Cheer It looks as though the weather will cooperate with the opening of the Big Butler Fair. That’s no small coincidence in this Summer of Eternal Rainfall.The National Weather Service is giving us a 30 percent chance of rainfall Saturday, meaning the fair’s fireworks show should proceed as planned. Sunday should be mostly sunny and clear at night, accommodating three grandstand shows: an antique tractor pull, square dancing and a school bus demolition derby — fancy that.The rain will hold off at least until Thursday, maybe longer.This might be the summer’s first forecast of five consecutive days without rain. It could not have come at a better time.It causes us to muse on a funny thought: If Noah were building his ark this summer at the Butler fairgrounds, there would be no domestic fowl to go along for the ride, since fear of spreading the avian flu caused state officials to ban bird exhibits at all fairs. Just imagine: a world without egg salad or chicken fingers.

Jeer Islamic militants apparently are plotting to ruin our Independence Day.Federal counterterrorism officials were on edge heading into the July 4 weekend. Friday’s Wall Street Journal reports hundreds of potential suspects are being monitored for fear they could be contemplating attacks on behalf of Islamic State.The FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin last week urging all law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for signs of potential violence. Such warnings are commonplace, but officials say the current warnings are different “because of ... the diffuse nature of Islamic State’s messages to their supporters through social media sites.” Especially worrisome are “lone wolf” attacks, perpetrated by individuals — which are more difficult for law enforcement to ferret out before they happen.The officials are jittery. On Thursday morning in Washington, a reported gunshot at the Washington Navy Yard — scene of a 2013 mass murder — sent hundreds of first responders racing to the scene. They searched for hours before police concluded no shots had been fired and there was no threat.It’s a reminder that our cherished freedoms were not granted freely. Our ancestors fought, and some died, procuring and protecting liberty. And enemies remain who would take it away. They are a curse.“Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty,” was a popular American slogan in the early 19th century. The words and sentiment seem as timely now as they ever did.

Cheer Cheers and break a leg, Michele Pawk. The 1980 graduate of Knoch High School will reprise her Tony Award-winning performance in Carol Burnett and Carrie Hamilton’s “Hollywood Arms.” The one-night-only performance will be Sept. 21 at the Merkin Concert Hall, in the Broadway theater district of New York.Pawk will play the character Louise, the role for which she won a 2003 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, which originally ran from October 2002 to January 2003.The play is based on Burnett’s memoir “One More Time.” It is the story of three generations of women who live in a small apartment on welfare.Butler County’s a little closer to the big stage when one of her daughters is performing on it.