Jul. 25--Brief opinions about events of the past week:

Merit: For a judge who ordered the state to give a whistleblower his job back. That's exactly how it's supposed to work.

Wake Superior Court Judge Howard Manning told the state's Division of Motor Vehicles to put Jeffrey Brown back on the job, with $70,000 in back pay. Brown, a former license examiner in the DMV's New Bern office, was fired when he complained about a DMV policy that might be allowing illegal immigrants to get valid drivers' licenses.

We hope the decision encourages more government employees to stand up to supervisors when a policy is clearly wrong.

Demerit: For Sen. Charlie Albertson from Duplin County, who is trying to bar the Environmental Management Commission from making large-scale hog farmers test streams on their property for pollution. Albertson wants to stop the commission from requiring big livestock operations to monitor streams that run through their waste sprayfields.

Albertson, whose district includes many large hog farms, would bar the commission from making any new rules for two years. That is horrendous, irresponsible policy that disregards a serious public-health concern.

We hope the rest of the Senate will take a more enlightened stance.

Merit: For people around the country who continue to send cards and letters of condolence to staff and residents of a Carthage nursing home where a gunman killed eight people in March.

Some groups have raised money for the former Pinelake Health and Rehabilitation Center, which has been renamed Peak Resources Pinelake. The money is going to a victims fund. Others are sending cards or donating plants to a memorial garden that's in the works.

The continued response to the tragedy is heartwarming and a testimonial that there are still plenty of angels walking among us.

Demerit: For former N.C. first lady Mary Easley, who this week started a formal grievance proceeding over the loss of her $170,000-a-year job at N.C. State University.

The university ended her work contract in June, after investigations into her appointment to the cushy position resulted in the university's chancellor, provost and chairman of the board of trustees stepping down from their jobs.

Isn't that enough damage to a great university?

Merit: For the many Fayetteville residents who will, we're confident, soon step forward to offer their services to the city. The city's staff reports more than 50 openings for people to serve on 22 boards and commissions.

The openings pretty much span the alphabet, from the Airport Commission to the Zoning Commission.

Information about the boards, and applications to serve, are available on the city's Web site: www.ci.fayetteville.nc.us.

Merit: For the city of Sanford, which was named one of the nation's 93 "Playful City USA" communities by KaBOOM!, a nonprofit group that supports recreational opportunities for children.

Sanford was cited for its network of "pocket parks" that provide play areas in neighborhoods, and for recreational programs at low-income housing sites.

Recreation is an important quality-of-life measure, and towns throughout the Cape Fear region would do well to emulate what Sanford is doing.

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