We tend to expect a great deal of our elected officials, even on the local level. This results in varying degrees of disappointment on many occasions, and perhaps we need to realign our expectations.

The one thing that I have always maintained is a fundamental expectation that must be met is attendance. The least anyone can do is show up.

Whether it's students attending school, employees going to work, or elected officials making it to meetings, if you can't show up, the likelihood of you accomplishing anything else of notable significance is pretty iffy.

In the law there is a concept called "forum shopping." This basically means that if you don't like your chances or options in one court, you try to find a better court by whatever means possible. The other side, of course, does not want you to be in the better court, which would be worse for their client, so they accuse you of the horrible offense of "forum shopping." The principle is that the case should be heard in the proper jurisdiction, otherwise people are jumping all over the country trying to find a judge or jury they can snow.

Even as local politicians were gearing up to run for state legislative seats in new districts, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Wednesday struck down the reapportionment plan, completely rearranging the proposed political landscape in areas such as the North Boroughs.

With only a couple weeks left in the year, local officials are being forced to make the hard decisions when it comes to budgets for 2012.

In Bellevue, final adoption of the budget will not be considered until Dec. 30, with a public hearing to be held Monday, Dec. 19. Council members are continuing to debate the proposed .25 mill property tax increase and a 25 cents per 1,000 gallons sewer surcharge hike.

Council member Linda Woshner said that since the news of the tax increase came out, she has heard from several people opposed to it.

Bellevue’s engineer will be asked to provide alternate plans for parking and handicapped-accessible ramps in Bayne Park while council wrangles with what work should be done in conjunction with the construction of a skate plaza there.

Plans to extend the current lot and widen the driveway to accommodate two passing vehicles met with opposition from elected officials and residents due to the amount of “green” space that would be lost.

Editor:

There are five four-year seats and one two-year seat that will be filled in the Northgate School Board elections this year. Primary votes for cross-filed candidates could wrap this up next week, or the vrace could wait until November for a final decision.

The candidates are:

Tim Makatura Dr. Makatura, from Bellevue, was appointed to the board last August to fill a vacancy. A psychologist who works as a clinician and a college instructor, he holds a bachelor of arts degree in psychology, a master's degree in guidance and counseling, and a Ph.D in psychology.

"Everything is on the table."

That statement by Northgate superintendent Dr. Reggie Bonfield sums up the district's approach to doing whatever is necessary to eliminate a $1.6 million budget deficit facing the school in the coming fiscal year.

In an open letter to residents of Avalon and Bellevue that was posted on the district's Web site last week, Bonfield outlines the impact of Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed cuts in educational spending, which could add another $700,000 to the $900,000 deficit already faced by the district.

The Avonworth School Board will seek permission from the state to increase property taxes next year above the Act 1 limit.

The board voted at Monday’s regular meeting to rescind its previous approval of a resolution that would have limited a tax increase in the district to the Act 1 limit of .28 mills

Two Avalon police officers were injured in a drug bust on Jan. 28 that ended with them in the hospital, along with the suspect they arrested.

Officers Walt Johnson and Sean Kirley, along with Chief Tom Kokoski, attempted to arrest Raymond Carter, 25, of Grant Avenue, Bellevue, after observing him in what was believed to be a drug transaction in the California Avenue business district.

It was an emotional moment for Jennie-Lynn Knox as she held the wheel of LST 325, a Navy ship that paused in the Emsworth Locks on Wednesday morning on its way to docking on Pittsburgh’s North Shore.

“I can’t believe that this is where he would have stood,” she said softly, looking straight out at the water just as her father, James W. Knox of Emsworth, must have done for countless hours during his service aboard LST 491.

By Lois Thomson

Picking up where they left off last month, Ben Avon Council members at Tuesday's meeting continued a discussion on repealing the gun ordinance that was passed last December.

The ordinance requires residents to report lost or stolen handguns to the police within 72 hours of their disappearance, or face a fine and possible jail sentence.