Sometimes there are just too many things happening to focus on just one topic here. So today we are giving snippets of thoughts on a wide variety of things …

ATTAWAYTOGO: We applaud those who organized the annual Martin Luther King Day parade through downtown Elizabethtown on Mo0nday. The crowd it attracts is a real tribute to the icon of a man the parade honors and the fact that it hearkens us back to his “dream” and what he stood for is a necessary reminder for us all.

SHAME ON YOU: We will also register our disappointment with some participating in the MLK Day parade this week — specifically those who ignored the town’s ordinance against tossing candy along the parade route; those who went so far as to verbally invite children to approach vehicles and/or floats to be handed candy; the individual on the speaker system who used vulgar language while talking about President Trump and “white people”; and those at the corner of West Broad and Poplar streets who gave local law enforcement grief as they tried to keep people out of the street.

ATTAWAYTOGO: To Elizabethtown Town Manager Eddie Madden, who, when notified recently about a problem with trash collection in the downtown area, immediately remedied the situation.

SHAME ON YOU: To the Chemours management team. Last week a private well in Bladen County reportedly tested at 4,000 parts per trillion, well above the state’s accepted level of 140ppt and the worst level yet found. And yet, not a peep out of Chemours. Shameful.

ATTAWAY-SHAME: To County Commissioners Chairman Ray Britt for reportedly setting up an informal meeting between Chemours officials and county commissioners in the near future to discuss the GenX issue. However, the meetings will be small group and not open to the public. Nothing new.

ATTAWAYTOGO: To all of the county and municipal employees charged with keeping us safe when a winter storm rolls through the region. We’ve experienced one pretty good bout of winter weather already this month, and even though this week’s weather didn’t compare in seriousness, the county and municipalities were prepared just in case. Kudos to them all.

ATTAWAYTOGO: We will send a huge pile of kudos to two separate groups — those forming the new Peanut Festival Committee and those attempting to renew the Bladen County Historical Society. Both are worthy endeavors if they are organized well and the leadership is solid.

SHAME ON YOU: To those motorists — driving everything from cars to delivery trucks— who think it’s OK to travel at 40 mph along West Broad Street in downtown Elizabethtown. With a posted speed limit of 20 mph, we are certain that only about 10 percent of those who pass by our office are anywhere near that speed. Think of the revenue the local police department could garner by cracking down downtown.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We should always learn from things good and bad.” (Unknown)