UP — To the Lake Mills volleyball squad.

Great job at state, girls! The volleyball team at Lake Mills High School has been a powerhouse for years, but this year they made the jump to state — for the first time since 2001 — and got to join the eight-best teams in Iowa at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids for a thrilling state tournament. Way to represent the purple and gold and your hometown.

UP — To veterans and Veterans Day programs.

Thanks, veterans of the U.S. armed forces, for your service to this great country. This newspaper salutes you for defending the freedoms we cherish and enjoy. We also want to thank the many veterans organizations and local schools that collaborated to hold programs on the 11th day of the 11th month, some even happened at the 11th hour. And thank you to the dining establishments that gave veterans a free meal on Veterans Day. People sometimes don’t know how much a simple gesture such as “thank you” means to the vets. Combat is a scary place and always a life-altering event. Showing gratitude to vets reminds them that people know these men and women risked their necks for good reasons.

DOWN — To anti-semitism.

The lies that Fox News host Glenn Beck has perpetrated on Jew and Holocaust survivor George Soros are shocking, wrong, false and intolerable. During the Holocaust, Soros’ father bribed an agriculture official to pretend the 14-year-old boy was his godson. The official brought the boy with him while he appraised land confiscated from Jews. Young Soros obviously had no choice. Yet, because of that visit during the war, Beck now claims Soros helped send Jews to their death. Beck’s quote: “Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.” This is part of a continued pattern of anti-semitism from Beck, a Mormon who does not represent his faith well on the air. If Don Imus had to be fired for his racist comments on the radio, Beck needs to go for his anti-semitic portrait of Soros.