Too often today, we read and hear about public officials who take advantage of the trust placed in them or who simply do not do their jobs.

Elsewhere in today’s Roanoke-Chowan News Herald, though, is a story that focuses on a public official who is very conscientious and who does his job very, very well.

That public official is Gene Flowers, code enforcement officer for the Town of Murfreesboro.

Flowers last week reported to the Murfreesboro Town Council on his recent activities. That report included a list of properties in Murfreesboro that either have been cleaned up or are being cleaned up as a result of Flowers’ work.

The list is not short and when it was delivered to the town council, it prompted council members and Town Administrator Cathy Davison to pause to formally commend Flowers for his diligence and for what he has accomplished.

The reality is that most of those who work in the public sector are far more like Flowers than they are like those about whom we read and hear so often and so much.

Far and away the majority are people who work hard and diligently to accomplish the tasks set for them. And because of them, we have water when we turn the faucet, our garbage goes away without fuss or muss when we set it at the curb, and we walk our neighborhoods safely and without fear.

Perhaps that is worth our pausing to remember.

Perhaps, in fact, we should even pause long enough to thank those people.

– The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald