Butler County officials are willing to patch an approximately one-mile stretch of Alameda Park Road so bicyclists, walkers and joggers can continue to use the road.

That patching ought to be enough to allow vehicles to continue using the road until the county can afford to make more durable repairs.

The county should not proceed with its plan to close the section of road on Monday. The road is a convenient route for some people traveling to or from shopping centers on New Castle Road.

Many of those motorists endure worse road conditions on some city streets than what they encounter on Alameda Park Road, yet the city hasn't sounded the death knell for travel on those streets — such as Mercer Street and Broad Street, which already are seeing a new crop of potholes emerge, and North Monroe and some other streets in the Institute Hill area, where heaved bricks can create a bone-jarring ride.

If city officials followed the lead of county officials and their Alameda Park Road decision, the notice would be going out that a dozen or more city streets would be closing to vehicular traffic. But what good would that do?

"We can't afford to repave it (Alameda Park Road)," said county Commissioner Dale Pinkerton. But the county can afford to patch it, and that's all that's necessary to keep the road open.

"What we're doing here is the right thing," said Commissioner Jim Lokhaiser. But it's not right to close a road when there is a reasonable alternative — and patching the road is reasonable.

Pinkerton and Lokhaiser pointed out that closing Alameda Park Road would eliminate speeding on the road. But using the no-speeding argument in support of the plan to close the road is flimsy at best.

Between now and Monday, the county should scuttle its plan and deal with the problem, rather than running away from it.

Butler Township residents are justified in wondering what is going on within their municipality's government.Township Commissioner Donna Druga has questioned a land sale involving the Butler Area Sewer Authority. The authority voted Tuesday to buy nearly three acres owned by the township for the purpose of installing a sewage storage tank, but Druga claimed at the BASA meeting that the township commissioners hadn't discussed the transaction.It subsequently was disclosed by township manager Ed Kirkwood that the commissioners had heard about the authority's desire to buy the land at least three times prior to Tuesday's BASA action.Why Druga is claiming otherwise should be a source of puzzlement for township residents, especially since she was present during at least some of the discussions.At the minimum, her question would seem to indicate a lapse in communication between township officials.The land sale reportedly will be considered by the township commissioners at a meeting Monday. At that time, the commissioners should clear up the apparent confusion that is swirling around the land sale.Township residents are owed a clear, accurate explanation.

The desk attendant at a Slippery Rock University student housing complex known as "Building B" displayed exemplary training and judgment Dec. 4 in dealing with a man who identified himself as a law enforcement investigator.Rather than allowing the man access to a student whom the man was seeking, based on the "investigator's" valid permit to carry a concealed weapon and a certified agent card, which actually had expired in 1991, the desk attendant took the right precaution of calling campus police for advice.The man told the desk attendant that he wanted to talk with the student in connection with an alleged crime.When the police officer arrived at the housing complex, the officer determined that Ernest Williams, 60, of Erie, the man asking for access to the student, was in fact not a law enforcement investigator. Williams subsequently was charged with impersonating a public servant.Students at any university and their parents expect effective safety provisions at student residence halls. They expect the schools' personnel to be trained on the right procedures to follow for anything unexpected that might occur.The Dec. 4 incident at Slippery Rock should give students and parents confidence that the university is living up to that responsibility.