Butler's Spirit of Christmas Parade, which was held Friday morning on Main Street, was aimed — as its name implies — at getting people into the spirit of the holiday season. As in prior years, this year's parade appears to have achieved that objective.

Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case not only here but in other communities, there are a few people intent on creating a negative sideshow amid the positive festivities.

During Friday's parade, there was a call to police that individuals in a building along the parade route were spitting out windows onto parade watchers. Obviously, the perpetrators weren't in tune with the spirit of the event, and it can be asked whether they have any holiday spirit whatsoever.

This year's parade theme was "Christmas Memories." It is to be hoped that the individuals involved in the spitting incidents will remember the immaturity they displayed on Friday and will grow up before next year's parade.

Thankfully, the antics of a few miscreants did little to dampen the spirit of good cheer and community that was evident up and down the parade's Main Street route.

Some police departments no doubt wish they had the cash to imitate an effort that the Albuquerque, N.M., Police Department has revived. The word "revived" is correct because the program was tried 10 years ago and received so many calls that the phones had to be turned off.By way of a newspaper advertisement, the New Mexico program asks "people who hang out with crooks" to do part-time work for the police.The ad reads in part: "Make some extra cash! Drug use and criminal record OK."An informant whose tip helps officers arrest a drug dealer can earn $50, while a tip about a murder suspect could bring a payment of $700.In response to the current ad, Capt. Joe Hudson reported that police received more than 30 responses in two days. He described one tip as a "big one."While municipalities like the city of Butler and neighboring boroughs and townships might not be faced with Albuquerque's crime problems and, thus, might not have as heavy of a call volume as Albuquerque, it would be interesting to see what the result would be if an area department or municipality had some extra cash to invest in such an effort.Some people are reluctant to be snitches, but the prospect of having additional money in their pocket might cause them to rethink their silence.No doubt police departments across the nation will be interested in learning the results of Albuquerque's experiment when the effort ends — or when too many phone calls necessitate turning off the phones.

Area pharmacy workers who had become increasingly uneasy in response to a series of robberies in which the holdup man demanded potent prescription painkillers had cause to be thankful Thursday.Thanks to alert bystanders who saw and reported what they believed to be the robber's getaway car in the aftermath of Monday's robbery at a Saxonburg pharmacy, a Butler Township police officer was able to spot the vehicle and subsequently arrest a suspect.The suspect, Robert Gourley of Bessemer Avenue in Lyndora, at the time of his arrest, had the drugs that allegedly were stolen in the robbery in his possession. In his car was a gun that was believed to have been used in the holdup.In the hours after Gourley's arrest, police, who said Gourley confessed to Monday's robbery, indicated that he was a suspect in at least one of the other pharmacy holdups that have occurred at drugstores in Saxonburg, Butler Township, Mars and Freeport since last year.While Gourley remains innocent until his guilt is validated by the courts, if it turns out that Gourley also was the robber who struck the other pharmacies, knowing that he is in custody would bring some peace of mind to pharmacy workers who had become increasingly fearful about going to work with the painkiller robber on the loose.The bystanders who took note of and reported the make and model of the alleged getaway car deserve praise for their community service. At the same time, the police who were involved in the intensive search that ended in an arrest merit plaudits for making it difficult for Gourley to escape observation.