County residents will be reminded next week of the growth, maturation and impact of a true community asset as Butler County Community College celebrates its 40th anniversary.

A special section in Monday's Butler Eagle will feature stories and photographs highlighting the college's history and development.

On Tuesday, a celebration will take place at the college with the newly renovated Convocation Center, now named Founders Hall playing host to visitors to the college.

Despite some staunch opposition to its creation, Butler County Community College has grown and prospered over the past four decades. Over those years, more than 100,000 students — as well as the larger community — have benefited from the college's ability to provide quality education at an affordable price.

About a third of BC3 students move on to four-year colleges and universities after receiving their associates degree here. The ability to transfer credits toward a traditional college degree provides a great financial benefit for BC3 students and their families. And starting at the community college is an excellent transition for some students who might not be quite ready for the away-from-home college experience.

With its open-enrollment policy, BC3 allows young people to adjust to college-level expectations, while keeping tuition costs low and allowing students to live at home for further savings.

With about one-third of BC3 students moving on to attend four-year colleges and universities, it's easy to appreciate why the college boasts that it is, "the smart place to start."

In addition to being a great starting place, BC3 also offers continuing education courses to people looking to further their professional skills — or just enrich their lives. Nearly 20,000 students take advantage of these non-credit courses every year at BC3.

The staff and administration at BC3 are rightfully proud of the college's achievements. And it's important for county residents to be reminded of the good things happening at the beautiful campus on the hill.

Next week's celebration of the college's 40th anniversary is a perfect time for people who have not been to the campus for years — or have never visited — to learn what's been going on for the past 40 years and where the college would like to go in the future.

The recent ruling by the state Supreme Court regarding the controversial 2005 legislative pay-raise vote is disturbing on several levels.One of the most bothersome aspects of the court's ruling is that lawmakers who took their higher pay in the form of unvouchered expenses do not have to repay the money. The pay-raise package was repealed four months after was passed.Many lawmakers participated in the clearly unethical use of unvouchered expenses, which are little more than falsified expense reports, to put the higher pay in their pockets immediately after the July 2005 vote, rather than wait until after the next election as the state constitution requires. Most of those lawmakers have since returned the money. But some others still refuse to do so.The court ruled that these lawmakers can keep the ill-gotten money because in using the unvouchered expense scam, lawmakers "acted in good faith." This curious defense relates to the fact that lawmakers had several times in previous years used the same unethical technique — and had gotten away with it.Previous court challenges to the use of unvouchered expenses had been rejected, so lawmakers were able to skirt the letter and intent of the state constitution. And, naturally, they assumed they could again ignore the constitution when they started turning in their unvouchered expenses in August of 2005.In this latest legal challenge, however, the state's highest court ruled unvouchered expenses to be unconstitutional. But, curiously, the court said that lawmakers who took the extra money can keep it because they assumed they would get away with it again.Despite that troubling logic, at least the issue of unvouchered expenses is finally settled.But by making such a wrong-headed and self-serving decision (the court ruled that all judges can keep their higher pay despite the repeal passage), the State Supreme Court has turned voters' attention toward the need to replace justices as they come up for retention votes — just as the voters are determined to replace members of the General Assembly.The men and women in Harrisburg have demonstrated that they are unwilling or unable to change the current dysfunctional and self-serving system. It's up to voters and the handful of reform-minded people who have been working for change.