MISS: To those local establishments The Citizen found were violating the state's Clean Indoor Air Act. In random visits to 54 restaurants and bars which hold liquor licenses, The Citizen staff found seven in which patrons were smoking. The state passed a law two years ago that forbids smoking in bars and restaurants, unless a business is able to secure a waiver. So far, only the OTB in Auburn has received such approval from the county's health department.

Considering many of the establishments that were violating the act had received previous warnings or fines, we hope that the county health department shows its teeth and accelerates the penalties for these businesses.

HIT: To the Auburn Municipal Power Agency for moving forward with plans to establish a municipal utility. Chairman Steve Rich last week proposed the agency request a feasibility study to research the process of becoming the city's power supplier.

We wonder whether the recent criticism of the agency by the mayor may have prompted such a request by Rich; the mayor has relentlessly touted the dream of lower energy costs to anyone who will listen, but up until last week, residents were no closer to freeing themselves from NYSEG's prices than they were when they voted to establish a municipal power agency last year. And the mayor, who has promised jobs and cheaper energy to the community since being elected, has yet to deliver on either as he nears the halfway point of his term.

The price tag for this feasibility study is high ($250,000 or more). We'll be interested to see how the agency plans to fund such a study.

MISS: The year is barely half over and already central Cayuga County has witnessed three murders, including Saturday night's fatal stabbing of 25-year-old Anthony Agee. Last year, the county didn't have its first murder until December.

This is a reasonably quiet, scenic, rural county which has been shaken by the deaths of Wendy Foster, Andrea Kell and now Agee.

We hope this is just an aberration, and not a trend of escalating violence.