Thumbs up to Fiber Materials, Inc. for its role in creating materials for an upcoming NASA mission. The Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, mission is scheduled to launch in 2016 and is designed to bring back a sample of an asteroid.

FMI has assisted in such missions before, creating thermal protection materials for NASA’s recent Mars Science Laboratory mission with the Curiosity rover, and NASA’s Stardust mission that brought back samples from a comet in 2006. There is a lot of innovative, exciting and cutting edge work going on in York County. Congratulations to FMI and its employees for doing this important work and keeping high-tech jobs here in Maine.

Thumbs down to the “Grinch” who tried to steal Christmas from some people in need this holiday season. Early last week, it was reported that the “Giving Tree” from outside Limerick Supermarket was stolen over the weekend. The decorated tree had tags with requests for gifts for the needy, which people take, fulfill and then the gifts are distributed in time for Christmas. Later in the week, police arrested a suspect, but the tree was not recovered. The silver lining, however, was the outpouring of support from the community in response to the theft. Esther Weymouth, assistant manager of the supermarket, said in an interview that many people in the community dropped off gifts despite the loss of tree and tags to ensure local children get gifts for Christmas. This kind of giving is what the holidays are all about.

Thumbs up to York County Community Action Corp. for offering Fare Free Fridays on the Sanford Transit bus route, which began this past Friday. Local trips within either Sanford or Wells were also free, on the Sanford Ocean Shuttle, this past Saturday, and will be free again on Dec. 22. Area residents should take advantage of this service and get to know their local transportation options while doing some holiday shopping.

Thumbs up to local police agencies that will ramp up enforcement on drunk driving this holiday season. Unfortunately, the celebrations ahead often lead to poor decisions by many who think it’s OK to have a few ”“ or more ”“ drinks and still get behind the wheel. The Maine Bureau of Highway Safety is distributing the federal funds to increase overtime patrols at times and locations where drunk driving is most common. The “DriveSober, Maine!” effort began Dec. 1 and continues through Labor Day. A special holiday enforcement crackdown began Friday and continues through New Year’s Day. That holiday effort coincides with a national campaign “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over,” funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Police departments in York County that received funding include: Berwick, Biddeford, Buxton, Eliot, Kittery, North Berwick, Saco, Sanford, South Berwick, Wells and York. While we’re pleased more officers will be out in force to combat impaired driving, we hope York County residents will take the privilege to drive seriously and not do so if they have had any alcohol at their holiday celebrations.

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Thumbnails is a Monday feature of the Journal Tribune’s opinion pages. If you would like to respond, please write the Reader’s Forum via email at jtcommunity@journaltribune.com or by dropping your letter off at our Biddeford office.