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An Editorial Opinion of The Lowndes Signal

While this week’s reprieve from hot weather will likely be short lived, the recent heat wave gives us pause to publicly thank those who spend the majority of their workday outside, toiling in the hot sun and high humidity while providing valuable services to those who live and work in our community.

There are many examples of those performing these essential jobs, including lawn care services, HVAC employees who keep us cool during these hot humid days [and nights], and our city and county workers who perform a myriad of outdoor tasks, such as getting our roads patched, paved, and drivable.

Several organizations from Lowndes and surrounding counties as well as the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office endured the high temperatures on Saturday to provide free food, entertainment and educational information of programs available to Lowndes County residents.

The Wellness Coalition did an outstanding job organizing a “Tour of Wellness” in the Hayneville town square. Many residents received free dental visits and free COVID testing and vaccines.

Sheriff Chris West and Friends to Elect Chris West Sheriff organized a day of community togetherness in Fort Deposit Saturday. It was hot, but the bar-b-que was hotter! Events that enable law enforcement to connect and interact with the people they serve is something we need more of. Sheriff West and the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office does a tremendous job of not only interacting with the communities they serve, but giving back to the communities as well.

The town of Hayneville is doing a good job of keeping the town clean and maintaining the area for summer events, which during these hot days is less than comfortable for those tasked with completing such work for the town.

If you’ve ever driven through a community and seen unkempt grass, trash, and poorly maintained flower beds on city property, you leave that area with a poor reflection about that community. Certainly visuals like that do not tell the full story of the people who live there, but it does leave you with an impression that is less than what it could be if those with the responsibility and the authority to go along with it are not minding this important business.

Now that summer is officially on us, we hope each of you reading this will take the opportunity to thank those such as our public safety and city/county employees who work outside in the summer heat and humidity, and possibly offer them a cool bottle of water as a show of thanks for what they do. It can often be a thankless job, but it is important and needed, and we appreciate them for it.