The Jamestown Sun hands out these bravos and a buffalo chip this week:
* Bravo to the City Council for moving forward with strategic planning. The council approved on Monday placing the selection of a facilitator for the strategic plan on the agenda for a city committee meeting. A strategic plan will help the city focus on specific goals and areas of concern.
* Bravo to the Jamestown Public School Board for taking a tougher stand on its drug and alcohol policy for employees of the district. The policy before the board says supervisors can decide whether to notify law enforcement if an employee possessed or used alcohol, drugs or drug-related paraphernalia. The new policy, if adopted, would require law enforcement be notified, taking the decision out of the hands of a supervisor. Criminal acts regarding drugs and alcohol should be handled by police. The board is expected to have a second reading of the proposed change before deciding whether to approve it.
* Bravo to the news that Jamestown retailers reported strong holiday sales for 2009. The retailers said holiday sales remained steady. They ranged from close to or higher than the previous year's sales.
* Bravo to the news that Fargo earned high rankings by Men's Health and Women's Health magazines for livability and health of its residents. The magazines ranked 100 metropolitan areas across the country in 35 criteria. Fargo ranked as the fourth best city for men and the sixth best city for women. Criteria included air quality, life expectancy, environment, commute times and death rates.
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* Bravo to Sun photographer John M. Steiner for having a photo selected for the Year in Pictures by editors at MSNBC.MSM.com. Steiner's photo of Max, a Chesapeake Bay retriever biting at snow being thrown his way by his owner's snow blower, placed ninth among the 64 images that could be voted on at the Web site.
* Bravo to the news that North Dakota's wind power resources nearly doubled in 2009. Four major projects began operating, two of them last week. The projects can generate 547 megawatts of wind power and the state can generate as much as 1,200 megawatts.
* Bravo that a dog named Ham was found in Minnesota, 11 days after he was lost during a Christmas Eve blizzard. The dog belonging to Kevin and Meegan Holubar was found on the front steps of a house after it became lost in a storm in Duluth. The bulldog was 30 pounds lighter than its usual 80-pound weight.
* Buffalo chip to the person who stabbed a dog with a plastic spoon, resulting in the dog being euthanized. Police in Roberts, Wis., arrested a man for mistreating the dog after he allegedly injured it with the spoon. A neighbor of the man checked on the golden Labrador retriever after hearing it scream for a few hours and found the dog with the spoon protruding from it. It was euthanized by a veterinarian after its intestine was found punctured.
* Bravo to Reuben Junkert, longtime Jamestown barber who recently retired after 53 years of barbering.
(Editorials are the opinion of Jamestown Sun management and the newspaper's editorial board)
