Thumbs up, down from the Yuma Sun
• Thumbs up to the new Gowan Grove at the West Wetlands Park. Hundreds of Gowan Company employees planted 600 trees and shrubs in the West Wetlands, all of which were donated by Gowan. Thank you, Gowan, for supporting the community!
• Thumbs up to the students and staff at H.L. Suverkrup Elementary School! The school was named Yuma County’s top performing school at the kindergarten through eighth grade level, according to the state’s grading system. Congrats to everyone who took part in earning this achievement!
• Thumbs up to the runners and cyclists who participated in the inaugural Marine Corps Air Station Yuma Telegraph Pass Challenge! What a tough challenge!
• Thumbs up to all the voters who took to the polls on Tuesday, or voted with their early ballots. Thank you for taking part in the political process and exercising your right to vote!
• Thumbs up to the officer with the Arizona Department of Corrections who performed CPR on an unresponsive child. The child almost drowned in a park pond in Somerton, but the officer’s quick actions and CPR helped the child regain consciousness and breathe on his own.
• Thumbs down to the cold virus that is working its way through Yuma. Wash your hands, people, because this cold is one that you do not want.
• Thumbs down to the little spiky burrs found in the desert or in grassy areas. They are easily tracked into the house on shoes, and then unsuspecting bare feet later step on them … and boy, are they painful!
• A very sad thumbs down to yet another shooting, this time at a bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Thumbs isn’t really the right place to express the sadness that yet another mass shooting has taken 12 more lives, but how many times do we repeat the same message over and over again? To those victims and their families, sorry isn’t enough. The question remains: How do we prevent this from happening?
Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down are compiled by the Yuma Sun editorial board, based on recent events, happenings and activities around Yuma County and the nation, and will appear on Fridays in the Yuma Sun.