Good news
Jim Kessler, City commissioner
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
While driving by the ESU campus the other day I couldn’t help but observe all the students crossing the streets and realizing how lucky we are in Emporia to have the university here and all the excitement and buzz of activity that goes along with it. I’ll bet other communities without universities in their town would love to have what we have.
This led me to start thinking about what other great things we have in Emporia and while we certainly have our challenges, we are a lot better off than many and should be thankful for all that we enjoy here.
The recently completed Clean Sweep Emporia project was a huge success and showed what can be accomplished when we all take pride in our community and work together.
Who didn’t swell with pride at all of the Veterans Day activities and the acknowledgement of Emporia as the founding city of veterans day? Through the years, different Emporia High School athletic teams have enjoyed success but who would have imagined the football and soccer teams to have such a great year and show that we can compete with schools from Topeka, Johnson County and Wichita?
Speaking of football, did you see the documentary on ESPN about Charlie Wilks, the blind Emporia high school football player? If that didn’t bring a tear of pride to us Emporians I don’t know what would. Way to go Charlie! There are not enough kind words to express the pride we all have in Clint Bowyer. He is such a class act and has done so much for Emporia, we hope he realizes that we truly appreciate all his generosity and are so proud each time he calls Emporia home.
The economy across the country right now is not good. But have you been out to the new Hills pet food plant being built in Industrial Park No. 3? It is an impressive building and when it’s done Hills will have invested over 100 million dollars in the building and equipment, plus provided over 100 good paying jobs. I’ve had the opportunity to meet several of the new management people from Hills and am very impressed with their excitement and positive attitudes. They are excited to be in Emporia and are going to be great community members.
While you’re out at park No. 3, look over Menu Foods, Camoplast and Norfolk Iron. They, too, are solid citizens of our community providing good quality employment. Again, I’ll bet other communities would love to have these types of industry in their towns.
And what about our other industries in town? Tyson, Dolly Madison, Hopkins, Vektek Detroit Diesel, Glendo and others. They are all going through some pretty tough times right now but continue to provide good jobs and do their best at being good community members. We should be thankful to all businesses in town that provide jobs because there are many communities in Kansas as well as across the country that are suffering from unemployment.
What about the Granada Theatre and the new Emporia Arts Center? Other communities are envious of Emporia for being able to accomplish projects like these. And then there’s the David Traylor Zoo, the Veterans Memorial, Soden’s Grove baseball facility, the golf course, the aquatics center, and all the other nice parks in town. These facilities represent the appreciation for quality of life commitments that make our city better.
I could go on and on about more positive things going on in Emporia. As I said before, sure we also have our challenges, but to me the positive things far outweigh the negative things.
I like living in Emporia, am proud to be called an Emporian, and hope you are too!
gold66801 (anonymous) says...
OH MY GOD PHATT
November 25, 2009 at 2:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
Explain to me how that courthouse is working out to furthur our quality of life? Why did you not mention the fairgrounds in your facilities?
I can understand and even applaud your trying to be positive but I see quite a few empty buildings around town, a declining population and an increasing cost of living, you can shine it up all you like but until this town gets spending under control the positive things you spoke of will soon be outweighed by the negatives.
November 25, 2009 at 2:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
spectator (anonymous) says...
I know the courthouse is still a very sore spot with a lot of folks and I don't like paying for it either but it is, indirectly, helping the agencies housed within to function better. It seems that no matter where I went in the old courthouse, it looked like the people working there were almost in one another's pocket so close were the working conditions. The little rabbit trails between desks, two tiny rat-hole courtrooms in the basement; everything was terrible crowded. Then factor in records & books stacked on the floor or archived in some storage building off-site facility. Remember the old motor vehicle license department where two [three if the staff was available and the patrons were skinny] people could conduct transactions at the same time? That office couldn't function by the time we'd get the computers, clerks and citizens in there. Well, we could, I guess. One clerk, one computer and one citizen at a time. I too like the positive outlook of the article especially today but I too fear for our community.
November 25, 2009 at 5:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
Go to any other town our size and see if they have anything even remotely close.... It was a huge mistake and one we have to pay for dearly as our tax base continues to shrink. I would gladly wait a little longer or be inconvenienced then have to pay for that mistake.
November 26, 2009 at 12:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
UsayULoveGod (anonymous) says...
$25 Million Dollars , WOW !
November 26, 2009 at 4:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )