Thumbs for racism, response and retirement

Thumbs down: To the troubled vandals who went into two Boone County subdivisions Friday night. They left racial epithets and graffiti painted on signs and five homes. Investigation is continuing, as is depression that such things still happen. But check out the next item. Click here to join our discussion thread on this subject.

Thumbs up: To the neighborhood response for Sharon Leonard in the Hearthstone subdivision. Leonard, who is African-American, was one of the victims. Neighbors started working around 1 a.m. with buckets and soap to quickly scrub the message off the family's garage. "We're not going to hold hatred in our hearts toward those who have hatred for us," Leonard said.

Thumbs up: To retired State Rep. Paul Marcotte, who was honored last week at a tribute dinner sponsored by the Friends of Big Bone. Marcotte worked for years to ensure adequate funding to preserve and enhance Big Bone Lick State Park in Boone County. It's much more than a pretty campground. Big Bone is a treasure trove of significant archaeological information. Artifacts are in museums around the world and dinosaur bones even got the attention of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Marcotte also pitched an interesting idea at the dinner: The great majority of scientists believe dinosaur bones are millions of years old, unlike the beliefs of the founders of the new Creationism Museum in nearby Petersburg who believe men and dinosaurs were on the planet at the same time, a few thousand years ago. Marcotte proposed day tours for people to go to both places. "This is a unique opportunity," he said, "to see a faith-based interpretation of creation and a science-based interpretation of creation in one day."

Readers are invited to submit their own “Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down” items by replying to the “Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down” post at this blog. We’ll publish some of the best ones on the Community Forum page of The Kentucky Enquirer as well.