It appears a Pittsburgh man received an appropriate sentence of one year's probation for bringing more than a half-dozen knives onto the Seneca Valley School District campus on Aug. 29 when he was picking up his step-siblings.

But Garrett Lucas, 19, still merits a jeer for not recognizing his mistake of having the knives in his possession when he entered the campus.

Considering all of the problems and deaths on school and college campuses in recent years, everyone by now should be cognizant of the zero-tolerance policy for weapons that school districts rightly enforce.

Lucas' lawyer assured Butler County Judge Timothy McCune that his client never intended to use the knives, but the knives had no place on the school campus nonetheless.

Lucas helped his cause by pleading guilty to possession of a weapon on school property in accordance with a plea bargain arranged through the district attorney's office. But a modicum of better judgment could have spared him of his problem with the law.

It is to be hoped that his predicament will prove instructive to others.

The Butler Area Sewer Authority is under pressure from the state Department of Environmental Protection to make system repairs to eliminate raw-sewage overflows. That's common sense as well as a health issue.But the authority was correct in delaying a meeting it had planned to hold Thursday for customers in the Deshon and Westwood Manor III developments so the authority can consider alternatives that might be less costly for property owners and more cost-effective in eliminating illegal sources of storm water and groundwater.The storm water and groundwater in question causes the overflows that the DEP wants eliminated.In the spotlight now is elimination of problem lines leading from customers' homes to the main sewage lines; new main lines have been installed in those areas. Any needed repairs will be customers' obligation.Testing of customers' lines has been an issue in recent weeks stemming from disagreement over what kind of testing procedure will be used on those lines.Authority member George Shockey opposes pressure testing that the authority approved in 2005. He fears damage to lines that now are not contributing to BASA's problems.What the meeting delay will accomplish remains to be seen. But it is right for the authority to consider all options before embarking on the upcoming testing.That is not to say that the authority should drag its feet regarding determination of which lines are malfunctioning.John Schon, sewer authority manager, didn't indicate that the authority is rethinking the pressure-testing method and noted that the authority is "not quite ready to get into alternatives now." But the meeting delay suggests that the authority does in fact recognize potential alternatives that its previously stated intentions and plans did not acknowledge.Some families don't have the thousands of dollars that might be necessary to make required repairs, but property owners will have to find a way to pay for repairs where problems exist.No new date has been set for the meeting, but it is to be hoped that when the meeting is held, the authority will have a more comforting message for the people than they've gotten up to now.

Tom Reiber, a member of the Slippery Rock School Board, was correct in suggesting that the board form a committee to examine use of district facilities based on current and projected district enrollment.Actually, all districts should perform such evaluations periodically.While the board took no action on Reiber's suggestion at Monday's board meeting, it should do so in the not-too-distant future. This is the time of the year when school districts are busy compiling budget projections for the next fiscal year; the fiscal year for Pennsylvania school districts runs from July 1 through June 30. Therefore, such a study and evaluation is necessary soon if the board is open to possibly making changes for the 2008-09 school year."I think we need to see whether we can look at using facilities effectively," Reiber said, in putting forth his suggestion. He also expressed the opinion that effective staffing should be examined as well.Changes that could be proposed based on Reiber's suggested evaluations would be touchy subjects that school directors in some places would rather not have to address.But with increasing educational funding pressures, as well as taxpayers' unhappiness about annual tax increases, ways must be sought to meet needs while also adopting measures geared toward efficient operation and saving money.Reiber made a valuable suggestion that the board should not be hesitant to pursue.