Bittersweet cheers as a cherished sunset diversion — the drive-in movie theater — slips below the horizon and into history.

The Pioneer Drive-In on Route 8 in Center Township opened this weekend for its last season.

According to the drive-in's Facebook page, it will close later this season after more than 50 years in business, rather than pay the tens of thousands of dollars it would cost to switch to digital projection, the new standard in the cinema trade.

Indoor theaters have faced digital conversion as well. The Guthrie in Grove City launched a successful fund drive to pay for its new projector. The Clearview Mall Cinemas closed in March rather than pay for digital conversion. The manager of that theater at that time said it would cost about $75,000 per screen to make the conversion from 35 millimeter film projectors.

The Pioneer has five screens. That would have amounted to a $375,000 outlay.

Thanks to digital movies and flat-screen TVs, we have modern purveyances like RedBox and Netflix, providing stunning visual display in the convenience of our living rooms — and at an affordable price. Throw in microwave popcorn, and you've got an instant date night.

But the demise of the drive-in takes away something old-timers will miss: movies under the stars, evening breezes, cheesy hang-on-your-window speakers, snacks and sweet drinks in the comfort of your car or truck.

You can digitize the movie, but you can't digitize the drive-in experience, and that's unfortunate.

It's all over but the voting.Pennsylvania's highest court has struck Gov. Tom Corbett's only Republican challenger from the May 20 primary ballot, leaving Corbett unchallenged for the nomination he was certain to win anyway.The state Supreme Court ruled conservative activist Bob Guzzardi doomed his candidacy when he failed to file his statement of financial interests on time with the State Ethics Commission. Guzzardi did file his statements with the Department of State, where an employee mistakenly told the candidate he did not need to file with the Ethics Commission.The disturbing element is that the state Republican Party helped organize the court challenge. Four prominent Republicans filed the petition. Guzzardi has said the party spent more than $60,000 to challenge him. Party officials won't confirm or deny that.Their objective was to shield Corbett from a primary challenge that would draw attention to the governor's vulnerability.It's not an isolated incident, apparently. The Butler Eagle reported a week ago that state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe's campaign is using Right to Know procedures to gather information on Butler County Treasurer Diane Marburger — information Metcalfe might use against primary challenger Gordon Marburger, the treasurer's husband.Is this the new template and tone for party politics — tearing down challengers in the incumbent's own party and tossing them off the ballot on technicalities? If it is, then it's ugly, and it's short-sighted. Primary challenges traditionally, have helped political parties to clarify its issues and values, solidify campaign strategies and prepare for the challenges they'll face in the fall elections.This tactic just tears downs the parties and utimately will destroy them.

It's an education truism — and common sense — that kids will do better in school if they have supportive, engaged parents and if learning is fun.Both those qualities were on display in mid-April at a parents night event at Broad Street elementary school in Butler.Too often, parents nights struggle for good attendance. And low attendance can suggest parents don't care much about what their kids are doing in school, which can mean they're not enganged and supporting their kids' school work at home.In April, Broad Street educators combined their parents night event with the parents night program put on by Dunbar Community Center to raise awareness about its after school study/fun and meal program. By combining the two events into a single parents night, the turn out was impressive — 300 parents and elemtary students.As with just about any event, more people means more fun. And at Broad Street, the fun was magnified by math games created by teachers and student teachers.Children from kindergarten to sixth grade were involved, with their parents in math-focused games. Student teachers at Broad Street were given much of the credit for creating the math games, including a hopscotch numbers game and a multiplication game involving ping pong balls. Children worked with the teachers and also their parents, reinforcing the connection between school work and parental involvement.The after-school program run by Dunbar Community Center at Broad Street school runs three hours after school every day and includes homework help, enrichment activities and a meal. A similar program has been run at Center Avenue elementary school.Broad Street principal, William Chwalik, said he was very happy with the event and hopes to hold similar parent-student events more often.Sounds like a good idea.