The Forward Township supervisors were elected to solve problems as well as handle routine township business. That the supervisors have for months ignored a serious discarded-tire issue on George Road doesn't speak well for their idea of their municipal responsibilities.

A rethinking of those responsibilities is in order.

It was in the spring that someone operating a truck dumped 48 heavy-equipment tires in the middle of the road in front of the property of Jim and Mary Alice McCosby.

At the request of state troopers who were called to the scene, Jim McCosby and a neighbor rolled the tires to the side of the road. Then during the summer, when the township was mowing grass along George Road, the operator of that equipment pushed the tires further from the road, deeper onto the McCosbys' property.

Rather than addressing the problem, the township sought to hide it.

Not only have township officials not acted to remove the tires and demonstrated irresponsibility in apparently condoning the "remedy" of the person who mowed the grass, but the McCosbys say they were treated to insults when they attended supervisors' meetings in hopes of getting governmental action.

For example, when the McCosbys attended a meeting last month armed with information about how surrounding municipalities would address the problem, they said they were told by Supervisor Tim Rape that if they wanted to follow a neighboring municipality's rules, they should move there.

Such a flippant response is not an example of good government service.

Meanwhile, David Lamperski, supervisors chairman, expressed the feeble excuse that the township has no way of disposing of them.

The only reason the problem has persisted so long is because township officials haven't tried to resolve it. That's proven by the fact that only recently have the supervisors approached the county Community Corrections Office about using people ordered by the courts to do community service work to help with the cleanup — although equipment also will be needed in the operation.

Throughout the McCosbys' failed attempts at getting the problem resolved, they found their efforts at getting help from the state equally frustrating. The Health Department and Department of Environmental Protection, which sometimes are quick to display heavy-handedness, in this instance have been content to direct their powers elsewhere.

Over the summer, the tires collected water and attracted mosquitoes, spawning fears among the McCosbys and others about the possibility of West Nile Virus.

One aspect of the issue that remains puzzling is why, over so many months, the source of the tires has been allowed to remain a mystery. It seems that an investigation based on the tires' original sales could lead to the identity of the culprits who dumped the tires.

The McCosbys are justified in wondering whether the state police have pursued the case as thoroughly as possible.

Obviously, police don't have the time to conduct an investigation of every tire tossed along a highway, but the dumping of 48 heavy-equipment tires merits more than an incident report on police dockets.

Lamperski told a Butler Eagle reporter that "trash is a problem in rural areas and we have numerous locations that we have this problem."

Communities that have such problems can worsen them by failing to act aggressively when dumping is first noticed.

If the effort to get help from the county Corrections Office fails, Forward Township officials should pursue another option — and not the do-nothing option with which they were content for so many months.