Adrian and Lee Bogart's grandson, Andrew Wladyka, is in my class. So when I saw them describing their yellow ribbon campaign on the local CBS News Tuesday evening, I brought my wife's yellow (sewing supplies) ribbon to school on Wednesday. With Principal Martin Malone's approval, I had Andrew and his classmates put yellow ribbons on the tree and stone pillars in front of the Vernon School, as well as on the support posts in the cafeteria.

After school, I went to the Michael Peter Hayes Salon to donate our leftover ribbon to them. They ended up giving me 100 yards of their own ribbon, which was much better than my own because it was brighter, wider and shinier. So on Thursday my class added these to the front of the Vernon School.

Of course these ribbons are being put up in honor of our soldiers, and I think this is a good time (the beginning of the baseball season, and playoffs in basketball and hockey) to remind the children of our community that it's not the athletes they root for (and I'm a big sports fan myself) who should be thought of and called "heroes" - it's people like our soldiers (and, of course, police officers, firefighters, emergency workers, doctors, nurses and other professionals and volunteers who help people) who are true heroes.

Richard Siegelman

Fifth grade teacher

Vernon School