Top gymnast

Thumbs-up to Seymour junior gymnast Alyssa Goen for qualifying for the regional with a fourth in the balance beam and a fourth in the floor exercise at the March 6 Columbus East Sectional. Goen also was seventh in the all-around.

Thanks for dinner

Thumbs-up and thanks to Peter’s Switch Church for the wonderful funeral dinner.

The Jerry Pruitt family

Seymour and Columbus

More pancakes please

Thumbs-up to everyone who supports the fundraisers of local organizations such as the annual pancake breakfast organized by the Brownstown Exchange Club. With the impending approach of spring, there will be more and more such opportunities for the public to help organizations raise money for activities and projects.

Legacy

Thumbs-up to Janice Read, who plans to retire as executive director of Child Care Network in September. Reed has spent 16 years with the Jackson County United Way agency that connects families with child care resources and services. Read’s passion for the basic needs of children is obvious, and her work to ensure our communities have safe, affordable and health-related resources for our children has been tireless, according to Holly Sipe, co-president of the agency’s volunteer board.

Faithful

Thumbs-up to Bruce Cochran, who recently retired after spending 22 years as pastor of First Baptist Church in Seymour. Although retired, Cochran is still going to keep busy as a transitional pastor helping churches in between pastors.

Quick

thinking

Thumbs-up to Greg Schepman for reporting a fire Feb. 26 in a storage building at a Uniontown business owned by Aaron and Kendra Knieriem. Schepman is being credited with likely averting major damage to Canary Outdoor Power Equipment.

A similar thumbs-up needs to be given to the volunteer firefighters who battled that fire and other recent fires during periods of less than ideal weather conditions. Firefighting is hard enough without the stress of cold temperatures and ice and snow.

Friendly

nurses

Thumbs-up to the nursing staff at Schneck Medical Center for being named the Most Nurse-Friendly Hospital in the country for the second year in a row by TopRNtoBSN.com, a nursing career and education website.

Loss of trust

Thumbs-down to public officials who abuse their power by using public funds for their own purposes.

Hurting others

Thumbs-down to people who make poor life choices that wind up hurting their loved ones and others as much as they do themselves.