AMERICUS — It’s (not just) the economy

While we certainly understand that a depressed economy makes people depressed, we also are not ashamed of telling it like it is.

The recent news of Cooper Lighting’s plan to move about half its jobs to Mexico over the next 18 months is a slap in the face to a community that already has a high rate of unemployment, hovering around 13 percent. Those 200-plus people being displaced at Cooper will be flooding the already-poor job market, which leaves even less hope for those already jobless for many months and seeking gainful employment. Most decent people don’t enjoy sitting idle and drawing unemployment; they want to become self-sufficient.

These are cold, hard facts.

The general consensus among those who think about and discuss such issues as joblessness and the morbid economic outlook often ask: “Why are we not getting any new business and industry to our area?”

We understand perfectly that the powers that be, those whose work is economic development (and ours is, too, because when people don’t work and spend, it impacts our business, as well), are required to maintain confidentiality in discussions with potential industrialists considering a move here. It’s the nature of the beast. Economic development is a complex subject, and whether people realize it or not, we are all involved in it one way or another.

Without an excellent public school system, no industry wants to locate here. Without adequate health care facilities, who wants to move to Americus and Sumter County? How about quality of life values such as recreation opportunities, retirement communities, a vital civic environment? We’re all involved. We’re fortunate to have an excellent public school system here in Sumter County and with a new Phoebe Sumter Medical Center complex under construction, the future looks brighter every day. But we can’t afford to bide our time until its completion.

What really gets our goat is to overhear someone saying, “I don’t think it’s fair for me to have to pay school taxes. I’m retired; I don’t have any children in the public schools now. What we need is more jobs here.”

OK, look at it this way: Without an excellent public school system, again, no one will come, so there won’t be any new jobs. It’s a synergistic relationship. Stop bad mouthing your community; that’s a great place to start.

OK, so everyone has an opinion and they are certainly entitled to it, but when you feel the need to kill the messenger of bad tidings, stop and think for a minute. Would you rather NOT know what’s happening in your community? Would you rather everything be sugar coated and happy-happy/fake-fake or a Big Secret? We didn’t think so.

And that’s why we publish all the news, as the newspaper of record. We devote thousands of column inches each year to news about our educational institutions: public schools, private schools, South Georgia Technical College, Georgia Southwestern State University, homeschools and others. We celebrate the good news such as the groundbreaking of the new intermodal port in Cordele, the opening of any new business, the grants our local governments and institutions receives, etc. It’s all there; just read it. But we also include the other things going on in our community: the crime, the accidents, the people stories, etc.

 We don’t apologize for bringing the news — the good, the bad or  the ugly — because that’s our job. If you agree or disagree, please write a letter, a letter without charts and graphs, just a letter, and include your name, physical address and phone number, and we will publish your opinion.

We believe that most of the fear that creeps into the minds of people occurs when they feel out of the loop and uninformed, left in the dark. They ask over and over: “What’s being done to bring jobs to Sumter County?”

While we understand that confidentiality is of utmost importance in negotiations, we also gladly offer space for the powers that be — the City, the County, the Payroll Development Authority, the Chamber of Commerce , others — to submit columns informing taxpayers of what’s going on for the betterment of our community. The PDA needn’t divulge any confidential information; just tell the public that something is being done in the way of attracting new business and industry, and subsequently jobs, to our community.

The lack of jobs might well be due to a slumping economy, but tell us, in general terms, what is being done behind the scenes. You needn’t name names. Just let the public know something is being done.

Transparency will go a long way in improving your image in the public’s eye; it might help to quell some fears, and who knows? It might even attract industry.