CHEERS: to the volunteers who clean up highways locally and throughout the state under the Adopt-a-Highway program. Usually, a group will volunteer to adopt a section of a road that can use some tending to. Typically, the group will gather for an evening or a weekend day and spend hours picking up trash and litter and putting it into a garbage bag for later pickup. One such group reported to us that on a recent outing the group averaged two hours per mile to do a top-quality job. That's a lot of time devoted to make our region look presentable to outsiders and insiders, as well, and they ought to be acknowledged for their time and energy. It's a terrific public service.

Along the same lines:

JEERS: to the "insensitive slobs," as one of the above-mentioned volunteers called them, who throw more trash out of their vehicles immediately after cleanups. Tossing trash out the window is inexcusable anytime, but, especially after the hard work put in making the area look neat, it's absolutely frustrating and infuriating. Imagine going through all of that and the next morning seeing more cigarette packages, beer bottles, water bottles and trash on the same stretch of highway. You would certainly think that anybody considering tossing debris out the window would realize it was a socially insensitive gesture. But you would also think they'd be intimidated by the thought they'd be seen by someone who really cares. Some people are simply not intimidated by anyone or by any affront to another person, no matter how despicable.

CHEERS: to Nelson Moore, the Saranac sixth-grader who spent a spell in Washington with 287 other dazzling students trying for the last word in the National Spelling Bee. Nelson was the North Country's representative and the first to make it to the national contest. Previously, area winners reached the end of the line for lack of a sponsor to see that they got to the next level of competition. This year, Dr. Tim Mihuc helped form the North Country Parents for the National Spelling Bee, which, along with the Press-Republican, sponsored Nelson's appearance in Washington. Nelson distinguished himself and, though he did not place in the national contest, paved the way for future aspirants to keep trying.

CHEERS: to Dr. Hannah McCormick and Dr. Rebecca King, two local veterinarians who have recently risen above their obligations to care for animals in trouble. McCormick took in and treated four kittens abandoned in front of the Newman Center Catholic Community in Plattsburgh when the SPCA had no room for them. King, of Eagle's Nest Veterinary in Saranac, treated a kitten for free after the animal was found floating in a taped plastic container in the Hawkins Hall pond. The animal was standing for life-saving breath atop a second kitten who had drowned in the container. These kind-hearted doctors should not be taken advantage of, but they deserve credit for their skill and compassion.