Laurels to the partnership formed by Wells Fargo and the Military Warriors Support Foundation that provides mortgage-free homes to deserving veterans. One such veteran, Brian Miller, and fiancee Rachael Laird got the keys this week to their new home in Rockwell. The couple moved from Pennsylvania so Brian, who lost a leg after being wounded in Iraq, could find more opportunities for adaptive sports, and because they fell in love with the home they now call their own while searching on the foundation’s website. They are welcome new neighbors, and the program that brought them to Rowan is a great way to honor those who have served the nation.
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Dart to the uncertainty about who will lead Knox Middle School after yet another principal leaves. Terrence Snider is the fourth principal to transfer, be transferred or quit at Knox since the start of the 2008-09 school year. In that time, he’s the third to exit during the academic year, leaving parents, staff and, especially students, stunned and frustrated again. For the third time since 2008, Larry Brown will step in as interim, while the school system embarks on a process to find a new principal similar to the search that brought Luke Brown to Salisbury High School earlier this year. It will involve feedback from parents, students, teachers and the community. That’s good. Knox is a unique school and needs a unique leader — and one who will stay a while.

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Laurels to the Dayton Flyers for giving a lot of Rowan County residents a reason to keep watching and cheering in the NCAA basketball tournament now that all the teams from North Carolina have been eliminated. The connection is through Morgan Miller — wife of Dayton Head Coach Archie Miller — who was Morgan Cruse when she graduated from North Rowan High School and went off to N.C. State University, where she and Archie met. Network cameras caught her reaction at the end of Dayton’s exciting win over Syracuse, and she quickly became the darling of the tournament and an internet sensation. With the Cinderella Flyers now in the Elite 8, we’ll be pulling for them, and watching for our hometown connection.