The opportunity to make a young woman's high school prom night extra special was the thinking behind 300 donated dresses that were offered at no cost last weekend at Community Alliance Church, on Mercer Road in Butler.

While some young women and their families might not be deterred by the expense of buying a new prom dress, the $200 to $500 cost can be an obstacle for many. That's the beauty of the Cinderella's Closet event at the church.

In its second year, Cindarella's Closet is the creation of Nicole Andres and her friend Teresa Ferrainolo, who runs the prom dress program as part of her PLUG IN Project charity.

Taking a beautiful prom dress, probably worn once and now hanging in a closet, and donating it to Cindarella's Closet for other girls to enjoy is common sense, thoughtful — and a form of recycling.

The young women picking out dresses at the Community Alliance Church were saving money while also finding a dress to “rock the prom” as Andres put it.

Presumably the young women selecting dresses at the church will return the favor by making sure their dress gets back to Andres or Ferrainolo so it can be available for another girl next year — paying it forward, as they say.

Edward Myers stands accused of one of the lowest crimes imaginable. The 36-year-old Saxonburg man is awaiting trial on charges that he doused a 7-year-old boy with nail polish remover, then videotaped while his own son set the child on fire — and if that wasn't enough, he let the child endure his injuries for several hours without treatment. The boy suffered third-degree burns on his face and chest, covering about 10 percent of his body.After dishing out this alleged misery on a defenseless child left in his care, Myers wants to bar the boy from testifying.Myers' defense attorney, Jerry Cassady, asserts the boy's young age and the number of people who interviewed him renders the boy incompetent to testify. Butler County Judge William Shaffer now must consider whether Cassady's assertion is valid.Clearly, Myers and his attorney are not trying to suppress evidence out of any consideration for the child. It's not being done to spare the boy from any trauma associated with testifying in court.If that were the motivation, then the only correct action would simply be for Myers to plead guilty.

Cheers to Richard and Noreen Kohl, owners of Gentle Ben's Giant Breed Rescue, which has operated out of their two-story home on Hartzell School Road in New Sewickley Township, just west of Zelienople, for the past 12 years.A Beaver County court judge has ruled the Kohls can keep the large-breed dog rescue operation. The judge ruled that since the Kohls keep the dogs in their home, not a separate structure, the operation does not meet the definition of a commercial kennel and is not subject to commercial zoning restrictions. The case was an appeal of a New Sewickley Township zoning hearing board ruling that Gentle Ben's was a commercial kennel and thus illegal in the residentially zoned neighborhood.They operate this way on purpose, Richard Kohl says, because it lets them observe the big dogs — mastiffs, Saint Bernards, Newfoundlands, great Danes, great Pyrenees and the like — in the company of humans and other dogs. They note each individual dog's strengths, quirks, hidden medical conditions and ability to socialize.They also do a thorough vetting of prospective families that want to adopt a giant breed, to make sure each family has the resources, time and energy to care for a big dog.It should be obvious the Kohls are elated with the ruling, which affirms their right to operate a nonprofit entity in a non-commercial residential area.As good neighbors, they might consider taking whatever reasonable measures they can to address a neighbor's complaints about noise and potential safety issues — complaints which prompted the original zoning action and court appeal.Any action of this kind would be a sincere gesture of goodwill, since the court ruling clears the Kohls of the legal obligation to change anything.