Buffalo Chip to Hope Ellison, who was sentenced to jail Wednesday in Roy for claiming to raise money for victims of the Crandall Canyon mine disaster when she was really spending the money -- about $150 -- on painkillers. We can't imagine why she would do such a thing. It sounds like her skull is already numb, so she shouldn't need any pills. "It was the drugs, your honor," her defense attorney told the judge. "The word that came to my mind was tacky," the judge said. Yup.

Beehive to Mike Anderson of Lindon and the neighbors and friends who pitched in to rebuild his barn after it burned to the ground. Utah Valley communities remain reservoirs of energy and generosity. Anderson noted that he's made it his practice to invite neighbors over to use the pool or basketball courts any time they wanted. "Everybody loves that family, and anyone in this community would do anything to help them," said neighbor Brenda Christiansen, who was among the many who helped. "Everything they have, they pretty much give back to the community. That's why they do so well." There's a lesson for us all.

Buffalo Chip to the Utah Supreme Court, for ruling 5-0 that the mere presence of illegal drugs in a home is not enough -- repeat, not enough -- to trigger a state law on child endangerment. In one case, cocaine was found in a purse and in a jewelry box; in the other, methamphetamine was found in a set of transparent plastic drawers. Under the law, our top jurists held, "the child must have a reasonable capacity to actually access or get to the substance or paraphernalia or to be subject to its harmful effects, such as inhalation or touching ... This seems a common sense interpretation of the statute." What common sense actually dictates is that parents who hide illegal drugs in their homes are themselves a danger to their children, and the risk of illegal drugs falling into young hands in such a home is dramatically heightened. Apparently the court believes that criminal parents are also responsible parents.

Beehive to Lorie Millward, education outreach manager for the Utah Museum of Natural History, and her colleagues, for developing the Museum on the Move program. The traveling zoology exhibit takes animal skulls, skeletons, fossils, insect displays and much more to classrooms around the state. The exhibit recently came to Santaquin Elementary School, where it was received with enthusiasm by the young students, who were already acting like curious scientists as they asked questions about the nature of things. All in all, the program will reach some 40,000 students in 200 classrooms during the school year.