Thumbs up to all of the volunteers who have spent countless hours working to groom snowmobile trails throughout the area. The work has been particularly difficult this year, with bitter cold temperatures and snowfalls that have made the grooming a difficult process. Snowmobile clubs have also been struggling to line up volunteers to help with grooming, which makes the difficult work even harder. Snowmobiling is a popular activity in our area during the winter months, and it would not be possible without the volunteers. Those with an interest and the time should contact the Ellery Sno Cruisers, the Chautauqua Lake Snowmobile Club, the Cherry Creek Sno-Goers Club, the Lake Effect Trailbreakers Snowmobile Club or the Sunset Drifters Snowmobile Club. We’re sure they’d appreciate the help.

Thumbs down to a somewhat ridiculous circumstance before the New Year began. On Dec. 28, Andrew Liuzzo was sworn in as an at-large member of the Jamestown City Council even though his fellow newly-elected council brethren weren’t scheduled to be sworn in until Jan. 8 at the first City Council meeting of the year. It’s good to see Liuzzo wants to get to work, but Liuzzo could have done so without pulling Judge John LaMancuso away from his regular duties.

Thumbs up to Michael Butterfield, a Lakewood resident who recently put his skills to the test in he final round of the 2018 Sonata Better National Walkaround Competition at Hyundai Motor America’s national headquarters in Fountain Valley, Calif., earlier this month, and came out the national champion. Butterfield, a 12-year employee of Ed Shults Hyundai and product specialist for the new Hyundai store on Fairmount Avenue, was one of six regional contestants to compete in the finals in mid-December.