Laurel: To being a crime stopper. Bad things happen all the time, and people often wonder what would happen if someone was in the right place at the right time.

Sharpsburg Mayor Kayla Portis can tell you because it happened Monday.

Portis said a random passerby made all the difference in the robbery of the Dollar General on the 1800 block of Main Street.

A man robbed the store and took off with a duffel bag filled with his haul. However, he is sitting in Allegheny County Jail today after being stopped by the passerby. The man attempted to assault the passerby with a knife, but Portis says no one was injured.

You never know when you will be in the right place to stop the wrong thing from happening.

Lance: To an unexpected expense: When you decide to get rid of something that is costing you money, you expect to stop seeing bills. However, that’s not happening for a local police department.

Jeannette police disbanded the department’s police dog program in July. That put Diesel, a 4-year-old Belgian malinois, into retirement.

But there aren’t retirement homes for police dogs still in their prime — and it seems like the decision to give him to his handler, Sgt. James Phillips, was not worked out before the move was made.

Phillips has yet to sign the city’s agreement to have him take ownership of Diesel. He has concerns about liability and wants his attorney to review the agreement. There is a difference between a police dog and the furry friend who sleeps at the foot of your bed.

“They’re not in the same category as a family pet,” Phillips said. “They’re born, bred and designed to be working dogs.”

Until a final solution is made, Diesel is being boarded at a kennel at a cost of $30 per day.

The council’s decision to abandon the program because of costs outweighing benefits is debatable. Phillips takes issue with officials’ claims the program was not pulling its weight.

What seems more obvious is that the dissolution of the program was poorly thought out — from what happens to Diesel to the funds raised to support the K9 program.

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