People reading the Feb. 10 Butler Eagle article about the Butler Township commissioners' approval of a new fee schedule for 2012 might not have stopped to consider the significance of the action.

But the commissioners' review of fees and approval of increases to some of them — keeping them current with the times — is a way for the municipality to avoid big fee hikes in the future that might then be a cause of resident complaints.

All municipalities should review their fees annually to determine that they are in line with what they should be, based on the services they involve.

In Butler Township's case, there were increases for things such as park rentals, burglar false alarms, leaf bags, and for zoning permits.

Some municipalities are not so vigilant in keeping fees current, and the services they provide for those fees sometimes result in financial losses for the municipalities.

To its credit, Butler Township is not one of those who are allowing their fees to become outdated.

Cheer C

While the attendance figure would have been anemic if the issue involved Butler and Butler Township or the Cranberry-Adams townships area, the more than 200 people who attended Wednesday evening's meeting at Slippery Rock University dealing with natural gas well drilling were a healthy representation of their area.

The meeting dealt with the Shell Corp.'s plan to start a series of exploration wells this spring and summer in Slippery Rock, Worth and Cherry townships in Butler County and in Lawrence County. Plans call for eight to 14 drilling rigs.

Shell's upcoming exploration deals not only with Marcellus Shale deposits, but also with the Upper Devonian and Utica Shale formations.

The Upper Devonian formation is above the Marcellus formation, and the Utica formation is well below Marcellus.

The interest of the people who were present Wednesday was understandable. Gas drilling has caused concern about the possibility of damage to water wells and negative health impacts emanating from the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking.”

There also were questions dealing with radon, and the quantity of water needed for fracking — 4 million gallons of water for each well.

Shell and other drillers should listen to people's concerns and provide honest answers to their questions. It's to be hoped that Wednesday's meeting alleviated some of the fears people might have had going into the meeting.

However, they should continue to pay attention — as should others who did not attend Wednesday's session.

Mars School District Superintendent William Pettigrew launched a trial balloon at a recent meeting, suggesting the school district could make money by charging student teachers who work in the district.Charging student teachers, who help district teachers while gaining valuable classroom experience that will make them better teachers, is a bad idea. The idea should be put to rest at the next board meeting.Pettigrew’s idea, that the district could bolster its budget by charging the student teachers’ universities a fee is shortsighted and could have unintended consequences. The most likely result of charging student teachers to work in the district would be either that universities would steer their student teachers to districts that don’t charge or they would add the fees to the already costly tuitions being charged to young people in colleges and universities. Both outcomes should be avoided.Pettigrew noted that Mars has the burden of managing student teachers in the district — this year there are 23 student teachers working in all five school buildings. But district teachers and students surely benefit from having student teachers in the classrooms.The proposal to charge student teachers suggests financial desperation that is not reflective of reality at Mars. It also comes across as mean-spirited and probably counterproductive.