In another sign the city of Suffolk is continuing to recover from last year’s tragic tornado, Jammin Jerk BBQ held a ribbon cutting Friday, announcing both figuratively and literally that they and other businesses like them will overcome anything.

Over the past months, storefronts and homes ravaged by the April 28, 2008 tornado have risen back to life, back to reality.

They have risen back to open for business or to once again serve as a warm home for families displaced.

For more than a year, the city of Suffolk has worked to repair the scar left by the potentially-deadly weather event – an event that destroyed many homes, businesses and left the Hillpoint, Driver and other communities and streets staggered but obviously not knocked down.

Even before the tornado last spring the national economy had slowed, making business and life tough on many, and the tornado did little to help that. But, it proved that a community united and people dedicated to rebuilding can accomplish anything.

The ribbon cutting Friday may have been seen as a small event to some, but for this portion of Suffolk’s community it was proof again that fighting back pays off.