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What is this?
‘Weeds’ will choke true growth for our region
Published Saturday, January 2, 2010
Warning: This is bound to be a little controversial. But you won’t be able to say that it isn’t true.
What is Lawrence County’s most prevalent natural resource? Is it coal or iron ore, or maybe timber, natural gas or oil?
That was the case a little over 100 years ago, but not anymore.
Today, our greatest natural resource is an abundance of something totally different. You can find it throughout the county without even digging or reaching for your ax.
This resource is the fuel that feeds our fire and keeps rewarding us with ashes.
What is it?
Weeds.
Weeds crowd out or restrict light to more desirable plants, stealing essential nutrients from the soil. They carry pathogens that substantially threaten the lives of entire crops.
Some even have thorns, whose sole purpose is to cut and injure.
Like a chronic case of botanical cancer, these intruders attempt to appear as though they belong among the mainstream plants; but their main goal is destruction.
Look around the Lawrence County area, especially in the county seat of Ironton. Now, tell me what you see.
I can tell you what I see: backstabbing, bitterness, political maneuvering for personal gain, gossip, and hatred, to name a few things.
Oh, and a whole bunch of people who constantly complain but do absolutely nothing to change anything.
We can fill Tanks Memorial Stadium on any given fall night to collectively support the Fighting Tigers, which, by the way, is our only claim to fame. Take away our football team and what do we have to be proud of?
Outside of the Tigers, how are we known throughout the state and across the Kentucky and West Virginia borders?
How many of those people come here to work?
Isn’t a community a team? Don’t teams work together, especially against stiff competition, to overcome the odds and nail down a victory?
Sadly, we are our own competition. We fight so much amongst ourselves that even those with genuine motives to improve our plight eventually throw their hands up in disgust and turn in their uniforms.
It’s time to stop blaming our elected leaders and playing fifth grade “he said/she said” games via gossip and the Internet. More importantly, it’s time for personal accountability.
It’s time that every individual took it upon themselves to make a positive difference is this community.
Would any business in its right mind locate here amid all of this turmoil and negativity? Are we wishing on a star, hoping for a Fortune 500 corporation to drive by and say, “Hey, this looks like a nice place to do business,” without first doing their homework and studying the local political climate and work force?
Of course not!
But instead of facing our greatest problems, stubbornness, laziness and poisoned political propaganda, and working together as one unit, we continue to walk down a trail that leads to nowhere ... a path filled with weeds.
What kind of message are we sending to our children? Where are they going to live once they grow up?
As it stands now, it’s a good bet that they won’t live here.
But I’m sure we’ll find somebody else to blame for that, too.
Billy Bruce is a freelance writer who lives in Pedro. He can be contacted at hollandkat3@aol.com.
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Comments
Posted by crackerjack (anonymous) on January 3, 2010 at 8:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Billy...you hit the nail on the head. This is a wonderful and well written article! It took gutts to print the truth.
I only disagree with your last sentence which states we will find "somebody to blame" for our children not living here. Who do we blame for the fact there are no jobs for our children and once they move away to attend college they don't return? And what about the ones who don't attend college, what is here for them?
Thank you for addressing the problems that have plagued us for years. I love your articles!!!!
Posted by Philo_Publius (anonymous) on January 3, 2010 at 12:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow, bravo.....philo publius
Posted by eugene (anonymous) on January 3, 2010 at 6:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I remember as a kid growing up on the farm, if we wanted to go swimming or fishing in the summer we had to hoe and weed out the garden first. So are you saying we need to weed out the courthouse before we fill tanks stadium? Wow ! Anybody got a hoe.
Posted by AllTappedOut2 (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 12:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I can only say this...WOW!!! well said!
Posted by randyruggles (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 4:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have to agree,there are a lot of "weeds" in this county, and in among those weeds are quite a lot of "snakes" that are poisining this county!! ( these could be removed easily on election day!! ;)
Posted by nottellin (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 6:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ironton's football team is not the "only" thing this county is known for. I take offense at you talking about Lawrence county to start and then switching to Ironton as if THAT fee laden dung pile is the ONLY thing this county has going for it....
Trust me, Ironton tigers are ONLY known in the tiniest section of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.
Posted by 4victims (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 10:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Very well said, this community is nothing short of a modern day peyton place. Everyone is in the business of sharp tongues and hatred. This community needs a swift, drastic change to gain yardage to the goal line. The officials in this game have taken their eye off of the ball. Election day is important folks. Cannot gripe about politicians if you do not get involved and voice your opinion. Lets make a change and quit struggling to live in the past.
Posted by indieVoter (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 10:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
OK article but not exactly a revelation. Whether it's just people in general or people "around here", a majority of them won't be interested in a story unless it's scandalous. There have been many stories posted here, some with even more specific ideas for improving our situation...
http://www.irontontribune.com/news/2009/...
...but ultimately you see that few people even take enough interest to comment. If you can't even get ten people to comment positively on an idea with potential for positive change, how can you expect any politician to feel compelled to embrace such ideas?
No. Instead, we insist on spitting into the wind and cursing our fate. On the other hand, just look for any article that could be loosely described as containing "some gossip" or at least the potential for gossiping in the comments afterward You'll see many more comments there. In other words, however you want to describe our situation in this community it is NOT due to a lack of creative ideas being presented to the public and it's elected officials.
Posted by Thevoice (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 12:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Great article, too bad that any good changes would never make it anywhere. The local politicians would first look at what they have to gain financially for themselves and when there is nothing, they would send their lap dog cops out to break it up with any little thing that can be written up or lead to court fines
Posted by 4victims (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 1:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Glad to see people catching on. Now it is time we do something about it. What is duh Plan? I am sick of hearing about it. Why did the mayor not do anything about the water leak in the north end of town until four days later? Holiday season and no warning of boiled water advisory. I guess as long as he knew about it, it was good enough for him.
Posted by mikehaney (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 2:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yep, weeds everywhere.
After watching my dad fighting weeds all his life,and me for sixty some years, I've decided to stay out of the weeds.
As long as the weeds stay away from my family, off my property and leave my dog alone, i'm happy.
I've found that the biggest weeds have a very low self esteem and try to put others below them to boost their self image.
Posted by mikehaney (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 2:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Woodbutcher
Hey,maybe that's the problem. Can't cut down the weeds if they're hiding under the snow or behind closed doors.
Posted by crackerjack (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 4:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
indievoter..you talk about people not commenting on things that can improve our situation. Yes, we have articles here and there saying we are getting a new business that might employ nine or ten people. That is all well, good and much needed, but it in no way replaces the jobs that have been lost in the last 30 years. Example - Dayton Malleable, the Coke plant, Wilson's, Cabletron, our hospital for crying out loud. We couldn't even keep Big Lots. We need jobs and we have been hearing we are getting them for years. Every politician's platform is about getting jobs. Sorry if it is hard to get excited over hearsay. Actions speak louder than words. Until we see it we don't believe any longer. Our politicians have lost more jobs than they have ever gained. The weeds just keep growing and we seem to replace them with worse weeds than we had before. It's hard to tell a good weed from a bad weed. They all end up being the same.
Posted by Stunney (anonymous) on January 4, 2010 at 10:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Great article Billy! Love to hear the truth. Have you ever thought of running for a seat in the city? You would be a good one. We could bring back Rick Meeks too! I'll help both of you compaign. Yes, you know who this is!
Posted by indieVoter (anonymous) on January 5, 2010 at 1:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
crackerjack - I'm just saying that more people comment on articles like the most wanted list than they do on articles with ideas for improving the community, like the one in the link I posted above.
Posted by indieVoter (anonymous) on January 5, 2010 at 1:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Just out of curiosity, would you say people are more interested in electing officials that really would shake things up and get many of the things you want done or, on the other hand, are people more interested in electing officials with a good "pedigree"?
Posted by Rose (anonymous) on January 18, 2010 at 6:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
When looking at corruption, I may see a man that you have called a saint. Who is right? How do you know? What if we are wrong? Is the answer worth $50.00? :)
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