HIT: To U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Michael Danylek, an Auburn native, who is in Vietnam for a special mission to identify remains at crash sites.

Danylek handles explosive ordinance removal and will help a team search for a piece of history.

Even though the Vietnam mission isn't as dangerous as his previous service in Iraq, anyone dealing with old explosives deserves to be commended for their service.

MISS: To the theft of a rare shotgun from an Aurelius residence. The gun, a 20-gauge over-and-under Huglu Model 103E, is worth more than $1,000, according to the New York State Police, which is handling the investigation.

The gun, which was handmade in Turkey, hopefully will turn up soon and the thief will be apprehended.

HIT: To the Auburn City Council's decision against repealing the gasoline sales tax cap.

Unlike their colleagues in the county Legislature, which eliminated the county cap last year in effort to generate additional revenue, city councilors made their decision with all taxpayers in mind.

Especially at a time when these gas prices are so high, any bit of relief at the pump is very much appreciated.

HIT: To the testing of a new notification system in the Auburn Enlarged City School District next week. The system, named School Messenger, is supposed to place automated phone calls to both landlines and cellular phones as well as send out e-mails to parents in the case of an emergency. This has the potential to be a great way to notify parents of early dismissals or other school emergencies. With busy lifestyles, not many parents are able to watch a television or listen to a radio to wait for school information.

Using cell phones and computers as methods to get information out is 21st century thinking and we hope the system will allow for also using text messages in the future too.