Since the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has had such a hard time completing any of eight recommendations that U.S. safety regulators have proposed since 2001 in regard to commercial drivers and the trucking industry, it would seem to be a good time to review the overall functioning of that agency.

That is not to say that the proposals in question should be easy to implement and that they all are reasonable, but something clearly is amiss in that the agency has nothing substantial to show for the past seven years regarding the safety issues.

Now, a new U.S. safety study has revealed that hundreds of thousands of tractor-trailer and bus drivers in this country continue to carry commercial driver's licenses despite also qualifying for full federal disability payments. According to the report, some of those drivers have suffered seizures, heart attacks or spells of unconsciousness that have put themselves, and other motorists, at risk.

As an article in last Monday's Butler Eagle reported, one of the eight recommendations still awaiting implementation would set minimum standards for officials who determine whether truckers are medically safe to drive. Another of those recommendations would prevent truckers from "doctor shopping" to find a physician willing to overlook a risky health condition.

In regard to the Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Gerald Donaldson, senior research director at the Washington-based Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said, "We have a major public safety problem, and we haven't corrected it. You have an agency that is favorably disposed to maintaining the integrity of the industry's economic situation."

The motor carrier safety agency needs scrutiny from within as well as from those outside. The least anyone should expect is an explanation of why it has taken so long for the agency to accomplish what many see as so little.

Addressing the medical issue doesn't require a costly overreaction on the agency's or trucking industry's part, but the agency should by now have a definite plan to enact the proposals needed to improve safety.

Sadly, it apparently doesn't.

Every community in Butler County ought to consider initiating a program imitating one that has been launched in Grove City.In the Mercer County community, Olde Town Grove City has begun an effort to eliminate cigarette litter. As an article in Tuesday's Butler Eagle reported, downtown business owners and municipal leaders have joined forces in trying to put an end to that kind of littering.The effort is being undertaken under the umbrella of the program Keep America Beautiful.What has been dubbed the Olde Town Cigarette Litter Prevention Program focused first on a cleanup of downtown Grove City. Now the program is turning its attention to educating the community about the effects of cigarette litter.Additionally, ash receptacles will be bought for the fronts of businesses, and the group will distribute free pocket ashtrays to adult smokers.In Butler, people who are unhappy about the cigarette litter that is much too prevalent on the sidewalks and along curbs should start thinking about how the situation can be dealt with here in an organized, ongoing way.Grove City is proving itself a good example for others to follow.

Many Americans will admit that they don't know much about the early history of this nation.What most of us do know does not extend beyond a superficial understanding of the earliest days of the Republic... there is Philadelphia, July 4th and a few names like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.The 23 Emmy nominations awarded earlier this month for "John Adams," HBO's historical drama, should serve as an enticement for people who didn't see the HBO series when it was broadcast to go out and rent the DVD version.Actors Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney have won praise for their portrayals of John and Abigail Adams, a couple who each played vitally important roles in the formation of the country. The HBO production also has been praised for its extraordinary commitment to create an historically accurate portrayal of the time and the conditions of life in the 18th century.Giamatti, Linney and other cast members bring the critical and volatile era of the Founding Fathers to life. And the HBOseries goes well beyond surface depth in examining the personal conflicts and divergent interests of the different colonies that had to be overcome for a newly created nation to declare independence and wage war against England — at the time, the most powerful nation on Earth.The series is compelling, even for those who might claim to have little interest in American history. Now that the Emmy nominations have confirmed the validity of the early praise for the HBO series, it's a good time to go out and rent the series on DVD — and learn some U.S. history.