Local heroes and distant ones, too

Inter Lake editorial

Kudos to all involved for restoring delivery of groceries for elderly customers of Sykes'.

The downtown Kalispell market recently switched hands, and new owner Mike McFarland discovered he could not afford to provide the service any longer. That might be a problem in some communities, but not here.

The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program affiliated with the Agency on Aging took up the challenge and is providing the manpower for the service, which benefits as many as 30 disabled and elderly customers. McFarland provides the van and gasoline.

RSVP, of course, could use extra sets of hands for this and other service work in the community. They can be reached at 758-5712.

US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III had plenty on his resume already, but after January 15 - when he safely ditched his jet in the Hudson River without a fatality - he earned the right to add "hero" to his job qualifications.

Sullenberger's quick thinking no doubt saved many lives on the aircraft, which was packed with 150 passengers and five crew members. By all accounts, the rest of the crew also acted admirably under the difficult circumstances, as did the passengers. "Women and children first" was uttered repeatedly, even when people did not know if the aircraft would float or sink.

It should also be noted that local ferry and tugboat crews, along with the traditional emergency responders, worked swiftly and efficiently to evacuate everyone from the plane and life rafts in the chilly river water.

We are no experts on these matters, but Kitty Higgins, the principal spokesperson for the on-scene investigation, said Sullenberger's maneuver and the resulting rescue "has to go down [as' the most successful ditching in aviation history."

Seems hard to argue with that.

Let it be a lesson for future well-intended public projects: Don't forget to make some provision for maintenance.

That wasn't the case for a one-mile-long pedestrian and bike path heavily used by East Evergreen students. The path got buried by snow but there was no outfit or plan assigned to the task of snow removal.

Now, "it's a major issue," said a representative of Evergreen Community Partners, a group that led the way in getting the paved path built in the first place.

We hope they find an answer. In the meantime, good-old volunteerism rode to the rescue. Lee Clark and Lance Vitt deserve credit for lending their time, fuel and dump trucks to get the path cleared.