Butler baseball fans are justified in being excited about the many possibilities and opportunities tied to the new Pullman Park.

And, the city is getting another taste of them with the National Club Baseball Association Division II World Series, which began Friday and runs through Tuesday.

The championship event will provide an economic boost to Butler and its environs. Visitors will be staying at hotels and motels in the area, eating at local restaurants, visiting local sites and shopping in area stores.

The economic impact of such an event can total to the millions of dollars, as Johnstown in Cambria County can testify in its annual role of hosting the All-American Amateur Baseball Association Tournament each August.

Meanwhile, this county can feel encouraged by comments from Jack Cohen, executive director of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau.

"We've actually booked some other events already that are four years away," he said.

Cohen also made a good point, saying:

"If we do things right, there's lots of opportunities for us. We're becoming a player now, and starting to see the economic development we can bring to Butler County."

Butler County used the right approaches in its invitation to NCBA. Now that the series is here, the county must demonstrate its ability to be a good host.

Many banks and stores skimp on the quality of security cameras that are intended to guard those places. Thus, when a robbery occurs, police have poor-quality pictures with which to try to identify and apprehend the robber.That wasn't the case in a May 6 robbery at the National City Bank branch on South Pike Road in Buffalo Township. The bank's surveillance system captured images of the robber that were of high quality.Police and the FBI, which is assisting in the investigation, were described as ecstatic with the quality of the security video."The pictures are as clear as day," said township Patrolman Tim Derringer.That no one had come forward with the robber's identity more than a week after the holdup seemed puzzling, considering the quality of the picture that was released to the news media. But that would be understandable if the robber lives somewhere far away from Buffalo Township and is not known by anyone in this region.But that's speculation. The important thing is that police and the FBI have an important piece of visual evidence in their possession.The bank deserves praise for installing equipment capable of producing images of such superior quality.

In the midst of a multibillion-dollar bailout paid for by U.S. taxpayers, it has been learned that General Motors plans to build more cars overseas, notably in China, and bring those cars back for sale in the United States.This expanded global production plan might be an economic necessity for GM — or wake-up call to the carmaker's unionized workers — but it will not sit well with many Americans.Making cars in a low-cost country like China will help GM remain competitive, and building upon its successful China operations makes sense for the company. But to bring cars made in China back to the United States for sale, while U.S. taxpayers are keeping the company alive, doesn't look right.President's Obama's automotive task force has to know that there will be serious fallout from taxpayers who will view GM making cars in China and selling them in the United States with about as much enthusiasm as they viewed million-dollar bonuses at AIG, another big company being kept alive with billions of dollars of bailout money.Robert Reich, labor secretary under President Clinton and now a professor at University of California-Berkeley, raised a reasonable point when he asked, "If GM is going to do more of its production overseas, then why exactly are we saving GM?"The GM-in-China issue is another reminder that defining what constitutes an American car is not easy. Is a Chevrolet made in South Korea or Mexico an American car? How about a Honda build in Ohio by American workers?Should U.S. taxpayers bail out GM so it can make cars in China and sell them here? Why not offer bailout money to Honda, Toyota, Nissan, BMW and Mercedes to help them make more cars in the United States and employ more Americans?