Thumbs up to a purse-saving hero

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1:01 PM Friday, February 5, 2010

Here are this week’s “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” selections:

The Hamilton City School District’s outstanding Character Education program has won praise from many in our community, including us, so it was no surprise that the district was recently chosen as the 2010 Ohio School District of Character by the Ohio Partners in Character Education. According to staff writer Richard O Jones, the state recognition qualifies the district for the Character Education Partnership’s National Schools of Character award, which will be announced in March. Naturally, we’re rooting for the Hamilton district because of the excellent character-building work it is doing with our students. Our fingers are crossed.

A belated thumbs up to Jim Silveira, the local man who came to the rescue of a mother and daughter and chased down a purse-snatcher last fall. Staff writer Jay Morrison recently wrote about the intense incident which began when a 50-year-old, knife-wielding Lancaster man attacked Maureen Fowler and her 10-year-old daughter, Claire, outside a Main Street bank. Claire fought back but the man made off with Fowler’s purse. Silveira and his wife were arriving at the bank at that moment, saw the commotion and then gave chase. Silveira, an Army veteran and former boxer, chased down the culprit on foot and — to put it mildly — taught him a lesson or two about picking on a little girl and her mother. Bravo.

Thumbs up to Butler County commissioners for taking the first step toward a centralized purchasing process for local governments. Commissioners on Feb. 1 tapped a county manager, Randy Quisenberry, to begin setting up the process that, officials believe, will save money for local governments on joint purchases of items and materials that they all use, such as office supplies and computer equipment. Leaders throughout the county have agreed that a consolidated purchasing program could pay off — buying in larger quantities should result in lower prices — but the idea had been languishing for months, until commissioners acted last Monday. We applaud the start of what we hope is a cost-saving measure for taxpayers across the county.

Thumbs up and good luck to Tom Kilgour, who recently ended his 39-year career with the Hamilton Police Department where he had served in a variety of capacities. The Hamilton Police Department’s loss, however, is the Hamilton City School District’s gain. Kilgour has joined the district as its new safety monitor, a job that will be familiar to the police veteran who had served as the liaison between the police department and schools for years. We wish him the best in his important new role.

Thumbs up to Miami University for doing its part for the institution of marriage. A couple of days ago, we commented on the declining state of marriage, locally and nationally, as the economic recession takes its toll on Americans’ romantic ambitions. However, Miami University made headlines last June when 1,087 couples renewed their wedding vows at its “Miami Merger” event in Oxford. This week, we learned that Miami officially broke the world record for the most couples renewing their vows at one time, according to Guinness World Records. And who says romance is dead?

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