One of the things for which former President Harry S. Truman is remembered is his quote "The buck stops here."

So, too, the proverbial buck stops with Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger regarding the loss of a three-year, $375,000 STOP Violence Against Women Grant. The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency administers the federal STOP grant funds from the U.S. Department of Justice through an application process with which, unfortunately, Goldinger's office failed to comply.

Goldinger's office is busy prosecuting cases, but that doesn't excuse the DA from close scrutiny of other functions within his office. And, filing applications for grants is clearly part of the management function, even though the DA might not personally prepare the paperwork.

Unfortunately, this is the second time in recent years that the DA's office has lost a grant. In 2007, when Randa Clark was the DA, the county lost federal money distributed under the Arrest Grant program, also for addressing violence against women. Clark expressed the belief that the rejection was due to the county not having spent all of the money allocated under a previous Arrest Grant — although there never was official confirmation of that reason by state or federal officials.

That loss actually was for the year 2008 and impacted Goldinger's first year as DA but, fortunately, the county was able to win back that grant for 2009 and this year.

But the loss of the STOP money remains troubling, if what the state has said is accurate, and there would seem to be evidence that it is.

More troubling is the potential scope of the STOP grant loss. Tara Mead, a spokeswoman for the state Crime and Delinquency Commission, told the Butler Eagle Tuesday that her department does not anticipate releasing another STOP funding announcement for three years, meaning that the DA's office's error represents more than a one-year setback.

According to Mike Kane, executive director of the Crime and Delinquency Commission, potential applicants, including counties, received multiple notifications last year about all changes to the 2010 STOP grants application process.

One of the main changes was that complete applications were to be received by the state by last Nov. 9, unlike previous years when there was a grace period for unsubmitted components of an application.

For this year, according to the state, the county didn't submit on time the job descriptions for the positions that the grant money would fund, as well as certification on how the money would be spent.

Goldinger contends the job descriptions were included with the initial application components submitted but said his office wasn't aware the certification couldn't be sent a month later than Nov. 9.

Actually, according to Kane, the state commission sent an e-mail last March 6 to counties and nonprofit organizations alerting them to the changes for the 2010 money — among them that there would be strict enforcement of deadlines — and that a second e-mail on Oct. 13 notified potential applicants about an online seminar dealing with the changes.

Meanwhile, he added, the same information was listed in newsletters and on Web sites — all apparently available to, but overlooked by, the DA's office.

Goldinger said Mary Betts, his office's grant writer, kept up with the updates, but that neither he nor she knew about the strict deadline.

Kane said, because of the timeline regarding this year's grants, his office was unable to keep reminding those who initially submitted incomplete applications about the continuing absence of missing documents.

In previous years, all who submitted applications were guaranteed some amount of money, Kane said. The current process was competitive, meaning some applications would be rejected.

It could be suggested that help from other grant writers in the county government should be extended to Goldinger's office to avoid mistakes in the future, but that shouldn't be necessary.

Now Goldinger and the county in general have been left with the task of juggling funds — funds that could have been put to other valuable use — so the DA can keep STOP-funded positions that he feels are necessary.

All three county commissioners have rightly expressed concern about this mistake.

"Someone dropped the ball," Commissioner Dale Pinkerton said.

In fact, it's a $375,000 fumble over rules others were able to comprehend and follow.

The buck not only stops on Goldinger's desk in terms of that loss; it also stops with his responsibility that, during his remaining tenure as the county's chief prosecutor, such an error doesn't occur again.

Goldinger should follow Truman's example and display the quote on his desk. Then he should adhere to the message.