People in Butler County are angry, and they have a right to be.

Pennsylvania lawmakers also should be angry, and Butler County's state legislative delegation should place themselves at the forefront of turning that anger into positive action.

Since Tuesday's front-page story "Child molester accused again" reached readers, the Butler Eagle has received a number of calls from people who expressed outrage that the criminal justice system has continued to allow Jerry Valecko, 43, now of Cranberry Township and a former resident and youth baseball volunteer in Center Township, to remain free. Tuesday's story reported that Valecko, while awaiting sentencing in Butler County Court on multiple child-molestation charges, allegedly assaulted another child in Lawrence County.

Specifically, an 11-year-old Ellwood City boy is the 12th alleged victim of Valecko, who in recent months has been in Butler County Court claiming he should not be declared a sexually violent predator because he's learned his lesson.

If the latest accusations are proven, Valecko obviously hasn't learned any lesson and he should be behind bars, where he won't be able to come into contact with any children.

In Lawrence County, the Ellwood City Police Department alleges that Valecko assaulted his latest victim for seven months, beginning in October.

According to Tuesday's story, a member of the state's Sexually Violent Predator Assessment Board has testified in court that Valecko is a pedophile and merits the predator designation. However, a psychiatrist who testified on Valecko's behalf said the defendant has the ability to control his behavior, and likely would.

With the latest charges in the picture, the accuracy of that psychiatric opinion seems open to doubt. Meanwhile, having the ability to control illegal behavior doesn't mean a person truly desires to control that behavior.

That is one of the issues before Butler County Judge George Hancher as he weighs evidence prior to ruling whether sexually violent predator status should be imposed on Valecko.

But the situation doesn't begin and end with Valecko, who moved out of his Holyoke Road home last year, allegedly ignoring the requirement that he report the move to the state police. (Court documents say he has been living at the Oak Leaf Motel along Route 19 in Cranberry Township since April 13, 2004.) Two stories in the May 17 Butler Eagle also raise troubling questions - like Valecko's charges - about how the criminal justice system deals with child molesters. Those stories dealt with Russell O'Shea, 37, of Zelienople, who was handed just 30 months of probation by Butler County Judge William Shaffer for sexually assaulting two 9-year-olds, a boy and girl, and Michael Alan Fair, 30, of 314 Miller Ave., Butler, who was given a slap-on-the-wrist 24 months' probation by Shaffer for indecent assault of a 13-year-old girl.

The troubling questions about the courts' handling of child-molestation cases are a product of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code and the state General Assembly, whose rulings are the basis for what the code contains.

There should be no charges below felony status for incidents of child molestation. And the state's sentencing guidelines should provide for mandatory jail time for anyone convicted of such crimes against children.

The state's prison system is being crowded with people convicted of illegal-drug violations that are not as serious and damaging as the crime of child molestation, which can scar a child mentally and emotionally for life. But there is no one stepping forward in the Pennsylvania Legislature to address the child-molestation-punishment issue.

Surely Butler County has a lawmaker who is willing to accept that role on behalf of children and families throughout the commonwealth.

In the meantime, the courts must toughen their stance against Valecko and people like him within the current guidelines and limits under which they must work. And, district attorneys should not be so quick to agree to plea bargains that, in effect, put other innocent children at risk.

The Butler County criminal justice system apparently is guilty of that in its handling of Valecko - and O'Shea, Fair and others.

Valecko has numerous court appearances pending in Butler County, and he has a preliminary hearing scheduled for today in Lawrence County's Central Court. While Valecko's past victims said he fondled them, the Lawrence County charges include, besides fondling, oral sex.

Even without the Lawrence County charges, Valecko must be regarded as a dangerous man, despite what people say is his pleasant personal demeanor. If the Lawrence County evidence is sufficient to send that case to trial, bail should be set at the maximum amount allowed - as a clear message on how that county intends to treat him if he is convicted.