Kind words due for good deeds

Spring is here and our annual tournament guests will soon arrive. It's a

good time to dust off the "attaboys" and hand out a few handshakes for

recent accomplishments.

Though potential challenges at the polls and disagreements over

legislative maps have dominated the public's attention during the 2004

session of the Georgia Legislature, Columbia County's delegation has managed

to score points for the home team.

Specifically, state Reps. Ben Harbin and Barry Fleming, and state Sens. Joey

Brush and Don Cheeks, have finally gotten approval for Columbia Road to be

designated as a Purple Heart Highway; carved out $4.6 million in funding for

the county's long-overdue satellite campus of Augusta Tech; and held onto

state funds to keep the struggling elementary foreign language program

afloat.

This is an election year and there will undoubtedly be challenges and

disagreements leading up to the July primary and November General Election.

But it's nice to know the lawmakers we send to Atlanta do indeed get work

done while they're there.

It was a literal baptism by fire: North Columbia Fire & Rescue, a new

merged department made up from the former Appling, Winfield and Leah fire

departments, showed its mettle last week. The volunteer firefighters joined

Martinez Fire Department in battling the fatal fire in Appling, and the next

day fought a pair of fires straddling the McDuffie County line - one of them

with two more fatalities.

Now under contract with Columbia County taxpayers to provide fire service in

the vast, rural northwestern end of the county, North Columbia will soon

have the funds and infrastructure to operate with full-time salaried

firefighters manning stations around the clock. But even after that

transition to a professional staff, it's important to remember the

foundation of their emergency efforts: volunteers who provide service with

no payment other than the satisfaction that comes with hard work on behalf

of their fellow citizens.

Such a community sense of volunteerism also is what drives the citizens

who offered their time to gain certification as members of Columbia County's

new Community Emergency Response Team.

The 25 residents underwent weeks of training to become skilled volunteers

available in the event of a community emergency such as search and rescue

operations and natural disasters.

The program, an important part of the nation's homeland security effort, is

funded by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and run locally through

Pam Tucker's local Emergency Management office.

But the CERT volunteers - ranging from a high-school student and his dad,

all the way up to a handful of active retirees - are just in it for the

chance to serve their community. And for the nifty green hardhats, too.

Finally, special thanks, indeed, to the American Heart Association and

Doctors Hospital. The partnership purchased 100 automated external

defibrillators, or AEDs, and are distributing them - free - to all Columbia

and Richmond County schools.

Knowing the importance of these life-saving units, some Columbia County

schools had long ago bitten the bullet and bought the devices themselves.

While it's a shame the Heart Association and Doctors Hospital had to bail

out the foot-draggers, their actions will immediately make our schools

safer.