The Butler Veterans Affairs Medical Center has been blessed over the years with a dedicated cadre of volunteers.

The top four volunteers honored at the medical center's Volunteer Recognition Luncheon April 28 have compiled a remarkable record of service that must not go unnoticed. These four people are among the elite in terms of what volunteerism is all about.

There is Abie Abraham, whose 30,000 volunteer hours tops the list of those honored last month. Those hours translate into 1,250 complete days, nearly 179 complete weeks, approximately 44 complete months or nearly four years. One can only imagine how much good his efforts have brought to the center and its patients.

Then there is Ermania Kelly, whose 17,500 hours are exemplary as well. Walter Nock (12,500 hours) and Jeremy Fleeger (8,750 hours) ranked third and fourth, respectively, and their service is worthy of praise and gratitude also.

An article in the April 30 Butler Eagle listed others who have volunteered their time at the medical center and the number of hours they have served. Among them are a group of young people who have begun to serve, and who hopefully will continue their service during their adult lives.

The article listed a telephone number — 724-477-5044 — for obtaining information about becoming a volunteer. It is a number that hopefully more people will choose to call.

There were apologies aplenty at a Mars School Board meeting Tuesday evening regarding an incident involving a school bus on the morning of May 4. However, the bottom line is that the communications breakdowns that occurred following the incident should not have occurred.District administrators and bus company officials are paid well to ensure that avoidable glitches are, in fact, avoided. Apologies don't correct the fact that they failed miserably on things so basic.The incident in question involved an A. J. Myers and Sons bus carrying Mars pupils in kindergarten through Grade 2. The bus reportedly began swerving before running a red light at the intersection of Route 228 and Mars-Valencia Road.The maneuvers the driver made in traveling through the red light were thought to have jostled at least some of the 54 pupils on the bus. The pupils subsequently were checked by the school nurse. None was found to be injured.At Tuesday's meeting, Mars superintendent William Pettigrew apologized for the communication problem, in which parents of those on the bus were not immediately notified of the incident by district officials and weren't told that their children had been checked by the nurse.Elizabeth McMahon, Mars Primary Center principal, apologized for a glitch in which morning kindergarten pupils weren't given a letter from Pettigrew. That letter, about the bus incident, was to be taken home to their parents.McMahon overlooked the fact that morning kindergartners would not receive the letter because they are dismissed at noon.The parental notification about the incident didn't happen because McMahon and A. J. Myers representatives each believed the other would be calling parents. Nobody bothered to double-check that the calls were being made."We had a problem and we have taken the necessary steps to correct it," Pettigrew said.Mars parents hope he's right, but that doesn't diminish the fact that what occurred was inexcusable.

Zelienople Borough Council is boosting the image of local politics by paving the way for a Seneca Valley High School junior or senior who lives in the borough to serve on the local governing body — as a junior council member.At a meeting Monday, the council approved participation in the Junior Council Person program sponsored by the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs.The plan is to have the junior council member on board in September. The junior member will be permitted to attend council meetings, budget sessions and committee meetings.However, the junior member won't be permitted to cast votes or attend executive sessions.Many adults are reluctant to vie for a local elected office, simply because they lack familiarity with the duties of the office.The junior council member program hopefully will be a springboard for junior council members to seek to serve their community eventually in an official elected capacity — or even to aspire to higher office someday.Every municipal government should have a junior member in its ranks. In some instances, having a junior member present might be an incentive for less contentiousness and more cooperation.