Who says newspapers only print bad news? Seems to us that The Pilot's front pages have been running over with good news lately - enough to justify another departure from our usual custom of publishing a short "Birdies and Bogeys" collection at the bottom of this space.

This time, here's a whole column of Birdies - and not a Bogey among them.

Birdie: By Moore County - which, for the second year in a row, has won the Digital County Survey Award by placing in the top 10 digital counties in the whole nation. We ranked seventh among counties with a population under 150,000, according to the National Association of Counties.

"Last year's award was the first time the county had won anything at all related to technology," said Darlene Yudell, who has served as the county's director of information technology since 2008. "But this year's award was even more special."

Sure sounds like it. Once can be a lucky fluke. Twice in a row definitely shows you're doing something extraordinarily well - in this case, staying so consistently on the cutting edge of information technology that you have other IT types frequently seeking your advice.

Yudell and her associates deserve to take a digital bow.

Birdie: By that impressive Moore County (and regional) institution known as Carolina Eye Associates, which is now embarking on an ambitious expansion to add parking and expand its clinic and ambulatory surgery center.

Anyone who has been a patient at that center on Midland Road can tell you that it (1) operates at major efficiency and (2) almost always seems to be bursting at the seams. It draws patients from all over and runs them through its medical processes with dispatch. But it clearly needs to spread out some, so this growth plan is welcome news.

Birdie: By Mayor Lonnie English, Fire Chief Jarius Garner and the host of others before them who have now brought to fruition a long-held dream: the construction of a new fire station for the town of Robbins.

Ground was officially broken for the new facility Thursday morning - first day of 2012 Farmers Day festivities. The station is something the firefighters in the town's volunteer fire department have needed for years.

We hope the project, which involves the moving of 8,000 cubic yards of earth to flatten the top of a small hill, goes smoothly. Here's a tip of the fire hat to all those who made possible this advance, which is sure to enhance the efficiency of these lifesaving volunteers.

Birdie: By the Moore County Literacy Council, for taking steps to move its busy but cramped "Read Moore Center" to more spacious digs.

Though the council isn't moving far, just next door to its current location on Broad Street in downtown Southern Pines, the new two-suite space will provide at least five study rooms to provide privacy for tutors and students. There will also be a storage annex and more room for staff offices, volunteer training and child care for single parents during their tutoring sessions.

"We can just spread out," says the council's hard-working and dedicated executive director, Susan Sherard. Anything that can help this praiseworthy community organization perform even better has got to be a good idea.

Keep up the good work, literacy leaders.