Sunday is Halloween, the day equated with ghouls, ghosts, goblins, zombies and other ugly, scary beings.

But if people want to talk about something ugly, they need only reflect on this fall's election campaign. "Ugly" is an appropriate description of what the voting public has had to endure in recent weeks — something they'll have to endure through Tuesday.

Based on the relentless attack ads that have filled the airwaves, a right-thinking person might come to the conclusion that none of the candidates vying for office this year deserve the voters' trust and support on Tuesday.

It's hard to imagine from where any spirit of statesmanship will emerge from this poor excuse of campaigning.

Voters will be hard-pressed to find any candidate who gave a meaningful hint of what exactly he or she plans to accomplish. Maybe that's because all of the candidates realize — but won't admit — that, by themselves, they probably won't be able to accomplish anything — that they will be just one small vote amid a big governmental environment ruled by political party agendas.

That said, it still would have been refreshing to hear some meaningful dialogue on what they feel can be done to solve the state's and nation's problems. Instead, mostly what was heard was attacks — sometimes laughable because of the dominance of misleading statements.

Most ads feature half-truths or less-than-half-truths and outright false allegations — under the pretense either that voters are stupid or otherwise too shallow-minded to recognize that they are being fed baseless fodder in these serious times.

Campaign 2010 has been an ugly embarrassment — for both major parties.

If taxpayers needed more evidence that details of public employee contracts — and all the associated costs — need to be made public, the teachers in Buffalo, N.Y., have provided it.The Associated Press has reported that public school teachers in Buffalo cost taxpayers nearly $9 million for cosmetic surgery that is covered under the teachers' contract.The total expenditures for cosmetic surgery for Buffalo teachers jumped by $8 million over the $1 million spent in 2004 for cosmetic surgery.The $9 million for cosmetic surgery amounted to about 9 percent of the total spent on health care for teachers and retirees.The president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation said the union has agreed to give up the cosmetic surgery benefit when the next contract is negotiated, and the 2009 spike in usage was probably teachers trying to use their benefits before they disappeared.Still, taxpayers in Buffalo have to ask what the school board could possibly have been thinking when it agreed to include cosmetic surgery in the health care plan.The Buffalo story suggests that taxpayers should be told of every detail of a teacher contract before the contract is approved by the board or voted on by teachers.This story should remind taxpayers to understand all benefits, and the associated costs, that unionized teachers in their own communities enjoy. The same need for vigilance is true when it comes to contracts for government employees, including elected officials at the state and federal level, where free or nearly free health care is common.The time has come for public employee union contracts to feature benefits comparable to those of workers in the private sector. The time has also come for public employees to contribute to their health care coverage at levels comparable to those paid by private sector workers — the people who pay their salaries.Cheer CThere is no award or praise capable of extending full appreciation to law enforcement officers who are committed to removing intoxicated motorists from state roadways.Every time a drunk driver is apprehended, the highways are a bit safer for other motorists, and also pedestrians.It was welcome news then that two state troopers based in Butler — Frank Cichra and Daniel Acklin — were among 48 law enforcement officers from across the state who were honored Oct. 21 by the Pennsylvania Driving Under the Influence Association.The two local state troopers and the other police officers were presented the association's 2010 Top Gun Awards for their vigilant drunken driving enforcement.In 2009, Cichra conducted 74 field sobriety tests; Acklin conducted 61. A total of 27 troopers were among those honored.According to state police Commissioner Frank Pawlowski, troopers across the commonwealth made a record 16,900 DUI arrests last year.Acklin and Cichra have reason to be proud of their anti-drunken driving accomplishments. Their efforts might very well have saved lives.They also recognize that there is much additional work that needs to be done getting impaired drivers off the road.Their work serves as a good example to other police officers across the county who recognize the urgency of addressing the drunken driving problem.

The Mars School District, whose student population continues to grow, would be right in not delaying expansion of the three-year-old Centennial School, which houses fifth- and sixth-graders. There would be no sense delaying the inevitable, especially since construction costs will continue to increase.The school board is right in already having authorized the district's architect to make a preliminary study on the proposed project, which would add eight to 12 classrooms.The school district administration says Centennial, despite being so new, is already too small for its needs.The challenge is to fix the classroom shortage as quickly as possible, as well as serious storage issues that have been identified.Now is a logical time for that to happen, since the district has the opportunity to lump financing for the Centennial project into a bond issue to be pursued for an addition at Mars Elementary School and construction of a driveway between Three Degree Road and Mars Elementary.The estimated cost of the Mars Elementary addition is $3.5 million; the driveway cost is estimated at $1 million.The cost of building the Centennial School, which opened in the 2007-08 school year, was $9.7 million.Superintendent William Pettigrew has said he would like to see the Centennial addition completed by the start of the 2011-12 school year. That doesn't leave the district much time to ponder the project.All considered, the school board was right in not delaying the forthcoming study.