Who deserves praise and criticism this week in Northern Utah?

THUMBS DOWN: First, it was the Tide pod challenge. We thought, surely, our youth and young adults could not stoop any lower in acts of unintelligence. We were wrong. On Friday, the Layton Police Department reported that officers had responded to a vehicle crash on Monday due to what they later discovered as the result of a teen taking up the “Bird Box Challenge,” inspired by the Netflix movie “Bird Box,” in which the main characters navigate an evil world blindfolded.

You can only guess what happened next then.

The teen attempted to drive with their eyes covered.

To borrow the sentiment of one Utah official, bird brained is more like it.

It seems it should go without saying that no one should drive with obscured vision as it will most definitely cause damage to oneself and to others. Fortunately in this incident all parties walked away with no injuries. They were lucky. The consequences could have been so much more severe had they more severe hit a vehicle with passengers or children. Parents, please talk to your children and grandchildren about the importance of handling vehicles with caution and care. Utah roads are not a place to experiment with social fads.

Even if you’re not operating a vehicle, we would also suggest that participating in the “Bird Box Challenge” is absurd in any form it takes — you can just as easily injure yourself walking down the street blindfolded if you don’t know what you’re doing.

THUMBS DOWN: This week former Nevada Sen. Harry Reid called out Utah Sen. Mitt Romney to look at another presidential bid for 2020. We could not disagree more. In case Reid has forgotten amidst his injuries and health scares, Romney has already run and lost. Now functioning as Utah’s senator, he owes it to Utahns to follow through with that service; it should not be another stepping stone to national public spotlight. Our president might lack some basic morals, but that does not mean it makes sense for Romney to run yet again.

THUMBS UP: The Catholic Community Services food pantry deserves a huge round of applause for its efforts to help families affected by the federal government shutdown in recent weeks. They’ve seen a need and worked to fill it. Our community is fortunate to have such a generous resource that dutifully serves the poor and working poor.

If it runs out of donations, the agency will seek for additional donations to replenish its offerings during the shutdown. We hope that if that takes place that others in the community who are not impacted by the shutdown will be willing to jump at the chance to help so many of their neighbors.

THUMBS UP: Weber State University opened a new building this week — or at least it felt like a brand-new building. Lindquist Hall, which houses the university’s social sciences, was rebuilt for $35 million dollars largely provided by the Utah Legislature. Using the original frame and foundation saved the university $5 million to $6 million dollars, and the building was reconstructed with environmentally-friendly and energy efficient pieces in place that did not exist before. THUMBS UP: Glad to see Ogden was finally able to find and hire a new airport manager after several months of serious searching. The city announced Bryant Garrett would take the helm as manager of the municipal airport. THUMBS DOWN: While he did not serve our area, we offer our condolences and thoughts to the family of Master Officer Joseph Shinners, and the Provo Police Department, who have been coping with the death of Shinners after he was shot and killed Saturday, Jan. 5, after responding to reports of a man with outstanding warrants in a retail parking lot. Agencies across the state will honor him at his funeral Saturday, Jan. 12. Shinners was just 29.

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