Middleburg is often thought of as if it were a metropolis: the capital of Northern Virginia's Horse Country, the romantic center of Norman Rockwell America's celebrations of Christmas, Halloween, and other holidays; venue to a world-class film festival; cultural events; museums; a shopping mecca for those with a taste for special things not found anywhere else.

It is, of course, all those things and much much more.

But at the heart of this Middleburg is a small town of 700 or so real residents, with streets, infrastructure, zoning, taxes, snow, a police force, and, if not all the problems of places 10 or 20 times its size.

The "vision" is never completely "new" . . . But at the same time, it is always new. It is an ongoing work, a movable feast to steal a line from Hemingway, that evolves and never loses sight of the goal of preserving what's special about Middleburg without neglecting Council's duty to make the town as beautiful, safe and, yes, modern as it can be.

Producing a unified "vision," committing it to paper and making it available to not only the town's citizens but all Middleburg's friends, fans, and supporters for review and criticism requires a lot of work and no small amount of political courage.

The town and all those who love it should count themselves lucky to have both a Town Council and a Town professional staff that takes their work so seriously.

Critics may not agree with everything done by Council or why or how.

And it is certainly neither the role nor duty of this paper, or any paper, to hand out unearned praise.

It is our duty, however, to give credit where credit is due, especially to men and women who give much, are paid little, and work hard for all of us.

Thanks to all.