[naviga:h3]Cheer [/naviga:h3]

In any other year, National Night Out might seem to be just another creation of a public relations machine; a program meant to get communities and police forces together for food and innocuous conversation.

This year, with the slayings of police officers at the forefront of peoples’ minds and a national conversation about race and law enforcement simmering for months, it’s suddenly much, much more.

It’s terrible that it has taken murder and mayhem to push our society to confront the questions of how law enforcement agencies interact with the communities they serve and protect. But here we are.

Butler Township officials did well this week when they held the municipality’s second annual meeting between the department and township residents — this time in Lyndora.

The thing is, these conversations must be more than a once-a-year event.

It’s incumbent upon us all to do more and create strong relations with the men and women protecting our streets.

But the National Night Out is a good foundation on which to build.

[naviga:h3]Jeer [/naviga:h3]

If you’re looking for an example of school district policy gone awry, look no further than South Butler School District’s handling of a drug-related incident on the last day of school.

We know next to nothing about the students involved — three of whom have been expelled — but one parent who has come forward to challenge the district’s disciplinary process has laid bare a poor piece of policy.

The parent questioned why administrators failed to follow through and punish four other students who allegedly participated in the incident, but ran after being found out.

The district has done little or nothing at all to determine what these students did and whether their actions merit punishment, she said, despite knowing who they are.

In response, district Superintendent David Zupsic said administrators didn’t act because they didn’t have enough time to investigate. Administrators were allowed to gather information based only on their investigation on the last day of school, which was only a half day.

That is an absurd way to handle a serious disciplinary matter. Stopping an investigation into student misconduct — actions which, in this case, could have resulted in criminal charges had they been investigated by a police department — based on an arbitrary deadline is a ridiculous notion.

Investigations into misconduct should take as long as necessary, and discipline should be meted out impartially and fairly to everyone.

[naviga:h3]Cheer [/naviga:h3]

Pennsylvania’s fledgling medical marijuana program — still likely a year or two away from actually being functional — took a major step forward Thursday when health officials announced they had hired an assistant administrator from the state’s Division of HIV Disease to lead the Office of Medical Marijuana.

John J. Collins will be paid $76,519 a year and is expected to begin his new job Monday. His office will oversee regulations still being developed to govern marijuana treatment, production and distribution.

Collins, who has no background in medical marijuana, has said that his experience as a CEO in the pharmaceutical industry will help him adjust to his new role.

This is one of dozens of decisions state officials will make over the next year or two that ultimately will determine whether Pennsylvania’s system is effective and well-run, or broken and burdensome.

Hopefully they’ve started the decision-making process on the right foot.