Thumbs up ... to Princeton High School teacher Dale Lee, elected new president of the state’s largest teacher group, the West Virginia Education Association.



Thumbs up ... to The First Tee of Beckley, a youth development program that presented Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic School of Oak Hill with a set of physical education equipment to help more young people become exposed to all the game of golf has to offer.



Thumbs down ... to yet another copper theft in Raleigh County. Recently, 600 feet of copper welding wire was stolen from Dynasty Hydraulics in Glen Daniel.



Thumbs up ... to a $5 million U.S. Transportation grant to the Governor’s Highway Safety Program for the state’s “elite” seatbelt usage level. West Virginia is one of only five states to achieve at least 85 percent seatbelt use.



Thumbs up ... to Beckley K-9 officer Cpl. Will Reynolds and Merlin, who were named the state’s K-9 Team of the Year for 2007-08. Merlin, 7, died in early March of cancer.



Thumbs down ... to the closing of Richwood Area Community Hospital. The difficult decision was made after a long struggle to keep the facility open, but the result is still a loss of health care in Nicholas County.



Thumbs up ... to the recent walk at Little Beaver State Park, where an estimated 12 teams raised $19,709 for research into multiple sclerosis.



Thumbs up ... to Charles T. Jones, chairman of Port Amherst LTD and president of Amherst Industries Inc., along with Royce J. Watts, longtime educator and secretary-treasurer of the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute, for being inducted into the state’s Coal Hall of Fame.



Thumbs up ... to Lowe’s of Beckley, Fayetteville and Logan, honored by representatives of the West Virginia Chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, as 1, 2 and 3, respectively, in terms of sales of shamrocks across the state as a fundraiser to help fight MD.



Thumbs up ... to Mountain State University forensics professor David Weaver of Lookout and his students for creating a new fingerprint development system for use at crime scenes. The system will be featured on “CSI New York.”



Thumbs up ... to Karen Ryan, presented with the West Virginia Master Gardener Award of Excellence as New River-Fayette County Outstanding Master Gardener of the Year.



Thumbs up ... to Phymosia Garden Club of Beckley for winning several awards at the recent 78th annual convention of the West Virginia State Garden Clubs. The West Virginia Garden Club Inc. award was given for outstanding civic and educational contributions. The club also won first place from the South Atlantic Region of the National Garden Clubs Inc. for outstanding service in promoting the aims and objectives of gardening in this region.