UP — To customer service.

It’s the little things that make Albert Lea great. People judge your community on not just how it looks but also on how they are treated. An extra touch of customer service by a clerk, a nurse, a salesperson, a teller or anyone who works with visitors to Albert Lea can go a long way toward making a positive impression.

DOWN — To President Obama.

President Obama took a courageous stance last week on the issue of a Islamic community center near Ground Zero in Manhattan. It’s a stance that recognized the common sense that Muslims in America have freedoms just like everyone else. However, then Obama opted to backpedal the next day. Any credit he would have had for courage was lost, and now he has managed to have both sides of the issue upset with him. He either should have not said anything in the first place or taken a solid position. Riding the fence is not leadership.

UP — To Rachel Christensen.

Playing a harp for cats at the Humane Society’s animal shelter is a remarkably wonderful idea and very selfless, too. Thanks, Rachel!

One online comment maker bashed the Tribune for the story. He said, “Did the Tribune seriously pay someone for this hard-hitting journalism? I guess a little bizarre behavior is all it takes to qualify as news.”

He is entitled to his opinion, and so are we. To his comment, we say: 1. How often do you see a harp in an animal shelter? Unusual happenings clearly qualify as news. 2. We are a community newspaper, which means we cover as many aspects of our community. Albert Lea has hard and soft news. We don’t want to tell only the hard news side of the community. 3. People like animals and news about them. Animal Planet is an entire cable network about animals. News outlets from CNN to USA Today occasionally have animal stories, such as news from a zoo or an animal preserve.

You know, it’s hard to imagine the Albert Lea Tribune not doing a story on Rachel Christensen playing the harp at the animal shelter.