Slippery Rock School District officials' decision to freeze their pay for the 2011-12 fiscal year won't solve the district's estimated $2.6 million budget shortfall. But the approximately $43,000 that will be saved by the administrators' action will help at a time when every dollar in savings is significant.

The Slippery Rock school officials are the second in the county to opt for such a freeze. Seneca Valley School District administrators previously announced they would keep their salaries at 2010-11 levels, saving that district $181,000.

Like those in Seneca Valley, the 10 Slippery Rock officials who have decided to give up their 2011-12 raises are responding to the prospect of lower state subsidies resulting from Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed 2011-12 state budget.

The 2011-12 fiscal year for school districts and the state government begins on July 1.

In addition to the Slippery Rock announcement about those who've decided to give up next year's raises was the disclosure that informal discussions had been held with district teachers about agreeing to a similar freeze.

Kathy Nogay, Slippery Rock superintendent, said nothing concrete has been done regarding that proposal, but that she hoped all of the district's employee groups would agree to similar initiatives.

She said the board would not try to force them to do that, however. Actually, beyond recommending the action, there isn't much the board can do, unless it would decide on layoffs to obtain needed savings.

As of now, those at Slippery Rock who will not be receiving raises are Nogay, six principals, and the athletic director, special education coordinator and business manager.

As in Seneca Valley, Slippery Rock district residents should be appreciative of their school officials' leadership on helping their district deal with a serious financial shortfall.

Operation SAFE, which was conducted by state police motor carrier enforcement teams on March 22, reinforced the need for such a commercial-vehicle initiative to be carried out several times a year across the commonwealth.SAFE, which stands for Seat Belt and Fatigue Enforcement, resulted in 162 trucks and 103 drivers being placed out of service. According to acting state police Commissioner Frank Noonan, 2,209 commercial vehicles were inspected, resulting in 1,034 traffic citations and 1,598 written warnings being issued.In state police Troop D, which covers Butler, Armstrong, Beaver, Lawrence and Mercer counties, 174 trucks were inspected, six vehicles were placed out of service, 10 drivers were placed out of service, 62 citations were issued, and there were 66 warnings issued.Only three of the 16 state police troops had more inspections than Troop D that day.“Our efforts are aimed at increasing safety for truckers and others on the roads by ensuring that commercial vehicle drivers are properly belted and are not exceeding federal limits on hours of operation,” Noonan said.According to the acting commissioner, the most common violations involved failure to properly complete required logbook entries. However, he noted, 64 drivers were cited for not wearing seat belts.Judging from the statistics compiled statewide, SAFE was given the emphasis intended in all of the state police troops. The operation was a clear message to truckers that when they are in Pennsylvania they must follow the rules.The initiative is an inconvenience to truckers, but it accords important safety benefits to all motorists. On that basis, the effort should be appreciated — and repeated on a regular basis.

Louisiana residents and fishermen can be excused for any suspicions they might harbor after learning Tuesday that a BP employee reportedly lost a laptop computer with information tied to last year's massive BP oil spil in the Gulf of Mexico.The computer in question contained the personal data of thousands of Louisiana residents who filed claims related to the spill.Curtis Thomas, a BP spokesman, said the oil company on Monday mailed out letters to 13,000 claimants, notifying them about the potential data security breach and offering to pay for the monitoring of their credit.It's hard to fathom how anyone entrusted with something so important could lose it. Most people with any genuine sense of responsibility would have been reluctant to let the computer out of their sight.If BP hasn't yet fired the employee in question, Louisiana residents should demand to be told why.BP has been extensively criticized — for good reason — for its Gulf of Mexico operation and its lack of preparedness for dealing with a problem of the scope that it encountered last year. Now Louisiana residents have learned that the oil company could not even be trusted to properly handle information so important to victims of the disaster.BP's reputation, already badly marred, deserves to suffer even more as a result of the new disclosure.