Thumbs up to the introduction of Jennie V. Vimmerstedt to a whole new generation of Jamestown residents. Vimmerstedt wore many hats during her long career as a community volunteer, journalist and preserver of Swedish heritage before her death in 1991 at the age of 86. One of the local organizations at which Vimmerstedt volunteered her time was the Salvation Army, where Mayor Sam Teresi noticed a small portrait of Vimmerstedt on the wall. It turns out Teresi had the larger original portrait in storage in the mayor’s office. It now resides at the Salvation Army, where it belongs. “She was a force in the community,” Teresi said. “She is the perfect example of volunteerism.” Vimmerstedt began her journalism career in 1926 with the former Jamestown Evening Journal. She retired from The Post-Journal in 1975, but her contributions to the newspaper and the community continued until shortly before her death. “Jennie loved working at the paper. She also loved her church, Zion Covenant, the Democratic Party and the Salvation Army, and a long list of other service organizations she either helped found or helped keep them healthy and relevant. For many years, it seemed that when someone brought up an idea in Jamestown, you knew it was going to be a success if it had Jennie’s blessing,” said Cristie Herbst, former Post-Journal editor, in an email last week. Kudos to Teresi and Merchant for finding a new way to honor a longtime pillar of the community. We hope the memory of Jennie Vimmerstedt’s community service inspires a new generation of those willing to spend their time making our community a better place.

Thumbs down to the Chautauqua County Legislature for not placing an herbicide funding request from the Chautauqua Lake Partnership on a single committee agenda this month. We can’t say we’d have been in favor of a $500,000 allocation or even a $300,000 allocation from the county to the Chautauqua Lake Partnership for herbicide use on Chautauqua Lake in early June, so we don’t expect the item to have received automatic approval from the legislature. Herbicide use is a divisive issue among everyone who wants the best future possible for Chautauqua Lake, so discussion of the partnership’s request likely wouldn’t have been pleasant. It likely would have been contentious with a good likelihood of raised voices. Those are not good reasons not to have a public discussion. Not placing the item on an agenda for a public discussion reeks of cowardice.

Thumbs up to a special Memorial Day weekend for David Cobbe of Jamestown. In addition to enjoying a baseball game today at Yankee Stadium with seven members of his family, Cobbe will be honored during the seventh-inning stretch playing of God Bless America. Cobbe, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam from 1969 through 1971, will be introduced over the public address system and shown on the video board in center field and on the field as part of the Yankees’ ongoing recognition of veterans and active duty soldiers. “I figure I’m going to go out and buy some heavy cleated boots, so when I’m on home base, I’m just going to take a whole bunch of (the dirt) with me,” he joked. Kudos to the Yankees for making the Memorial Day weekend a memorable one for at least one local veteran.