On several nights last week, a small crowd gathered in front of Homero's Restaurant in downtown Marshall.

They were not looking for something to eat. They were there to pay respects to the slain co-owner of the restaurant, Homero Hernandez. The crowd was the same sort of people who ate at the restaurant, people of all types, from those who had known Hernandez only casually, to those who knew him as a brother.

On the sidewalk outside the restaurant were lighted candles in the Latino tradition for those who are suffering or who have died. On the windows were several posters made by well-wishers, one done by a student in both English and Spanish. Many people had signed the posters to give a silent witness that they cared for Hernandez and his family.

We're sure that the posters will remain as treasured items for the family for years to come, proof positive that a community cared.

As tragic as Hernandez' death is — and it tips the scale mightily — it also is another reaffirmation of the kind of place Marshall, Texas is.

And that is a good place. A place where people take you in as one of theirs regardless of your background, where they are there to offer help and support in your time of deepest need. We hope the Hernandez family feels that as we observe it.

Marshall is a place that honors self-reliance and hard work — Middle American virtues — and it is perhaps that drive that led the family to come to the United States in the first place. Homero Hernandez exhibited both of those characteristics and we know his family will continue to do so. They carved for themselves a business in a downtown where, when they began, had few other thriving businesses.

They survived where others failed and they did it with hard work and by providing something people wanted. The restaurant offers quality food and service. It is full almost every day it is open. The Hernandez family has learned how to please its patrons.

Granted amnesty under President Ronald Reagan, the family has worked and lived the American dream and we accept them as one of our own.

And we look forward to the re-opening of the restaurant and of many years of dining there. Homero Hernandez lived a life that deserves to live on in many ways and it is our hope that it will.