A rose to Community Counseling Services and its affiliated programs, which observed National Recovery Month by holding a block party Saturday afternoon in downtown Columbus near the Community Counseling Center. The facility serves as a treatment center for those struggling with alcohol/drug addiction. The organization also offers mental health services though its Pines and Cady Hill Recovery Center. For the third year now, Community Counseling holds this event, not only to celebrate the success of those it serves, but to reach out to the community with a message of hope and healing. “It’s just about letting the community come and see what recovery is,” said block party organizer Martha Allen. “It’s doctors, lawyers, factory workers, family members (who struggle with addiction). And they’re living life, and they’re living full lives. It’s just important for people to realize that it’s not just jail and robbery and DUIs. There are just so many positive things that happen in recovery.”
A rose to Columbus Air Force Base, which celebrated last week at the Trotter Center the 68th birthday of the U.S. Air Force. More than 300 turned out for the Air Force Birthday Ball. Prior to 1947, the Air Force was a part of the U.S. Army. The emergence of the Air Force as its own branch of service has been a remarkable success story, particularly here in our area, where CAFB has played a vital role in sustaining our community and economy. It is hard to imagine a Columbus without CAFB. Certainly, we hope never to have to face that prospect. We would be a far poorer community in many ways without our Air Force friends and neighbors.
A rose to the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center, which will begin providing email and other computer-based services to inmates thanks to the installation of 13 email kiosks. The kiosks will allow inmates to communicate with loved ones and streamline requests for such things as medical attention and medicine while under close supervision. While some will dismiss these additions as “perks for perps,” we are convinced that providing this service meets a legitimate need and makes for better jail operations. While jail means forfeiting some rights and privileges, inmates do not forfeit all. Maintaining ties with family and friends through email communication sustains hope in an often bleak environment. That hope benefits not only the inmate but the broader society as well.
A rose to the Lowndes County School District for reaching a long-anticipated milestone this week. Every member of the Class of 2016 from all three county high schools got their hands on a sleek new Apple MacBook Air laptop Thursday afternoon. The MacBooks are part of the 1:1 technology initiative at LCSD, which was approved by the school board in February. Through the initiative, all of the approximately 5,000 students in LCSD will receive a personal technology device.
The importance of this program cannot be overstated. Access to technology is critical to modern education. Technology always arrives latest for the poor, often creating an un-even playing field that dims the prospects of the poorest in our community. Providing these tools for learning to everyone helps ensure that all students have the tools necessary to shape a brighter future.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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