This past week, we've had the honor of naming two of our local citizens as Hometown Heroes, a trend we hope continues.

Robert Bradford
Robert Bradford, a junior at Eastside High School, was already on a good path, taking the time to work part-time as a Kroger bag boy in addition to all of his school responsibilities.

But he showed outstanding moral character when he tackled a would-be shoplifter, who punched a female loss prevention associate in the jaw as he attempted to escape the store with a pants full of steaks.

Robert was raised to respect women, and the punch was more than he could bear, so he chased the culprit, tackled him and held him on the ground until the Covington police arrived.

Bradford humbly said he just did what anybody else would have done, but we're not so sure of that, and we want to tell him how proud we are of his actions.

Sylvia Ashong
The other Hometown Hero we actually met a few months ago at a local restaurant with three little children in tow.

We struck up a conversation with Sylvia Ashong and found out she was a foster mother, who was going to adopt the three siblings as soon as she could, in addition to caring her for her 4-year-old granddaughter and mother. We thought that was a truly remarkable story.

Sylvia followed through on her plans last week, adopting Valerie, 4, Ian, 4, and Dyan, 5.

Sylvia is a single woman with a heart as big as anyone we've ever met. When asked why she would take on such an undertaking she said, "They stole my heart."

Sylvia is black and the three adopted children are white, and the difference isn't lost on the children.

"The oldest girl (Dyan) said one day, ‘You're black, I'm white,' and I said, ‘Yeah you're right, you can see, but God loves us all,'" Sylvia says matter of factly.

You only need to be around Sylvia for a few minutes to feel and know she loves her children. And while she says she's no spring chicken, when she's playing with her children she looks vibrantly young to us.

As she said, if she didn't help the children, who would? That's a real hero. Someone who steps up when called and sacrifices part of his or herself in the process.