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In this Saturday’s paper, the Austin Daily Herald featured three stories that highlight what is great about our community.

From Riverland Community College instructors Catherine Haslag and Richard Watkins being honored for their distinguished work in their profession to Joe Ciola and the efforts he has reached in order to keep baseball on the diamond this summer to Bruce Turner, who has retired from four decades of giving people quality service at Hanson Tire Service.

These people have one thing in common: They, in one way or another, have done what they could to raise the quality of life in Austin and they are examples of the lengths this community goes to in order to be an example to the rest of the state of just what a great community can achieve.

These were just examples of course. Every day there is an example of how bright of a star we are because people in Austin are coming together.

This is a tough time in our history — locally, nationally and internationally — but examples set by those people listed above and so many others keep that light at the end of the tunnel bright.

We would like to congratulate Haslag, Watkins, Ciola and Turner for their achievements and their work for Austin and we hope that they serve as further examples of what this community can achieve.