That knock at your door last Thursday evening was my fault.

You see, some of our department managers at The Tribune recently said, "Why don't we all group up in teams and see who can sell the most subscriptions?"

Yours truly said, "Sure, I'm in."

And a week later, we fanned out and started knocking on doors, with newspapers in hand.

In the end, it was a good experience. We drew names to know what area we'd cover and with whom we'd be partnered. My partner, classified advertising representative Bonita Creger, and I headed down Ninth Street in Ironton.

As we walked, and knocked, we met a number of folks - retirees, businessmen (and their ex-wives) and businesswomen, young and old, too.

But one person really got me thinking. I didn't get his name. But the sign on his front door directed all visitors to enter through the back door. We carefully walked along the small path leading to the backyard until we came to the door.

I knocked. Slowly the resident appeared. We told the man our purpose.

He declined.

"I'm trying to get out of this deadbeat town," he said.

"Really," I said. "Why is that?"

"There ain't nothing going on around here, I'm trying to get out," he said.

"Well, perhaps you can find a good mover in our classifieds section," I replied, half in jest, and half trying to mimic our best advertising salesperson. "Good luck in getting out of here, if that's what you want."

As we walked back out to the street, I couldn't help but think that such attitudes really point to the only thing wrong with Ironton - negativity.

Later that night as I left The Tribune, something made me stop and look at an old front page framed and hanging on the wall. Up in the corner was the Ironton city seal, surrounding the graphic are the words: Industrial, Invincible, Ironton.

What a slogan, huh? It makes you think of a big, strong, confident community. The word invincible conjures up images of superheroes and massive armies.

"So what happened?" I thought as I rode home, down Third Street, passing the sites of Ironton's former industrial greatness, vacant buildings and abandoned houses.

How did blight and negativity tarnish once mighty Ironton?

More important, what can we do to correct this?

First, perhaps we should have a citywide publicity campaign to educate all of the folks in town - or in the entire county, for that matter.

The first lesson: The best part about the roads leading into Ironton and Lawrence County is that they all lead out as well. If you don't want to be here and be a contributing part of the community, leave. We'll be happy to provide you with directions.

Next, form a community preservation board; give them the authority to enforce city ordinances to help clean up abandoned and vacant property. Perhaps the citizens can do what government seems to struggle with.

Then, let's work on a new slogan for the city.

My suggestion:

Impressive, Invincible, Ironton.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Ironton Tribune. He can be reached at (740) 532-1445 ext. 12 or by e-mail to kevin.cooper@irontontribune.com.