Buffalo Chip to Utah for taking a step back in the effort to clean up indoor air. Fraternal clubs and veterans posts were supposed to be smoke-free after January, but when the nicotine-stained finger crowd complained that the ban was killing revenues, Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, sponsored legislation giving veterans until 2009 to quit. Actually, that's when commercial bars have to go smoke-free, so it makes sense. What never made sense was having two timetables.

Beehive to Mary Anne Hiller for giving her students the best graduation gift they could hope for. Hiller, an English teacher at Spanish Fork High School, assigned her students to interview alumni, especially elderly ones. The students learned that some of the challenges they face at graduation are not new, and in some ways they're better off than the older generation. Sierra Leifson interviewed her grandmother, Ruth Leifson, who told her about the Spanish Fork class of 1944 and how students coped with the turmoil during and after World War II. That sort of stuff is more useful than the shmaltz normally dispensed at graduation ceremonies.

Buffalo Chip to Weber State University for overreacting to an immature prank. Five WSU student government officers have been ordered to attend a diversity conference and perform 10 hours of community service for their roles in an off-campus bonfire where campaign signs were burned. One of the signs had a picture of student government candidate Brad Wahlstrom dressed in his Marine Corps uniform. A photo on Facebook depicted Jessica Sims, the student government's vice president of diversity, saluting as the sign was burned. Burning someone else's campaign sign was probably not a smart thing to do, but diversity trainingfi An apology and reimbursement for the sign would have been punishment enough. "Actions bring consequences," Jake Beus, WSU student government president, said on handing out the punishment. So Beus will understand why he's getting a Buffalo Chip.

Beehive to Paul Murphy for being named Amber Alert Coordinator of the Year for the entire nation. Murphy, our state coordinator, was honored in Washington Friday for his work alerting Utahns to missing and endangered kids. During his tenure as coordinator, Utah was the first state in the nation to broadcast Amber Alerts by cell phone, pager and e-mail. Utah also pioneered sending the alerts to truck drivers through special communications systems and created the Endangered Persons Advisory, a way to alert the public to look for people who were in trouble but did not meet the conditions of a full Amber Alert.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A5.