Thumbs up, down from the Yuma Sun

• Thumbs up to all the high school seniors in Yuma County graduating this month. Please know – your community is so very proud of you. Congrats, Class of 2023!

• Thumbs up to the Yuma County teachers, teachers’ aides, lunch staff and educational professionals on a successful school year. We appreciate all you do to educate our students in all the ways big and small.

• Thumbs up to the beautification efforts taking place along the East Main Canal Bike Path in Yuma. It’s so exciting to see progress happening in that area, starting with a freshly painted retention wall. Our fingers are crossed we’ll see some bright murals appearing in the area – perhaps along the tunnel under 16th Street?

• Thumbs up to the Yuma City Council, which recently awarded a contract to remove and replace deteriorated pavement between Avenues B and C. It’s always great to see roadway repairs – and goodness knows, nobody likes driving on bad roads.

• Thumbs up to the Yuma Union High School District and the Southwest Technical Education District of Yuma for their efforts to create a cosmetology program here in Yuma County. Officials note students have expressed a lot of interest in the program, and it’s great to see it happening.

• Thumbs down to Styrofoam packing materials. Whether we’re talking about little packing peanuts or blocky chunks, this product is a nightmare to deal with. It breaks down into little bits, leaving trails of annoyance throughout the house. There are so many other options to safely package something – why does this still show up?

• Thumbs down to people who leave marks on the walls with pens. Why? We see this all over the place. Why would someone draw on a public restroom wall, or mark up a wall in a restaurant booth? Have some courtesy for shared spaces, and take better care of them!

• And once again, thumbs down to the debt ceiling crisis. Can we not function as a government if we aren’t cutting a situation down to the wire? It just seems ridiculous. 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.