On Sept. 20, the second Heroes Run/Walk will be held on the Greene River Trail to honor two Greene County soldiers who were killed in Iraq.

We are pleased that after the inaugural event last year, the county did not hestitate to go ahead with making this an annual event.

Initially, the idea came about after the commissioners received a petition containing more than 1,600 signatures urging them to rename Murtha Drive, the main access road from Route 21 to the Wal-Mart retail development site after one of the fallen soldiers, Lance Cpl. Steven Phillips of Spraggs, who was killed Feb. 7, 2006.

But singling out one soldier would have raised issues of fairness, since Phillips was not the only Greene County man to have died in Iraq. U.S. Army Spc. Gregory Cox died Sept. 27, 2004, and was the first from the area to die in the war.

The commissioners decided after accepting this petition to work with the Cox and Phillips families to find the best way to honor these young men.

The proceeds from the first race and from this one go toward individual scholarships for higher education on behalf of Phillips and Cox.

We commend the commissioners and the county's parks and recreation department for taking this initiative to give proper recognition of the sacrifices these two men made for their country.

While we understood the intent of the petitioners, we thought then as we do now that this avenue provides a continuing tribute to Phillips and Cox.

Gregory Cox's parents, Mary Anne and John Cox, and sister, Nicole Cox, erected a large granite monument near his grave site at Laurel Point Cemetery in Carmichaels. At the time of the monument dedication, Cox said the monument was a tribute to his son as well as all veterans. And we saluted him for that.

But let the Heroes Run/Walk be a catalyst for veterans organizations countywide, along with U.S. Rep. John Murtha, state Rep. Bill DeWeese and Commissioner Dave Coder, veterans all, to begin thinking about establishing a central honor roll for all veterans, from all wars, and from all parts of the county.

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