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February 21, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener The article below first appeared on February 21, 1978. Topics included the cost of Kentucky's dependence on coal for electricity, the dogwood project, a junket to Frankfort, the story of Lakeland Apparel, and how local investments raise the Gross County Product. --Pen By Ed Waggener Kentucky's Ace in the hole? I don't like to go to bed angry, but I did this week when I discovered a $67 fuel adjustment charge on my home electricity bill and after I heard, again that day, that the coal strike is far from over. I wonder, and you wonder, what we'll do if the coal runs out at the generating plant before the coal strike is over. Will the utility company, in whom we have entrusted all our dependence for electrical power, come up with an alternate source? Or will the plants close up, the lights go off, and our houses turn cold while the utility companies tell us to blame the coal miners? And to think, we're in this precarious position and we don't even have buried electrical lines! I'm reminded of the old comic book strip in which everybody was hiring somebody else to do their worrying for them. Of course it didn't work. And it's not working for us. We don't know whether or not the utilities will be able to come through with life-sustaining power, even though, years ago, we decided to let them do the power-worrying for us. And we worried about the possible perfidy of the Arabs and their oil! Shoot, you could buy camel chips for heat all during the so-called oil crisis. But coal now is mighty hard to get. Is coal really "Kentucky's Ace in the Hole?" Or is it "Kentucky's Kick in the Ass?" No need for police Wednesday Senator Doug Moseley tried to get Patrolman and former Police Chief Tim Hardwick to go on the Senator's tour to Frankfort Wednesday. Hardwick told Moseley that he was on duty that day. "Oh," Moseley said, "don't worry about that. Nothing will happen in Columbia that day. All the crooks will be on the bus." der Burgermeister won't like that Der Burgermeister, Coy Downey, won't like being called a crook, nor will the rest of us who board the Senator's bus for Frankfort on Wednesday. Downey is almost certain to go on the tour and that means that it will be anything but dull. Seats on the bus are on a first come, first served basis. Dogwood meeting tonight Mayor Downey's pet program, the Dogwood Project, is moving along. A special Dogwood Committee Meeting is to be held tonight (Tuesday), at 7:00 p.m. at the County Extension Office on the Square. If you want to get in on the Dogwoods this year, contact the newspaper office today. Tell Marie Finn the number of dogwoods you want and the price you are willing to pay. Momentum in the Dogwood Project has been picking up. It looks as though it is another Columbia Success Story. The community is getting used to success now. It no longer scares us. It's getting harder to stop progress There was a time when progress was easy to stop. "You boys can't do that," was the old cry, and it once scared "the boys" who wanted to take positive steps for Columbia. That's the story on Columbia's newest industry, Lakeland Apparel. As with the long list of potential Columbia industries, this one was almost stopped cold, locally, but the backers just didn't believe that they ought to take no for an answer. Actually, even before they got their local "no," they made other plans. Yesterday, a well-coordinated plan to get machines to Columbia, a heating system in the factory, and remodeling on the Durham building started. Applications were taken yesterday in the county employment office. By early March, the plant should be underway. The payroll will mean $250,000 more a year for Columbia. That money will go into Columbia stores, into new Columbia building, into Columbia restaurants. It will pay Columbia and Adair County taxes. It will buy newspapers. And pay for new cars Columbians buy. And yes, some of that payroll will go into Columbia financial institutions. They've been told why it won't work As usual, the management of the plant, headed by Don Moss, State Farm Insurance Agent, and Roscoe McKamey, have been told why their project won't work. Ordinarily, that would have stopped the backers. It has in the past. It did two years ago when a prospective employer in the needlecrafts industry tried to locate here, I'm told on good authority. It's high hopes In the days of Camelot, when President Kennedy's group raised high hopes, we thought there would be a better day. You know, we've done a lot better that we would have if the young president had said, "Hang it all up. The United States is going to Hell in a Hack. There's no use wanting anything any better." For too long, Columbia has had the pessimists in charge, telling our people, "It is no use. Either take it like it is or hang it up. Curse God and die." Until a decade ago, too many people listened. True, there were the major exceptions, those giants of Adair County Commerce who could have prospered on the rockiest grounds. They made it. After a briefly remembered vow for many, that they would change things when they got the chance. Those who would have made it, but needed a little encouragement, had to leave for other towns, for other cities, with their only Adair County hopes being that they might come back to live their last decade and be buried here. That past is a sorry commentary on us as a people. It's changing now Things are changing now. No longer can a willful little group of men, who already have their own fortunes made, stop the dreamers, the builders, the doers of the coming generation. But today, if you have guts and want to make it, remember this: The Mayor won't stop you. And he wouldn't want to. The County Judge won't stop you. And he wouldn't want to. The Fiscal Court won't stop you. They want the county to grow. The Town Council won't stop you. They want Columbia to prosper. The Schools won't stop you. They want a future for the children. The Hospital won't stop you. The management needs progress. And financing institutions encompass more than a single group. There is more than one waterhole in the desert. One of them can't stop you. If I have one hope for this community, this county, it is that we learn - hopefully this year - that Adair County needs to return its capital to work for the community. We need all the capital strength we can muster to raise the Gross County Product - to provide jobs, prosperity, and security. And a better prospect for the 1978 graduates of Adair County High and Lindsey Wilson College than a one-way ticket to Chicago. See also: Photo: Lakeland Apparel ca early 1980s This story was posted on 2020-02-16 12:30:34
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Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Around Adair with Ed Waggener:
February 18, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener January 13, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener January 17, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener January 7, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener January 3, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener January 24, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener January 14, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener November 18, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener February 7, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener December 3, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener View even more articles in topic Around Adair with Ed Waggener |
 
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