“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV)

All three of these virtues were in abundance this past week in Boone County, but certainly the greatest of these expressions comes in the form of loving support.

According to a recent poll conducted on the Coal Valley News web site, readers of the Coal Valley News have not lost their faith, or trust, in the Madison Fire Department despite the arrests of three of its volunteer firefighters.

Rather, the most current poll results show that 85% of those Coal Valley News readers who opted to cast their opinion in our poll indicated they still had faith in the local volunteer fire department.

Newspapers understand that by asking readers to participate in polls, it might offend some readers. Just asking this last week’s poll question- at all - was seen by some Coal Valley News readers as a concentrated effort to somehow malign the volunteer fire department.

Indeed, it was not.

Rather, the question of whether community members’ faith, or trust, was shaken as a result of three 19-year-old firefighters being charged with arson was a valid question – a question that Fire Chief Jim Lambert, answered in his own way when he appealed to the community that “the betrayal of the public trust and the endangering of the lives of the occupants of the building and their fellow firefighters and emergency responders is unfathomable…”

Lambert having said that, this journalist was curious – had this one incident done THAT much damage to destroy the public’s faith in a fire department where just one year ago (almost to the date) former U.S. President Bill Clinton gave a rallying speech for his campaigning wife?

Overwhelmingly, the community responded that no, their faith in their local volunteer fire department remained steadfast. Readers can learn more about the poll in this issue of the Coal Valley News and read comments about the poll in our Letters to the Editor section of the newspaper.

Also, this week we bring you images from the 2009 Relay for Life event, where HOPE was kindled.

An impressive number of participants (three times the number from last year) gathered to remember those loved ones who have died of cancer and to celebrate the lives of the survivors among us.

Indeed, the Boone County community has shown that in the end, the greatest of virtues is love.