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Please don’t put your faith in a groundhog’s supposed ability to forecast the weather. Even though Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow the other day — how does anyone know? — that really isn’t a guarantee of an early spring, no matter how much we wish for it. True, the weather has been unseasonably warm so far this week, but you know how things change here with little to no warning.

Instead, we turn your attention to a definite spring event: The ninth annual Child Abuse Prevention Golf Tournament, which is sponsored by the Joyner Gray Yale Ruritan Club and Southampton County’s Department of Social Services. As indicated, the money raised will go toward programs that will support prevention of child abuse.

That activity — mark this on your calendar now — is scheduled for Saturday, April 4, in the Cypress Cove Country Club in Franklin. For details about signups, etc., contact Michelle Stivers at 556-2623 or 653-3122.

That said, we note that the event will be at the golf course of the country club that has had many a county and city resident fuming for the past few years. For the uninitiated, Southampton County’s Board of Supervisors agreed a ways back to give some money to help the club financially. In turn, the golf course became available for non-members at a reduced rate. Many have objected to the practice and cried, “Subsidy!”

We suggest here and now, though, that the future tournament is another example of how the golf course is an asset, and not just to the well-off in Western Tidewater. The site enables groups such as Social Services to raise needed money for its programs. Bake sales can take a cause only so far.

We also encourage many of you who golf to get behind this and other fundraisers that use the relatively few facilities this region offers.