Cheers to all who made Showdown on Sabine a success

September 28, 2007 12:26 am

— Cheers to all those who were part of making the first Showdown on the Sabine a huge success. Thousands of people, some from here, some from afar, descended upon the banks of the Sabine River at the City of Orange Boat Ramp to watch the boats speed by. The Orange Convention and Visitors Bureau, city staff and volunteers did the city proud.

Jeers to Columbia University for inviting Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak on their campus. As a media outlet we vigorously support the right to speak freely; however, giving a terrorist sympathizer and Holocaust denier a platform to spout his lies and hatred is inexcusable. Would Columbia have done the same for David Duke — who, as a special guest of Ahmadinejad, gave a keynote speech at a conference in Tehran earlier this year questioning whether the Holocaust occurred?

Cheers to Orange Leader readers who have made the Superior Athlete of the Week a huge success. As of Thursday afternoon 1,500 votes had been cast for this week's nominees. The athletes nominated and selected are well-deserved and readers have done an excellent job promoting our local high school athletes.

Jeers to Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for failing a recent drug test. Vick needs to be in prison for several years and suspended from the NFL for life. NFL athletes are role models for high school and college players and Vick is on the opposite side of the spectrum.

Cheers to the Orange Police Department for going above and beyond the call of duty. A few years ago, OPD was asked to safeguard The Orange Leader’s microfiche of previous issues. They protected the reels then, through Hurricanes Rita and Humberto. They returned them safe and sound this week.