For kids, summer should be about fun. Too often, kids become bored due to lack of things to do. Beyond that, many kids suffer what's called “brain drain” over the long break from school.

In the city of Butler this summer, children are enjoying summer fun — and learning — through the playground program operated by the Pual Laurence Dunbar Community Center at four playgrounds.

Dunbar Center staffers are working at Father Marinaro Park and the Institute Hill, Broad Street and Christie Avenue playgrounds. Most locations are seeing an average of 30 kids show up for arts and crafts as well as music activities. There are also educational activities focused on math and science, taught by a retired engineer.

In addition to programming, Dunbar is providing free lunches Monday through Friday to any child under the age of 18 at Father Marinaro Park, the Broad Street playground, the First United Methodist Church, the Butler Junior High School and the Dunbar building just off Hansen Avenue.

The free lunches served by Dunbar are provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and managed by the state Department of Education. With a still-weak economy following the recession of 2008-09, the need for food assistance remains high in many parts of the country, including Butler County.

By combining fun, some educational activities and a healthy meal, Dunbar's summer playground program, which runs through August 23, is providing a good mix for children, particularly low-income children.

With the activities offered by Dunbar at four playgrounds and its building off Hansen Avenue, there is no reason for kids in Butler to be bored or suffer brain drain this summer.

We'd like to propose a toast to the nuptial longevity of James E. “Bud” and Evelyn Beth Flick. The Fenelton couple are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary this Sunday afternoon with an open house at the Freeman Home in Connoquenessing.The Flicks are living history. They married in the midst of World War II. Both worked at the American Bantam Car Co., birthplace of the Jeep. Both have lived and experienced more than nine decades of American heritage.Health and longevity standards have improved over the years, making once-rare life milestones a bit more commonplace. It seems everyone knows someone who has celebrated a 100th birthday, for example. But a 70th anniversary is still a remarkable achievement.Congratulations and best wishes to the Flicks as they celebrate 70 years of married life together.

It takes an exceptionally deviate monster to do what Edward Myers is accused of doing.Saxonburg police allege the 35-year-old Carol Drive man splashed a flammable liquid on the shirt of a 7-year-old boy, then recorded with his cell phone while Myers’ 15-year-old son set the child on fire.Myers, the 15-year-old and his 11-year-old brother also repeatedly shot the victim with airsoft guns and pellet-type guns, according to court documents.The child, son of a now-former girlfriend, needed hospital treatment for third-degree burns on his face and chest, and welts on his forehead.Investigators estimate the burned child had gone untreated at least three hours in Myers’ custody before his mother returned from shopping and drove him to the emergency room of Butler Memorial Hospital. That’s three hours, or longer, of physical pain from third-degree burns as well as emotional torment inflicted by sadistic captors.Investigators have not yet determined what specifically motivated the alleged attack, described by one of Myers’ sons as a “prank” — a description Saxonburg Police Chief Joe Beachem rejects uncategorically.Myers is in Butler County Prison on $250,000 bail, charged with felony assault and other crimes.The 15-year-old faces similar charges in county juvenile court.They showed no mercy to a helpless child entrusted to their custody. They should expect no mercy from the court, either.