Annual report
By Patrick Kelley
Originally published 02:14 p.m., December 31, 2007
Updated 02:14 p.m., December 31, 2007
Saturday's Gazette carried the obligatory look back at the departing year. Like most years, 2007 was a mixed bag in Emporia.
There were, thankfully, no great disasters in the city. Greensburg drew the tornado card this year. Coffeyville and other towns were unfortunate enough to be dealt the flood cards. The big ice storm left great swaths of the state dark and cold, but Emporia, for the most part, was bright and warm. In many ways, the city was lucky.
But Emporia and Lyon County had their losses, and they were deeply felt. Especially painful were the deaths of young people, including David Lane, who was killed in Iraq, and Beau Arndt, who was killed in a snowy field not far from his home.
It is especially sad to see young lives cut short, but Emporia will also miss those who died later whose good lives had become woven into the fabric of the community. The town lost a longtime leader when banker Charles Wayman died, and a vital example of sacrifice and service with the death of Bob Ecklund.
But among the losses were many gains. There will soon be a new Westar Energy plant producing electricity north of the city. In the city, a Hill’s Pet Food and the Renewable Energy Group are building big new plants. There is now a glimmer of hope that, someday, the great scar of graded earth on the west side of town may actually become smooth new roads and grassy shoulders. One day, getting from Point A to Point B will no longer require detours through Points G, Q and Z.
This was the year that Emporia and a couple of its neighbors blew out 150 candles on their community birthday cakes. The celebrations gave people the opportunity to look back across a century and a half and wonder at human persistence. The sesquicentennials also gave people reason to look ahead and consider what could be done to make the future a better place than the present or the past.
That was 2007. As always, the future will begin on schedule — tomorrow. And what that future is like will depend a lot on what we do today.
Have a good New Year’s Eve.