Officials of Friedman's Supermarkets deserve praise for quickly reassuring Saxonburg area residents that the company's store that was destroyed by fire Thursday would be rebuilt.

"We have been there for 44 years and we will be back as soon as possible," said Carole Bitter, Friedman's president.

In an effort to expedite the rebuilding process, Bitter got in touch with the president of the independent grocers association of which Friedman's is a member to request architectural plans from stores that association members have built recently.

"What we hope is that we'll find a store design we like, and that will eliminate the planning stages we'd need to get a store designed," Bitter said.

Besides the decision to remain a Saxonburg fixture, Friedman's merits praise for the manner in which it evacuated the 40 store employees on duty and the 35 to 40 customers who were in the store at the time the blaze was discovered; for its decision to reassign all full-time employees to its other stores; for its quick attention to the issue of how to fill more than 100 catering orders that the Saxonburg store was scheduled to handle; and for compiling a 40-item to-do list to help overcome as quickly as possible the challenges that the blaze has posed for the company.

Meanwhile, it is important to acknowledge the tremendous effort put forth by the 26 fire departments at the scene. They had to operate with an inadequate water supply and react to structural features of the building that made difficult the task of fighting the flames.

The magnitude of the blaze also necessitated putting six other fire departments on standby duty, not only if they were needed at the Friedman's fire, but if another fire elsewhere necessitated their response.

Thursday's blaze was a difficult test of firefighters' training, but it also provided a test for Friedman's faith in Butler County.

Both achieved a solid passing grade, topped by Bitter's assurance that "the main thing is that we will be back."

The Pennsylvania State Police can breathe a sigh of relief that an investigation into a party April 3 at an Armstrong County restaurant turned up no basis for criminal charges against any of the 15 troopers who attended.Information had surfaced that troopers had paid for sexual favors from strippers who were hired to perform at the party, which was held to celebrate the pending transfer of a trooper to Butler from the Kittanning barracks.But the trooper who hired the strippers didn't exercise good judgment, considering that he had cited one of the dancers for speeding in July 2003. The woman had informed the trooper during the stop that she was an exotic dancer. The trooper contacted her in March and asked her to dance at last month's party.One of the rumors that had circulated in the aftermath of the party was that the dancers were hired for the party during a traffic stop and were told they would be granted immunity from prosecution if they offered their services at the police event.In fact, the woman who was stopped was found guilty at a hearing before a district justice.The trooper who hired the dancers should have known that contacting the dancer he had cited could raise questions in the minds of some people and could be the basis for troubling rumors. Whether the hiring was proper, despite not being illegal from a criminal standpoint, was one of the questions being studied in an administrative probe by the Internal Affairs Division of the state police Bureau of Integrity and Professional Standards.The probe apparently will produce a ruling on whether troopers should be barred ethically from hiring strippers.The state police department still is experiencing the fallout from more than 160 misconduct complaints against troopers - many sexual in nature - that surfaced last year. The department did not need this latest distraction from its important mission.

There hasn't been much good news involving Iraq in recent weeks. One exception has emanated from Butler County, where Slippery Rock University students packed up school supplies and clothing for Iraqi children that was collected in school districts in Butler and Mercer counties.The collection effort was part of Operation Caring Hands, which is being coordinated in this area by Rob Snyder, a SRU professor in elementary and early childhood education who also is an Army reservist.Snyder served a year on active duty, including six months in Baghdad. Since returning home in January, he has adopted as a mission, encouraging American youth to help Iraqi children.Operation Caring Hands has been active for almost a year in America, with donations coming from all over the country. Considering Butler County's giving spirit, it is appropriate for this county to be part of the national effort that, besides aiding Iraqi children's educational experience and their personal well-being, will hopefully help nurture a more positive view of America than is held by many older Iraqis.- J.R.K.