There is enough crime in Butler County without people asking for more. But that's exactly what the owners of five vehicles did during the past week when they left their vehicles unlocked.

Late Wednesday or early Thursday, the unlocked doors in Butler Township invited an individual or individuals to steal items such as satellite radios, a class ring, global positioning system and video game items.

While police reportedly have made at least one arrest in the incidents and recovered some of the stolen property, the fact remains that the vehicles might not have been entered if the car doors had been locked.

“We get these crimes all the time, but we wouldn't if people did just one thing: Lock the doors,” said township Police Chief Gary Garman.

If people don't have an unfriendly dog protecting their vehicle, the next-best thing is remembering to keep one's vehicle doors locked.

It's safe to conclude that the people victimized in the incidents in question will remember to do that from now on.

The new Butler County Prison has an edge over older facilities because of its modern, up-to-date construction and management systems.However, even up-to-date facilities don't achieve top-rate inspection reports if their top officials and employees are not top notch in how they manage and perform their duties.To the credit of Warden Rich Gigliotti and other employees of the local prison, the lockup is operating just as it should be. That was confirmed by the fact that, for the second consecutive year, the prison received a perfect score from the state as the result of an inspection in late March.At a prison board meeting during the past week, Gigliotti praised members of his staff for their efforts, not only in the day-to-day operation of the South Washington Street facility, but also in the way they cooperated with state inspectors when they were on site to evaluate the full range of operations.Overcrowded conditions in the former Vogely Street prison kept the county from achieving such exemplary inspection results.“We held our own, but we were not even close to 100 percent,” Gigliotti told the prison board.The new prison, which opened in 2009, will, as a result of its two consecutive 100 percent ratings, not have to face state inspectors again until 2013.At that time, Gigliotti and his staff will, if they remain committed to the skill and expertise that they currently exhibit, have the odds in their favor for recording their third consecutive perfect score.

The federal Department of Transportation’s new rules regarding inconveniences endured by airline travelers are a long-awaited change.The only downside to the new edicts is that most of them will not take effect until August. They should have been made effective in 30 or, at the most, 60 days.One of the key provisions announced by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday will increase the maximum compensation airlines must pay a passenger who has been bumped from a flight to $1,300 from $800.Another is that airlines will have to reimburse passengers’ baggage charges if their bags are lost.In addition, the new rules extend to international flights fines levied against airlines for keeping passengers stranded on delayed flights sitting on the tarmac. Currently, those fines are limited to domestic flights.Also, airlines’ websites will be required to disclose prominently all extra fees.During his new-rules announcement, LaHood said the additional passenger protections would help ensure that air travelers are treated with the respect they deserve.Many thousands of passengers can attest that respect has not always been evident in some airlines’ operations — including some who have endured days of inconvenience due to an overbooked flight from which they were bumped.The new rules will not only require the airlines to change some of their ways of doing business, such as regarding their flight-booking policies. But the rules also will instill in airlines a greater incentive to make their employees more customer-friendly than they have been or now are.There should be a significant price for airlines creating inconvenience and chaos in passengers’ lives. The rules announced by LaHood are a strong statement toward that end.