Robert Hill, president of the Seneca Valley School Board, demonstrated gross insensitivity and bad judgment Monday in his attempt to stop the mother of a Seneca Valley suicide victim from completing her statement to the board.

Fortunately, other board members, including Anthony Storti, who first interceded after Hill banged his gavel, allowed Sandra Campbell to finish her message, which included the plea, "Please help her friends or any other child weather this insanity."

The "insanity" to which she was referring was the persistent bullying that she believes caused her daughter, Margaret Ann ("Maggie") Campbell, to take her own life. Prior to Hill's inappropriate action, Sandra Campbell accused Seneca Valley administrators of turning a blind eye to bullying on the secondary campus.

Maggie was one of at least two Seneca Valley students at the secondary campus to commit suicide during the 2008-09 school year.

The board has a four-minute limit for members of the public to make a statement during a meeting, but a right-thinking school board president has the flexibility to deviate from that guideline when the subject matter is of particular importance — as Sandra Campbell's message was.

Also of great importance was the message of eighth-grader Taylor Cook, one of Maggie's friends, who told the board that bullying and verbal abuse are rampant in the hallways at Seneca Valley.

"And I watch teachers and administrators do nothing about it," she said.

Sandra Campbell alleged that district administrators consider it politically incorrect to punish students who are verbally abusive, saying, "It's too hard and too much work to listen and be alert and aware of this type of abuse, and the kids know it."

Hill's action projected the attitude that it's too much work for the school board to hear the words of a grieving mother — at least anything beyond four minutes — and that attitude is inappropriate and indefensible.

The bullying problem is a difficult problem, not only in Seneca Valley but in other districts as well.

Some are better at dealing with it, and it would seem Seneca Valley has some important decisions to make and some stringent guidelines and responsibilities to implement.

Hill must understand that that's going to take more than four minutes.

Most motorists equate the word "headache" to a road work detour.For Butler, that isn't the case in at least one instance. The inbound Center Avenue detour along the new Wayne Street Viaduct currently under construction is actually a pleasure to drive for people who for decades had driven that deplorable section of brick street.In connection with the bridge construction, most of that section of Center has been blacktopped to facilitate easier travel around the construction area. And, it's actually not a travel nightmare to pass through that area, as it was prior to the start of construction.But for those who nostalgically long for the "good old days" prior to the start of the bridge construction, there still is a small section of the bumpy bricks remaining before Center Avenue connects with South McKean Street.There's a message worth noting when a detour is an improvement, And, in this instance, Butler officials shouldn't be proud of what that message is.

There are criminals and then there are criminals who merit the description "dumb."The latter description applies to the individual who broke into vehicles in the city on the evening of June 4 or early June 5. The thief left a blood trail in the vehicles that were entered.A criminal cut while committing a crime usually tries to wipe away or otherwise obliterate the blood, to hopefully eliminate evidence that someday might be the basis for his or her arrest and conviction.Not so for this criminal. Despite the cut and the continued bleeding, the vehicle break-ins continued, and police found blood on seats and glove boxes of the broken-into vehicles.Besides the fact that the break-ins occurred, the other unfortunate aspect of the crimes was that the criminal apparently didn't leave a blood trail while returning home.However, it is to be hoped that in the not-too-distant future the blood that was left behind on June 4 or 5 will be matched with another blood sample that confirms the identity of this thief. If that happens, the person in question is likely to acknowledge that, yes, "dumb" was an accurate depiction of this law-breaker's modus operandi.Additionally, a jeer is appropriate for people who suspect who committed the break-ins, based on a cut sustained around the days of the crimes, but who have not divulged those suspicions to police.