People’s choice

Thumbs-up to Lester and Becky Urbain of Freetown for winning the people’s choice award for the Jackson County History Center’s inaugural Festival of Trees. They received a Christmas ornament as a prize and bragging rights for a year. The popular display entitled "A Few of My Favorite Things" drew 13 entries and hundreds of visitors to the history center in Brownstown during the holidays.

Plenty of participation

Thumbs-up to the 15 city residents who decided they wanted a shot at replacing former at-large Councilman Shawn Malone, who recently moved outside the city. Republican Darrin Boas was eventually picked as Malone’s replacement by the other six city councilmen during a special meeting. It’s good to see that kind of participation in local politics. Let’s hope that continues through the May 7 primary.

Building Brownstown

Thumbs-up to those who were recognized Jan. 14 during Brownstown/Ewing Main Street’s annual meeting. The list of honorees include Mike Rittman for spraying the grounds at Heritage Park and Perry Myers for helping the organization set up for events and the “New to Brownstown” honorees, which include Nathan and Angie Patman of AKP Investments for working on a building to house apartments and a restaurant; Drew Shoemaker for starting a new gym, Jackson County Performance; Ryan Kemp for working on bringing an Edward Jones office to town; and Bill Hiday and Steve Cissna of 128 Properties for working on a building along South Main Street.

Sheltered

Thumbs-up to everyone involved in the Cold Night Out Shelter project, which continues to pick up steam in its effort to provide shelter during the winter for those who don’t have it. One of the newest additions to the project started by Bethel Community Church on Dec. 1 involves the congregation of Rockford United Methodist Church, which has agreed to help the cause by allowing the church to serve as a day site for the project on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Other than Bethel, churches that have stepped up to serve as a host site for the night shelter include Seymour Harvest, Seymour Christian, St. Ambrose Catholic, Cornerstone Community and Central Christian. The city also has allowed churches to use the Seymour Community Center, while others in the community have volunteered their time and donations of food, clothing and money to the cause.