Smiles: For Mayor Dickens and his ability to successfully secure funding for the King’s Highway Bridge replacement. Due to his personal relationship with a VDOT Deputy Commissioner and his persuasive manner, this bridge will be replaced and funded by Federal money earmarked for bridge repair.&uot; FYI: The project was considered a dead issue until the mayor ran into an old friend in Richmond recently and invited him to have lunch with him. Friend turned out to be a state deputy of Transportation, who later helped with the project following one phone call from the mayor.

Smiles: For the Suffolk Sister Cities Commission that saw its labor of love dedicated Monday afternoon in the Godwin Courts Building Courtyard. The unveiling of the Obici – Oderzo Fountain was attended not only by involved local officials and the public, but more notably the mayor and other resident of Oderzo, where Amedeo Obici was born.

Smiles: For Robert Nelms, a candidate for the Suffolk Clerk of Court’s position. He has suggested a series of public debates with other contenders.

Smiles: For Dr. David Goss, a surgeon with Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Associates in Suffolk and member of the U.S. Army Reserves. Though he spent most of Operation Iraqi Freedom stationed at Landstuhl Air Force Base in Germany, his work was vital in treating injured Allied forces in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Scowls: For rising gas prices. Whoever has raised them can feel free to lower them immediately.

Smiles: For the person or persons who typed the Suffolk Public School bus routes. God love them for doing that necessary work.