Some Butler Eagle readers might justifiably be wondering where this new year is headed, considering the Jan. 4 headlines.

The headline over the lead front-page story that day was “Teen charged with 2 counts of arson,” and below it, courtesy of Jackson Township, was “Officer fired by twp.; he's accused in domestic abuse.”

When readers turned to Page 5, they were greeted with “Stabbing suspect arrested, charged.”

And, if readers weren't concerned enough about the area's direction on the crime front by then, they had grounds to be depressed once they arrived at Page 10.

In addition to a lengthy list of incidents reported by Butler City police, Butler Township police and state police, readers got to read about a 17-year-old teen waiving his robbery case to court, about four men being arrested at a Butler apartment at which two suspects had bags of drugs, about two men charged in the burglary of a cable supply company, and about a city man, accused of rape, entering the county's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) Program.

No area is without crime, and Butler County is safer than many.

That acknowledged, people here can't be comfortable about the prospect that crime, including drug-related lawbreaking, apparently is on the upswing here.

The misinformed who believe that the Internet has made libraries obsolete should reflect on the generous woman who, for the second year in a row, will be paying the Slippery Rock Community Library's rent.The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, is so certain of the need for libraries that she's willing to invest personal financial resources to help keep the Slippery Rock facility a vibrant part of the community.The library, which is in a building in Slippery Rock Park, is visited by 300 to 500 people a month. The library serves all of the communities in the Slippery Rock School District except Prospect, which has its own library.John Hines, a Slippery Rock Township supervisor and park board member, was right in calling the gift a “great gesture.”At a time when libraries' governmental funding continues to experience cutbacks, it's uplifting whenever someone like the generous Slippery Rock area woman steps forward to help.As Jan Forrest, a member of the friends of the library, noted, “It shows that the library is wanted and needed” — no matter what those consumed by the Internet might believe.

The new year began on a positive note as hundreds of people participated in the various Butler County celebrations marking the arrival of 2011.Thanks to mild weather, revelers were able to enjoy a variety of events in Butler and Mars, and in Harmony, where the town capitalized on its German heritage by celebrating the new year at 6 p.m.That's when the clock strikes midnight in Germany, and that was commemorated with a ball drop at 6 p.m. on Main Street near the town's center.In Butler, those who attended the Ring in the Arts! New Year's celebration had the opportunity to enjoy a variety of musicians, and those who attended the Mars festivities were pleased to have the opportunity to enjoy the evening with friends and neighbors.The Butler County events gave county residents the opportunity to stay closer to home, rather than travel to Pittsburgh, where they would have faced parking and other challenges.In addition to the various New Year's Eve celebrations, there also was a happy note on the county's roadways — no New Year's traffic fatalities.One person at the Butler celebration said that, despite the event being scaled back due to less funding, “Spending a day like this is so much nicer than going to a party.”The upbeat public reactions to all of the New Year's celebrations in the county this year should provide the incentive to make New Year's Eve 2011 in the various communities even more inviting.

It might have mostly been politican theater, but the reading of the U.S. Constutition by Republicans in the House of Representatives also was a reminder of the foundation of the law of the land.In Harrisburg, it would have been helpful if state lawmakers had read the state consitution in 2005, the year they voted themselves large pay increases, and in 2001, the year they voted themselves a 50 percent pension increase — a deferred pay raise.The 2005 pay grab was eventually reversed after public outrage erupted. But soon after the 2 a.m. pay-raise vote, most lawmakers added “unvouchered expense” reports, the amount of money the pay raise was to increase their salaries. This trick was required because state law prohibits lawmakers from voting themselves a pay raise.If state lawmakers do read the state constitution aloud, voters and taxpayers should pay particular attention to Article II, Section 8. It reads:“The members of the General Assembly shall receive such salary and mileage for regular and special sessions as shall be fixed by law, and no other compensation whatever, whether for service upon committee or otherwise. No member of either House shall during the term for which he may have been elected, receive any increase of salary, or mileage, under any law passed during such term.”It seems quite clear. Too bad state lawmakers in 2001 and 2005 apparently didn't think so.