To Dawn Sisk, Chris Calloway, Ashley Humphries, and Dakota Lawson, all student-athletes at Surry Community College who were recently named as Academic All Americans by the National Junior College Athletic Association.

Playing sports takes a great deal of effort, time, and commitment. To do so, and to excel at their chosen sports, while still maintaining a high academic standing, takes commitment to a different level, and shows these four young people as examples of what hard word and dedication can lead to.

*****

To all the residents and business owners of Elkin who turned out this week en masse to show their respect for Capt. Mark Garner and his family when the captain’s body was returned to his hometown.

Garner was killed while serving in Afghanistan last week, and the turnout of people in Elkin who offered their quiet respect and mourning to him and his family show just what it is soldiers like Capt. Garner are fighting for.

*****

To all the candidates who have filed to run in municipal elections this autumn. It takes a certain amount of courage, and commitment to community service, to put one’s name on the ballot and make a run for public office, and these folks are to be commended for that, win or lose.