Thumbs up to Anouar Majid, a professor at the University of New England whose latest book, “We Are All Moors,” explores  the legacies of the ancient conflict between Christians and Moors. Today’s tensions between Islam and the West are surely fueled by attitudes dating back to the Crusades, and Majid’s analysis may help us to a better understanding of them.

Thumbs up to participants in Sanford’s annual Town Meeting, who passed 44 school and town articles adding up to nearly $55 million in appropriations for the coming year. Although it’s a large sum, preliminary analysis indicates that Sanford officials are likely to achieve their goal of avoiding a tax increase this year. The achievement comes at a price, however ”“ the elimination of six full time town positions.

Thumbs down to the idea of installing a gate between the parking lot of the Stop & Shop supermarket in Kennebunk and The Farragut, a nearby condominium complex. It’s easy to see how annoying it would be to live along a shortcut from a supermarket parking lot, and the town and the developer should do what they can to discourage through traffic. But Planning Board members and town officials are rightly concerned about gates, and the possibility of impeding emergency responders.

Thumbs up to all the  police officers who recently graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, where they were trained to deal with such matters as criminal and traffic enforcement, sexual assault, domestic violence, first aid, firearms and crime scene processing. Among the graduates were 11 from York County: Susan M. Ruby, Sanford Police; Mathew T. McNutt, Biddeford Police; Eli G. Poore, Berwick Police; Timothy Williams, Berwick Police; Brian Delaney, Eliot Police; Daniel Shaw, Kennebunk Police; Jason Hafner, Kennebunkport Police; Jonathan Koelker, North Berwick Police; Alexander Smith, Ogunquit Police; Joseph Jourdain, Sanford Police and Rachel Horning, Wells Police.

Thumbs up to school budgets that passed muster in referendum votes last week, including those of Sanford, Wells-Ogunquit, Biddeford and SAD 57.

Thumbs up to the decision in Kennebunk to reopen the doors of Town Hall to the public on Wednesday mornings. The town will now have regular business five days a week, which strikes us as a worthwhile service to provide to citizens.

Thumbs down to the  misjudgment that led to the rejection of a plea agreement in York County Superior Court last week. We do not criticize the judge for his decision that the agreed-upon sentence for manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident was insufficient. Such a defendant deserves little sympathy, perhaps, but the failed deal between the prosecutor and defense attorney leaves her in a very difficult position.

Thumbnails is a Monday feature of the Journal Tribune’s opinion pages.  If you want to respond, feel free to write to the Readers’ Forum via e-mail (jtcommunity@journaltribune.com) or by dropping your letter off at our Biddeford or Sanford offices.