Parents of Mars High School students should applaud the school's decision to make available a powerful new anti-drug video to students. The showing is scheduled for May 14.

However, parents also should be appreciative of the school district's invitation for them to preview the video in early May. The parent session will include a discussion of drug trends, resources available and community education.

It is not only parents who fear that their children might be using illegal drugs who should attend the program. The video, produced as part of the Northern Area Alliance Against Highly Addictive Drugs, is geared in part toward the Prom Promise program, under which students sign a contract promising not to drink or do drugs at prom time.

The alliance, which comprises 12 Pittsburgh area schools, seeks to halt drug use by young people. It also seeks to provide support services to addicts and their families, and to increase public awareness about the consequences of using drugs.

There can never be too many reminders about the horrors that drug use perpetuates. The video in question, which includes comments of three brokenhearted mothers, two of whom lost daughters to heroin and cocaine overdoses, and one whose son is serving a long prison term for a crime committed while trying to get money for drugs, is no exception.

The image of the Pennsylvania State Police was damaged last year as the result of more than 160 misconduct complaints against troopers that came to light. A total of 68 of those complaints, from incidents that occurred from 1995 to 2001, were substantiated.Now, a further setback to the department's image has surfaced. The department is investigating a party at a Ford City restaurant on April 3 in which at least eight troopers from the Kittanning barracks are rumored to have paid for sexual favors from strippers.The state police crime unit in Butler reportedly is involved in the probe.The party was said to have been held for a trooper who was being transferred to the Butler barracks. While attending a party where strippers are present isn't a criminal violation, payment for sexual favors is another matter, a state police official has said.Once the investigation is concluded, officials should issue a report to the public. The state police should not help to create any suspicion of a coverup of what occurred, by failing to provide that report.It didn't help the state police that the cases that were disclosed last year took so long in reaching the public.The state has about 4,200 troopers, so the number of troopers last year and in regard to this month's party represent a small fraction of the total force. But Lt. Robert Lizik of the Butler barracks was correct in observing that when one trooper does something wrong "we all get the black eye."As soon as possible, the state police must replace the rumors with facts about what did or did not happen in Ford City on the date in question.

Businesses and residents of Slippery Rock are fast abandoning the unhappiness with which they greeted the early stages of the borough's $5.2 million revitalization project.Most residents now are admitting that the good emanating from the project was really worth the inconveniences they were forced to endure.While some businesses have felt the pain of lower profits stemming from the disruptions in the town, it is hoped that completion of the project later this year will enable those businesses to experience a rebound.John Bonando, vice president of Slippery Rock Development, Inc., predicts existing businesses will see a 25 percent increase in business when the project is completed, because people will be drawn into the borough. And, it is to be expected that new businesses attracted to the community will help to increase residents' optimism.It is understandable that there was some unhappiness and skepticism at the start, but the mood has entered a new phase that hopefully will last for many years.Other communities that have embarked on and completed revitalization have experienced the same change in mood. Now it's Slippery Rock's turn.- J.R.K.