The Butler County commissioners were wrong in not attending a public meeting Wednesday evening at Butler County Community College dealing with their tax ratio plan.

Rather than authorize an expensive countywide reassessment of all properties — the county currently is taxing on the basis of 1969 assessments — the commissioners plan to increase the assessment ratio to 100 percent from 75 percent to provide future taxation flexibility.

Because it is the commissioners who will be voting on the change, it is they who should have stood in the forefront to explain the plan on Wednesday, and defend the move as the best option. Instead, they relegated that task to Ed Rupert, county director of property assessment, while the commissioners were nowhere to be found.

To some of the people who attended, that absence smacked of cowardice in terms of taking responsibility for what many people view as a tough decision. When they schedule a public meeting regarding an issue with which they are dealing — especially a potentially controversial one — not one, not two, but all three commissioners should attend to hear firsthand what the people or municipal government officials have to say.

And that is true even if the commissioners would generally defer to Rupert's expertise on the particulars of real estate taxation.

Most of the people who attended Wednesday's meeting were officials of county municipalities.

The county currently is at its taxing limit. By changing the ratio, the commissioners would have new flexibility for increasing taxes as early as 2010 without having to get court approval for the move — although the county still could increase taxes up to 5 percent next year if the 2009 preliminary budget were to indicate a deficit.

At Wednesday's meeting, Julie Graham, county solicitor, in response to questions about why the commissioners were not in attendance, said residents were welcome to comment at the June 25 meeting at which the commissioners expect to act on the proposal.

That was a lame explanation.

Those who showed up Wednesday shouldn't have to attend a second meeting to speak directly to the commissioners.

Cooperation among municipalities is sometimes the difference between a project becoming reality or languishing in limbo.A project to fix a flooding problem is getting under way in Saxonburg and Jefferson Township because the two municipalities have agreed to join forces to attack the problem as it relates to Constitution Avenue. It is the same kind of cooperation that is in play regarding resurfacing of Constitution Avenue.The borough has allocated $12,000 to buy materials needed for the storm sewer project, including seven new catch basins and 500 feet of pipe. The township is making available two dump trucks and a backhoe, along with three road crew workers who will do the work.Saxonburg council members expressed relief regarding the prospects of finally putting an end to the water problem in the Constitution Avenue area. But the project would have been much more costly and cumbersome if the two municipalities had been unable to achieve the cooperation that is now in place.Cooperation should be at the foundation of all levels of government but, much too often, isn't.

It's more likely that the creators of Nintendo's Wii computer gaming system were thinking about 8-year-olds, not 80-year-olds, when they developed their innovative gaming system. But senior citizens have been a surprising new market for the popular simulated sports gaming system that involves physical movement that directs computer-created images on a television through the use of a hand-held remote with motion-sensing capabilities.The virtual bowling game, in particular, has caught on with seniors living at the Concordia Lutheran Ministries in Winfield Township.After reading about other seniors across the country enjoying the Wii games, residents at Concordia requested a system from the center's management. To their credit, administrators listened to the residents' requests and bought a system in March. And soon after the equipment was installed, it was "game on" with a group of Concordia's residents. The Wii has proven to be so popular that a group of residents, most in their 70s, 80s and a few in their 90s, gathers several times a week to play — or watch and cheer.And the benefits of the Wii system to the seniors are many, including some moderate physical activity as they mimic actual bowling motions with the Wii hand-held unit.While the physical activity is good for the senior players, the camaraderie, fun and laughter is just as important. Clearly the benefits of the Wii flow from the fellowship and laughter that accompany the virtual strikes, spares and gutter balls.