 75th anniversary. Greater Cincinnati Knothole reached an all-time high of 37,000 participants this year in 27 districts. As Enquirer reporter Shannon Russell put it yesterday in an excellent group of stories, "Knothole is thriving based on tenets that haven't changed in decades: community, camaraderie, life lessons and fun." Dozens of our readers also contributed marvelous memories of Knothole.

Now that's some good news. Check it out here.

Thumbs down to grease thieves, of all things. According to a story by Enquirer reporter Scott Wartman, "the rising price of ethanol and increasing popularity of biodiesel fuel have spurred more people to take grease from traps behind restaurants to convert it to biodiesel or sell it on the black market."

A Cold Spring-based firm, Griffin Industries Inc., works with law enforcement around the country. Griffin renders restaurant grease for resale, and says thieves can sell grease for between 10 and 15 cents a pound.

Of course, these thieves aren't even close to playing in the Big Leagues of Greed. That honor likely will go to the fen-phen lawyers who are accused of pocketing a huge unfair percentage of the take from a $200 million settlement from the makers of the discredited diet drug. Last Friday, a federal judge threw lawyers Shirley Cunningham Jr., William Gallion and Melbourne Mills into jail, saying they're a serious flight risks as they await trial.

The victims --400 Kentucky residents -- should have received $133 million but got $45.5 million instead. Talk about some serious grease.

And money is the grease of politics, too. Thumbs down to politicians who simply can't bring themselves to say, "Yep, I've modified my position and wanting to get re-elected is part of the reason."

Consider Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who used to be against casino gambling but not against letting Kentuckians vote on it. Now, he's against it totally. It certainly is no coincidence that he faces an uphill struggle to win against gambling advocate Steve Beshear.

This has been reinforced by reports that in past campaigns, Fletcher took money from casino interests, including Harrah's, which is part owner of Turfway Park.

However, Democrats were off base to blast Fletcher for signing a proclamation designating last week as "Responsible Gaming Education Week." While one could argue the usefulness of government proclamations, it's not hypocritical to be against gambling while urging those who do bet to be smarter about it.