Homers -- What's going right

MEMORIAL DAY SALUTE: We salute Jerene Thomas, who for 40 years has, with other volunteers' help, placed flags on the graves of veterans - about 6,000 of them - at Cedar Rapids' Cedar Memorial Cemetery for Memorial Day. The Marion woman has carried on a tradition passed down by her mother, but, at age 74, she is looking for someone to succeed her leadership. Who will step up?

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GIVING BACK: Zach Johnson, 2007 Masters golf champ from Cedar Rapids, pledged more than $1 million to Kids on Course, a program to be launched at Harrison and Van Buren elementaries to help students achieve academic and personal success.

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DRAWING A LINE: A former neighbor's bid to buy Mark Brown's property along Edgewater Drive for $220,000 nearly derailed the Coralville City Council's offer of $200,000 for the home, assessed at $97,060. It's the only one of 27 properties, many heavily damaged in the 2008 flood, the city hasn't been able to buy toward converting the flood-prone street into an earthen berm with a trail on top. The city's fair offer had a valid public purpose, and the council was right not to budge. It paid off. Brown changed his mind and took the city's money.