Jones County is a great place to live.  We are blessed with so many positive things and so many good people.  We have beauty and brains too.  Let’s work hard to use the right people to get the right things done in our County that will raise us up to levels of employment and income that exceed any other county in our state. 

To me, a County like ours that has two Billion Dollar employers, an institution with more college freshman enrolled than any other, cultural gems like the Lauren Rogers Museum and the Laurel Little Theater, fun recreational facilities like the Sportsplex, the Laurel County Club, the Desoto National Forest, Lake Bogue Homa, 21st century industrial parks, an Interstate, two US highways, four major state highways, national passenger and shipping rail service, is the hub of oil field activity in the 7th largest producing state is some fine place to call home.  What all that means is that we live in a place where the winters are mild, where decent paying jobs exist and where we can enjoy our free time raising our  family the way we want.

I say we can do better.  To make Jones County better, we want to find ways to help Ellisville get the resources that a growing town needs to grow properly and be the prettiest, cleanest, busiest, close nit town anywhere, we want to find ways to get downtown Laurel full of busy people who are all working, shopping, dining, and living in a fun, up-beat, safe environment, we want to free those people in our county who are trapped in poverty by being able to supply those services they need to get on their feet, we want to provide the finest educational system anywhere and offer our children, who are as smart as any children anywhere, a chance to learn skills that will give them opportunities to stay home and not leave for places where there are more and better offerings.  

The list goes on since good people always are seeking good things for their communities. How are all these things accomplished? 

Let’s think about this idea. How do we get the right people in the right places to work on the right problems in the right ways?  Everything about communities sooner or later gets around to politics.  I have mine, and you have yours. I am good with that.  I know that opinions create horse races and football games.

We just have to make sure that our opinions are based on fact and sound thinking, not emotions and outdated traditions. Now we have come to the point of this commentary. 

In Jones County and in each of its municipalities, we have elected good people that are there to lead us toward having a better place to live.  I know many of them personally, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that each and every one of them seeks to do the best job they can and do their part to make our home even better than it is.

Let’s ask those leaders to be very careful when they hire people to important positions and appoint people to committees, boards, and task forces, to be very careful that they choose the RIGHT people for the post.  They must hire and appoint only the RIGHT person for the job.  Appoint the ones who KNOW and UNDERSTAND the task set before them.  Those nedd to be ones with true experience. Then we will be on the RIGHT road.

Ø  Imagine having the right persons seeking funding for an important project. 

Ø  Imagine having the right persons at the Board table who have the right experience to understand the complexities and challenges our hired professionals face.

Ø  Imagine the right persons deciding on the right courses to take when seeking solutions to any problem. 

Imagine our leaders taking the time to ask some experts in a particular field of study, who is the “Right” person to hire or appoint to a post.  Let’s do it today.