Grove City's problems with loiterers isn't unique to that community. Butler also has dealt with that issue periodically.

But at this time it's the Mercer County community that is wrestling with how to resolve the matter, and business people who are stepping forward in regard to the problem deserve encouragement. Businesses can't continue to operate without customers, and it's a fact that some people aren't patronizing some Grove City enterprises because of the loiterers.

Not only are the loiterers' numbers of concern, but so are some of their antics - such as lying across sidewalks, voicing profanities, dropping litter on sidewalks, spraying graffiti on buildings, scratching store windows, and parking bicycles along buildings and in the alleyways.

A big question amid the situation is why the loiterers' parents aren't aware of what is going on - specifically, why parents, at the home-front level, aren't attempting to control their children.

Parents throughout the community ought to be adult enough to try to determine if their children are part of the problem.

Hopefully, the problem will become less serious now that school is resuming. Still, the business people who have been courageous enough to step forward in seeking action by the borough council, and who have called police when the situation has become unbearable, deserve the business district's admiration. Most businesses in town will benefit when the disruptive-loitering reputation that currently is dogging the community is put to rest.

The borough council merits praise for taking steps toward enacting a street loitering ordinance. The council has instructed Timothy Bonner, borough solicitor, to begin research tied to preparation of such a law.

The borough already has a parking lot loitering ordinance that has enabled police to deal with that problem.

Teens have a right to be in a business district, but conduct that is detrimental to the community must not be tolerated.

The community shouldn't relax its efforts to end the problem now and for the future.