Recent news proves it: County almost dried up
Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 8, 2005
Lawrence County is apparently in awful shape. We've been hearing it for years. And now we have the proof.
Economic times have become so poor in the area that a new, state-of-the-art metals company has decided it might as well set up shop in Ironton.
Another apparently struggling group of investors have announced plans to build a multi-million dollar hotel complex near downtown Ironton.
Just down the street from that location the Ironton location of Giovanni's Pizza decided that since the economy was so bad, it might as well build a new building, so that's just what they did.
A number of other retail operations have either recently opened or soon will open throughout the county, apparently just because things are dead here.
Then, late last week, as a coup de grace, officials in Eastern Lawrence County unveiled plans to develop what may eventually become a more than $100 million new planned community along the banks of the Ohio River in the shadow of the Proctorville Bridge.
That's right, the writing is on the wall: Lawrence County is dead. We might as well roll up the carpet and turn off the lights.
Of course, we're being facetious to illustrate a point. The word is finally getting out: Lawrence County is a diamond waiting to be polished.
It was no surprise that Lawrence County was just about the only county in the region to see a population growth during the last census.
The heavy industries may be nearly all relegated to the history books, but make no mistake about it; Lawrence County is anything but history.
Economic investment in the county appears to be a growing tide.
The recent announcements are a testament to much hard word by a number of people: The folks at the chamber of commerce, the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation, the Ironton Port Authority, representatives with the Ironton-Lawrence County CAO, many private investors and all of the elected officials involved, just to name a few.
Each deserves our thanks for not believing the naysayers who constantly say: Lawrence County is dead. Sure, we know better.