Jobs are scarce and the value of houses is falling, but the sight of the steel framework of the new Hill’s Pet Nutrition plant rising against the sky on the east side of Emporia is enough to infect even the most confirmed pessimist with a germ of optimism.
Completion of the Hill’s plant, which had been on hold after the contractor got into legal troubles, will not solve all of the economic problems of Emporia and its residents, but it will make a difference for a sizeable number of people.
The agreement Hill’s made with the city says the plant will be working by the end of the year and will have hired at least 100 people. After the body blows delivered to the community by the closing of Modine Manufacturing and layoffs at Tyson, the creation of 100 new jobs with good pay seems like a shower of blessings.
Over the years, the national economy has soared and plunged like a roller coaster. All Emporia and other communities can do is hold on for the ride. But it is the nature of roller coasters to go up after they come down. All of our national experience says that bad times always get better.
Just as good times have their own problems, bad times are never wholly bad. The unemployment rate is rising, but most people still have jobs. Some companies are cutting back or failing, but others continue to prosper.
And out on the east side of Emporia, steel columns are being raised in a gesture of confidence in the national economy and confidence in Emporia.
If you want to know what hope looks like, go out to Weaver Street and see.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor