Thumbs! (12/10/2013)

Even SouthsideCentral can get into the Christmas spirit… let’s have an all Thumbs UP! edition for absolutely no reason at all.

Yeah, I know. You’re shocked and slightly doubtful that we can find enough stuff for an all Thumbs UP! article. Trust us, we know what we’re doing…

• Thumbs UP! to Register & Bee reporter John Crane. He’s the best reporter in the Southside region and it shows in every article that he writes. I’ve never read one of Crane’s articles where I’ve been left hanging for more information. The Register & Bee needs to give Crane more freedom and let him loose to handle investigative reporting… which is sorely lacking in this area. To add to Crane’s skillset, he’s extremely approachable and really cares about his writing and his job. I hate to see the day if he takes a job in a bigger market area because that will be Southside’s loss.
• Let’s keep it moving on the journalistic side of things by throwing a Thumbs UP! to former R&B reporter Tiffany Holland. She left for the crime beat at the Roanoke Times and has now taken on the responsibility of the Storefront blog that features retail happenings in that area. That’s two assignments where a reporter has to develop & cultivate a big number of sources, and there’s no doubt that Holland can easily pull that off. I predicted Holland’s departure from the R&B for a larger market, and I’m glad to see that she’s doing great.
• In a story that you shamefully won’t see in any local newspaper, Danville resident Mike Elder is currently moving through the federal court system with a complaint against a Danville police officer that he sad treated him badly. Elder’s acting as his own attorney which is a formidable challenge… but has made it to the stage where a motion to dismiss the suit against the police officer was denied this past week. I’m not getting into whether I think Elder’s complaints have merit because I’ve only heard one side of the story so far, but it’s good to see that somebody like Elder is doing everything that he can to get justice for an incident that he believes was handled with excessive force. Mike Elder can be polarizing at times, but I’m glad to give him a Thumbs UP! for these efforts.
• Finally, I’ve got a big Thumbs UP! for Dawn Ventimiglia for her amazing artistic talents. She does everything you can imagine in the arts field from painting, photography, crafting, bellydancing… to much more that I couldn’t list all of her talents here. You can see her work at her Eclectic Dawn Arts website. It was my honor to meet her at the “Art On Main” street festival and she’s been an inspiration to me ever since then. Check out her website and buy some of her work for a terrific Christmas gift. If you want something different, get in contact with her and I’m sure that she can come up with an idea that you will love. Dawn’s a truly great person and you won’t regret meeting her… and she’s well deserving of this shameless SouthsideCentral plug.

That’s four great people, and that’s four great Thumbs UP! for the hard work that they do.