Cheers and jeers from around the news (and Happy Valentine’s Day):

• Cheers to the staff of SAD 17, for illustrating the very principle of selflessness by donating a day’s salary to preserve the jobs of seven others. The story is heartwarming for its charity, and commendable for its message: We all can get through tough times, if we stick together.

• Jeers to Congress, for delaying the inevitable: the switch to digital. This transition has been advertised, subsidized through converter box coupons and countless broadcasters have done yeoman’s work to prepare for deadline day. Then, Congress pulls the plug over concerns about whether people knew about the changeover.

Yes, three million people awaiting coupons is a problem the delay will likely resolve. But the greater question is this – if the government can pass legislation in 2005, engage in a massive public campaign (in accordance with broadcasters) to inform people about it, offer funding to implement it and it still can’t get done on time, what does this say about our government?

Worse, what does this say about us? Nothing good, we think. When Americans aren’t getting the message their television is telling them, our society might be in trouble.

• Cheers to Lewiston’s girls hockey team, which is playing for the state championship tonight at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. There’s history at stake, too: The winner gets bragging rights as the first champs of Maine Principals’ Association-sanctioned girls’ hockey.

• Cheers to advocates of same-sex marriage, who politicked with a levity this week by giving valentines to lawmakers. Same-sex marriage is a serious subject, given its religious and social undertones. The valentines stunt was a welcome respite from all that.

It won’t likely lighten the debate to come, but it was fun while it lasted.

• Jeers to biennial state vehicle inspections. A yearly check-up for a car, in Maine’s tough climate and road conditions, isn’t just smart, it’s also safe. Preventive care is a good idea for humans and the cars they drive, rather than suffering major undiagnosed problems later.

• And finally, cheers to Clarence Gordon, the last constable of Livermore. He turned in his badge, bullets and 94-year-old revolver earlier this week. For 30 years, he ensured his community remained peaceful, and deserves applause for his service.

Although he was armed, his job never entailed brandishing his weapon. Eventually, his gun (with Dec. 29, 1914 stamped on its barrel) faded into history – nobody remembered he had one. That’s the real legacy of Constable Clarence Gordon, apparently.

He didn’t even need it.