A tip of the hat to the Hermiston City Council for offering its help to the Hermiston School District as the district works through the challenges of scheduling socially distanced classrooms for the 2020-21 school year.

During their Monday, July 13, city council meeting, Mayor David Drotzmann pointed out that the city has several facilities that could help provide additional classroom space if needed, and other councilors voiced support for the idea.

It’s possible nothing may come of the informal discussion, sparked by Superintendent Tricia Mooney’s update to the council, but there have been good partnerships that have come out of such discussions between the two entities in the past.

Examples include Hermiston Parks and Recreation programs using school district facilities for free, and the city hosting water safety lessons at the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center for students each fall before emptying the pool.

It is always beneficial to the taxpayers when local government entities can find ways to efficiently pool their resources rather than duplicating efforts or passing taxpayer dollars back and forth.

A kick in the pants to people who continue to set off illegal fireworks during this hot and dry season.

Milton-Freewater police recently announced they would be cracking down on the continuing problem, and fireworks complaints are still showing up in other area police logs.

The current burn ban and rules against exploding, high-flying fireworks are in place for a reason — to prevent fires that can burn dangerously out of control, risking lives and property.

A tip of the hat to the workers up and down the food supply chain who are risking their health and safety to feed us this summer.

Farmers, field workers, truck drivers, food processing plant employees, grocery store associates, servers and more are often working in conditions that make it difficult to socially distance. They don’t get to work from home, and we have seen the consequences to their health reflected in the high percentage of agriculture-related jobs on the Oregon Health Authority’s weekly report of workplace outbreaks of COVID-19.

There was a big focus on thanking “essential workers” at the beginning of the pandemic, but we haven’t said it enough lately: Thank you for your work, and we hope you are able to stay safe.