I have met Dr. William McCusker several times. I always ask him the same
question: “How are we treating you?”

His response is always to extend a hand to shake mine and offer a warm smile. “Oh, fine,” he always replies.

I bring this up for a couple of reasons.

McCusker is president of Cardinal O’Hara High School. There is a fairly vocal contingent out there who believe that this newspaper for some reason has it in for O’Hara.

They say we never miss an opportunity to take a shot at the dominant parochial high school in the county. Sure to always come up is the case of disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who recently was released from jail in connection with a betting scandal.

Donaghy is an O’Hara grad, as were a couple of his cronies. That’s how they get referenced in the newspaper. For us, that is part of what makes the Donaghy case an important local story. He grew up here and went to Cardinal O’Hara.

Some people point out that we never mention the high schools of other stars who run afoul of the law. They sometimes point to the Michael Vick case as an example. “Where did he go to high school?” they wonder. My reply? I have no idea. But I can tell you this. He did not go to high school in Delaware County. That is what makes it a local story for us.

Of course, this week McCusker has been in the news for another reason.

His picture appeared on the front page after he was picked up by Springfield police on suspicion of drunken driving after he allegedly struck a parked car.

I have had several conversations with readers who disagreed with that decision, who believe we once again are simply piling on O’Hara, delighting in another negative portrayal of the school. I have had some callers who go so far as to intimate that we are anti-Catholic in our news coverage. I always get a chuckle out of that one.

On the McCusker story that appears online, readers can post comments, and there have been no shortage of them.

McCusker is getting beat up pretty good in the cyberworld. Don’t look for me to join in.

Instead I was most impressed with the way McCusker handled the incident.
It’s not unusual for people in very public positions such as McCusker to clam up, deny everything or simply send media requests to their lawyer when something like this occurs.

McCusker didn’t do that.

Instead, he told reporters how profoundly “embarrassed and ashamed” he was at what happened. He said of the incident, “this gets me deep in my soul.”

It seems everyone has an opinion of what happened to McCusker. Every person who has some kind of grudge against him or O’Hara is delighting in his arrest.

I think I just might have even more respect for him now than I did before.

It doesn’t take much for most of us to imagine ourselves in McCusker’s shoes.

Now I suppose everyone is waiting for the next shoe to drop, to hear what kind of action – if any – the archdiocese will take against McCusker. Many out there are calling for his head, for him to lose his job.

Not me. Should he be punished? Sure. My guess is the public humiliation he is now enduring is about the worst punishment he could get.

Do I think he should lose his job? No.

Dr. Richard McCusker is a good man who did a bad thing. A stupid thing.

I don’t know what would be gained by removing him from his post.
Instead, why not let this be an opportunity for kids to learn a real-life lesson. That our actions have repercussions.

Dr. William McCusker likely now can tell kids exactly how much is at stake when you make a bad decision.

At the same time, he can also show them something else. That your true character is sometimes revealed at the very worst of times.