Thumbs up to County Executive Vince Horrigan’s 100 Days of Summer Safety Campaign. Thus far, Horrigan has focused on boating, bicycling and how to be safe around tractors and buggies. Many of us have heard the information dozens of times before, but it’s important to keep these safety messages in the public eye. Kudos to Horrigan for coming up with a new method of spreading important messages.

Thumbs down to misplaced priorities in state government. During the recent so-called “extraordinary” session of the state Legislature, lawmakers took the time to rename the Tappan Zee bridge after former Gov. Mario Cuomo — while matters including ethics reform, changing the statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims to file claims or common-sense welfare reform bills proposed by local Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, and Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, couldn’t make it through the legislature. Perhaps it’s time to stop calling the additional legislative session extraordinary. It was anything but.

Thumbs up to the local beginning of the Dwyer Peer to Peer Program. A kick-off picnic will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at Bergman Park on Baker Street in Jamestown. The Dwyer project is designed to be a non-clinical veteran’s support program that pairs veterans with other veterans and offers social events and other peer-to-peer activities. Initially established in Suffolk County, the program connects veterans through a variety of social activities, and part of the program’s approach is developing a team of mentors to work with veterans suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Thumbs up to all those locally working to make the program a success and to state Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, for securing funding for the county to be part of the program. Area veterans interested in taking part in the Dwyer Program can contact Cindy Reidy at 661-8447 for more information and to sign up for upcoming events.