Motlow expansion best news in years
It was as Wednesday’s newspaper was rolling off the press in the wee hours of Tuesday night that our fine pressroom employees began to make comments about the front page.
This is normal behavior. I usually hear it three times a week, their belly-aching about the stories I place on the front.
I’ve come to expect this grumbling. And, oddly enough, I would probably think something was terribly wrong if the press guys didn’t make derogatory comments about the day’s headlines.
Their idea of a quality story is a meth bust, a car wreck, or a stabbing. Any story of substance about meaningful decisions that impact the entire community are of no use to them.
So you can probably guess I was left to defend Wednesday’s newspaper that featured front-page stories on Motlow College’s expansion, and on congressmen talking to nurserymen about widespread crop insurance changes.
After some back-and-forth bantering, I fired off a comment that went something like this. ‘You mean to tell me you don’t think expanding our local college is a major story? It’s the best thing to happen in McMinnville in the last five years.’
I made the comment off the top of my head in the heat of battle. And since I was talking to the press guys, I made sure not to use many multi-syllable words.
When I glanced at the Standard the next morning and saw the front page, the conversation with the press guys once again came to mind. I really didn’t think about it at the time, but the Motlow College expansion is probably the single best thing to happen to this town in the last five years.
It’s a five-year period marred by the departure of Carrier and A.O. Smith and roughly 2,000 jobs at those two places. Mother Nature has put a financial headlock on area farmers with brutal weather in recent years. And far more businesses are struggling to make ends meet than are thriving. From an economic standpoint, it’s been a largely forgettable time.
From a community standpoint, Gilley Pool opened five years ago and that’s certainly a major positive for McMinnville. The downtown revitalization project has given Main Street new luster and the fountain is a great touch for Court Square.
After those two projects, I don’t know if anything else can come close to approaching the impact of Motlow College’s expansion that will see the local institution more than double in size.
It may seem trite, it may seem clich??, but from a big-picture standpoint there is no substitute for a well-educated community. When our young people take steps to further their education after high school, it only produces positive results. When adults make the effort to go back to school in an attempt to better themselves, it opens the door to better job opportunities.
It’s no secret that the more education a person receives, the more money they earn. A person who drops out of high school, on average, will earn less than a person who completes high school. A person who graduates from a two-year community college, on average, will earn more than someone who only graduates from high school. A person with a PhD will earn more than someone with a master’s degree. You get the point.
That’s why there’s reason to trumpet Motlow’s ongoing expansion. It will allow more people to further their education and begin the road to a more promising future.
It’s not a car wreck and it’s not a meth lab. No, this is different news entirely. It’s news that Warren County is heading toward positive change and I, for one, am glad to see it.
James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].