If only we ...
Sure, they’re successful, they ...
It’s no wonder people go there, you can ...
Go ahead.
Fill in the blanks.
Many of us have been doing it for ages.
Finding the reasons that other towns seem to show signs of growth and success.
It’s really an easy thing to do from the outside.
You just ignore the challenges that another community faces and focus in on the bright spot, throw in some envy, a dash of greed and you’re on your way to successfully finding everything that is wrong at home while you ignore what others have to face.
However, it’s a no-win scenario and it’s not really honest, either.
Because we do have our share of successes here, whether we pay attention to them or not.
They certainly are seen by outsiders.
A couple of examples:
The continuing work on the west side of the Barton County Courthouse.
Thanks to years of effort and fund raising by the Jack Kilby Committee, this major addition to our downtown is being accomplished at no cost to taxpayers. Let’s face it. You don’t see that very often.
Tax dollars have been involved in the 20-plus years of planning and incredible effort that has gone into improving our highway system, and that effort is underway again, and it’s drawing positive attention to this community in the process.
The good turnout at the recent KDOT meetings makes it clear that Great Bend and Barton County are at the forefront of the effort to improve the K-96 corridor between here and Hutchinson.
The local officials who have been working with state officials for the past couple of decades continue to bring positive attention to this community.
That’s just two current examples.
And don’t for one moment fool yourselves into thinking these and other local successes aren’t noticed by other communities around the state.
Do we still have challenges?
Certainly. So does every other community.
But we also have our successes and we need to recognize them more often.
— Chuck Smith