Let's call it a tale of two zoning laws.

Manheim Township's started as a defeat for compassion and ended, at least provisionally, in a victory for common sense.

Millersville Borough's started as a defeat for compassion, too, but the end hasn't been written.

Both tales made the news this month. In Manheim Township, a zoning officer shut down a produce stand set up in a yard in the neighborhood around Lancaster Catholic High School.

It seemed to be a slam-dunk zoning decision. Township rules say produce stands aren't allowed in residential areas. Jean Marcellus and his wife, Eunide Montas, were selling fruits and vegetables they grew in their garden, plus some bought wholesale. Case closed.

Except that Mr. Marcellus and Ms. Montas were operating the stand because both had lost their jobs and were trying to support their family. And none of the neighbors had complained about the stand. And the township office was inundated by protests from customers and citizens outraged by what looked like bureaucracy run amok.

So last week, the produce stand was back in business. Township Commissioner Carol Simpson said Mr. Marcellus and Ms. Montas could run the stand through the end of the growing season. The township sent the couple a letter warning, however, that if the stand became a health or safety hazard, the zoning law will have to be enforced.

Perhaps we shouldn't be too hard on the assistant zoning officer, Samuel Maurer. His job is to enforce the zoning law. He saw what looked like a violation and went after it.

But, as Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman has pointed out in the infamous case of the pet house finch seized by the state Game Commission, there's such a thing as prosecutorial discretion. That applies to zoning law enforcement too.

If the township had investigated further, and talked to Mr. Marcellus and Ms. Montas before acting, officials might have come to the reasonable conclusion that the best course of zoning enforcement in this case was benign neglect.

In Millersville Borough, benign neglect probably went out the window after a neighbor complained that Heather Young and Eve Wile were living in the same house with five children between them.

Another slam-dunk enforcement matter, you might think. Like a lot of college towns, Millersville has a rule against more than three unrelated people living in the same house, to prevent private homes in residential zones from becoming de facto frat houses and dorms.

But as in Manheim Township, there's a complication arising from the economic plight of the women. Ms. Wile has a 3-year-old daughter, Layla Walton, with a rare genetic disorder, and the shared housing is intended to help her save money for her daughter's medical treatment.

There's another complication. The women claim a domestic partnership arrangement, which could mean they are a family, not unrelated housemates.

If Ms. Young and Ms. Wile can scrape together the $500 filing fee, the township zoning board has to rule on the case. We hope, as in Manheim Township, that common sense and charity will prevail. (Not to mention that it could be hard to fight the domestic partnership argument.)

Without zoning, communities devolve into chaos. We need rules to govern our neighborhoods. But there are exceptions to every rule, and the Manheim Township and Millersville cases look like exceptions to the rule —especially in this tough economic climate.

Manheim Township's commissioners recognized a compassionate exception when it hit them over the head. Good for them. We hope Millersville's zoners do the same.

It would be a far, far better thing to do.