Happy Valley has had its share of sorrow, but the recent tragedy has shaken the small community again. The loss of an entire family in a small community has to disturb everyone, whether or not they personally knew them. Most of us know and accept that violence is part of life, but when there’s a large-scale dose of it in your backyard, it seems beyond comprehension.

The fact that a child was a victim makes it even more sorrowful. Teachers and staff at Happy Valley Elementary School are doing everything they can to help the victim’s classmates cope with what’s happened. But parents, families and community members will also have to work diligently to help their children through this and to learn from the experience.

The answers about who and why may be long in coming and when they do, it’s possible they may not provide the comfort sought by the community. Let’s hope questions are resolved quickly and Happy Valley can begin to heal.

Ironically, a few days after the Happy Valley fire, the Firefighter of the Year awards were made at the Redding Exchange Club’s third annual event. It was a timely tribute to the men and women in Shasta County who serve us in so many ways. If you read our fire reports for the Cottonwood and Anderson Fire Protection districts, you’ll see that fighting fires is actually the smaller percentage of calls — most calls are medical in nature. The firefighter’s role has become much more complex over recent years and fire districts and departments need our support, financially and otherwise, for the training and services they provide. The Happy Valley Fire District should especially be thanked and acknowledged for the very difficult job they had to do earlier in the week.

A well-attended and colorful opening of the Sikh Centre last Friday ended the week on a high note. After suffering a vandalist’s damage in March, the Centre met its deadline and celebrated the achievement by inviting the public to their ceremonies and a delectable feast afterward. The vandalism incident probably drew more public attention to the Centre than had it gone unscathed, but as a result, I’ll bet that people learned something about the Sikh religion and have met a few new neighbors.

It’s been an uncommon week of highs and lows and surely South County has been deeply changed. How the effect ripples into the future is the next story.