Thumbs up, thumbs down

December 23, 1998

Thumbs up! To the Tri-state area's many "Christmas Angels," who realize that the spirit of the season is best expressed by service to other citizens and to their communities.

Thumbs up! To Hagerstown's Rick Wilson and his group, Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry, which will provide the deer meat from 5,000 hunters' kills to serve an estimated one million meals to Maryland's needy residents.

Thumbs up! To the Berkeley County, W.Va. Commissioners, for their willingness to risk county workers' ire to save the taxpayers $2,000 to $4,000 by not scheduling Christmas Eve as a holiday. Brave souls.

Thumbs up! To Sylvester Snyder, a Waynesboro, Pa. man, for photographing life in that town for more than 50 years, creating an invaluable historic record, part of which is now on view in the Alexander Hamilton Free Library.

Thumbs up! To North Hagerstown High's Students Against Destructive Decisions, for their campaign to get fellow students to avoid behavior that could kill or injure them.

Thumbs up! To Angie Rowe, a secretary for the Washington County Hospital's behavioral health services office, for agreeing to share the story of her attempt to quit smoking cigarettes with thousands of Herald-Mail readers. We know she'll make it.

Thumbs up! To Washington County School Superintendent Herman Bartlett Jr., for wisely scaling back plans to redo the Commonwealth Avenue central office. Many schools need attention first.

Thumbs up! To Hannah Fortney and a group of Martinsburg, W.Va. Baptists who are working to renovate the 163-year-old Regular Baptist Church of Mt. Zion, where slaves once worshiped from a balcony above the main floor.

Thumbs up! To North Hagerstown High School teacher George Cassutto, for using his own family history to teach students about Germany's World War II effort to exterminate all Jews.

Thumbs down! To President Clinton, for yet another campaign to renovate his image by serving soup to the homeless, and going to additional church services. His previous lack of candor demands more than public prayers as a penance.

|

|

|