The Dixie Boys World Series has ended and young men from around the southeast made their trips back home and back to school as they work hard on their futures.

First of all, we need to congratulate the players and coaches from our hometown Newton team who showed plenty of heart and hustle in making a surprising run to the finals. They would lose to Georgia, but there was no shame in that, and the result reminded us of those gold-silver medal finishes we root for in Olympics for the U.S. team.

We would also like to thank the local merchants and organizations and Main Street Covington for the red carpet rolled out for our visitors.

Tommy Hailey and his recreation crew did a great job of organizing and preparing for our visitors.

We also need to recognize the value of the free publicity earned by having the World Series here, as our coverage of the series was picked up by every team's local newspaper or media outlet. This type of positive publicity for and about Newton County is a major win for all of us.