The Jamestown Sun hands out these bravos and buffalo chips this week:
* Bravo to Jodi Rae Ingstad, for teaching children how to stop bullying messages and promoting anti-bullying messages to children. Ingstad, who was bullied as a child, gave a reading at Alfred Dickey Library on Thursday of "The Big Galoot," written by her brother-in-law, Terry Ingstad, also known as Shadoe Stevens. The story is about Warren Galoot, who is teased by classmates for his long, pointed head and large hands, and later rescues them.
* Bravo to Gene Keller, who retired Friday after more than 30 years of work at The Jamestown Sun. Keller had been the advertising director before going part time last year. He'll be missed. We wish him well.
* Buffalo chip to people who drain their sump pumps into the sanitary sewer system in Jamestown. It's an ongoing problem and ultimately affects everyone. Draining sump pumps into the sanitary sewer system strains an aging system that is also stressed by old leaking sewer pipes. We can all help that aging system last a little longer by pumping the water into the storm sewer system.
* Bravo to Ann Gefre of Jamestown and Lucille Evans of St. Cloud, Minn., who became acquainted through a magazine because they share the same birthday and have kept in touch for 38 years. The two turn 88 on Sunday.
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* Bravo to six climbers who raised about $6,400 for Up With Downs, a group that aims to help improve the lives of people with Down syndrome and their families. The climbers turned a climb to Mount Kilimanjaro's summit into a fundraiser for Up With Downs, which is based in Fargo.
* Buffalo chip to the news that it might be another tough winter in Jamestown. National Weather Service and Forum Communications Co. meteorologists say that it looks like another La Nina, meaning above normal precipitation and below normal temperatures. The new average snowfall is about 50 inches, so hearing we may get more than that isn't good news.
* Bravo to those students who campaigned (quietly, we hear) to elect Curtis Fregien, 19, Jud, homecoming king at Kulm High School. Fregien, who has Down syndrome, works to support his classmates in football and basketball and in other ways.
* Buffalo chip to Eder Rojas, 22, formerly of Woodbury, Minn. Rojas, a former flight attendant, who pleaded guilty on Sept. 26 to starting a fire aboard an airplane more than three years ago. The fire forced the plane to land in North Dakota, and jeopardized the lives of all 78 passengers and crew on board. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Shasky said Rojas was mad at the airline for making him work the route he was on.
* Bravo to wildlife researcher Dr. Marsha A. Sovada. Sovada received the Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award, the second-highest award for a DOI career employee, for her contributions to the development and management of wildlife research studies. Sovada has worked for the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in Jamestown for 30 years.
* Bravo to the students in Lisbon who helped make a special day for their classmate, Isaak Hoff. Isaak is battling leukemia and on Sept. 23, the Make-A-Wish Foundation planned a shopping spree for him in Fargo. To make the day more special, the students at Lisbon Elementary School gathered for a surprise send-off, cheering and chanting "Isaak, Isaak," before the 8-year-old departed in a Hummer limousine. Bravo to the educators at Lisbon and organizers at the Make-A-Wish Foundation too.
* Bravo to the four women from United Methodist Church in Jamestown who helped clean out overgrown garden plots at the Anne Carlsen Center. Lavina Kleese, Betty Broze, Rita Greer and Kelly Bird met with ACC special education teacher, Mary Lewis, to pull weeds, cut plants, dug up roots and throw away waste.
* Bravo to Daryl Johnson, the Minnesota man who collected 4 million pop tabs and donated the $1,200 he earned from recycling them to Ronald McDonald House Charities.
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(Editorials are the opinion of Jamestown Sun management and the newspaper's editorial board)
