The continued progress of the Butler Surgeons Group's new facility on Benbrook Road deserves to be complimented by the public.

That's especially appropriate since the troubles of Dr. Joseph Nour with the Butler Memorial Hospital administration over in-house telephone service, as reported on recently in the Butler Eagle, and his plan to be part of the new complex on Benbrook.

Likewise, there's the issue of Dr. Philip M. Lenko having to resort to legal measures to gain access to records that he had every right to have while he was a member of the hospital's board of trustees.

Is Joseph Stewart, Butler Memorial chief executive officer, acting the part of a petulant child who couldn't have his way about getting the Butler County population involved in an expensive, unnecessary relocated general hospital with lesser facilities than we currently have, so he is making it difficult for certain physicians practicing here?

It seems to me the hospital board has come to realize the spirit of the community in thinking in terms of the so-called third option and keeping company with the surgeons group on Benbrook. That would be much better than being associated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the foot-dragging federal bureaucrats.

Or, is Stewart acting the part of the post-Civil War era — the 1870s carpetbagger coming from California to see how much trouble he can stir up here while collecting an exorbitant salary?

I am reminded of the story in a poem in my high school third-year American literature book about the women of Marblehead, Mass., who rose up in righteous anger, tarred and feathered Skipper Ireson, a sea captain, for some reason and rode him out of town on a rail.

We have a great community. Let's keep it that way.

Thanks to the Butler Eagle for keeping us informed about the hospital situation.