Pauls Ponderings - January 10, 2008

There’s an old saying that goes “You can’t see the forest for the trees,” which I’ve always loosely interpreted as meaning that if you’re looking too closely at just one part of something, you can’t see the overall picture.
That’s kind of the way I was a week or so ago when I started working on the article in today’s issue about a lot of the major projects and developments that will be going on in our city and county this year. I realized that there is going to be a lot happening this year, but until I actually sat down and started making a list, I didn’t fully comprehend just how many things will be either started, completed or be somewhere in between over the next 12 months. It’s a tremendous amount, and most of the projects will not only have an immediate impact, but will also continue to benefit us in many different ways for many years to come.
I think most of us would agree that getting the bypass completed and opened so that traffic congestion will be alleviated and we can travel from one part of town to another in a relative short period of time is one of, if not the,  most significant things that will happen, either later this year or early next year. Not only will the bypass help with the traffic problems, but it will also lead to considerable new development, which in turn will lead to many new jobs.
The completion of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter will also have a major impact on our community in more ways than one. First off, it will bring in a couple hundred or so new jobs which we direly need. Secondly, a lot of people won’t have to go out of town to shop as they do now, meaning that more of our money will be spent locally, and even if a lot of it is going to a giant corporation, some of its going to trickle down here. Thirdly, the new Wal-Mart, along with other new businesses that will open up around it will attract more out of town folks to come here and shop. These folks will not only shop at Wal-Mart, but at other businesses, eat at our restaurants, buy gas (if our prices ever come down to what they are in surrounding towns) and other things. From the comments I’ve heard from people who have talked to folks in some of the surrounding counties, these folks are about as excited as we are for all of our new businesses to get opened up.
The expansion of Westlake Regional Hospital is something else that is going to have a very significant and long-range impact on our community. A larger hospital will be able to provide better services, and should be able to attract specialists whom a lot of us must now go out of town to see. Plus, the expansion should also add more jobs.
I could go on and on, but I’d just be repeating a lot of what is in the other article. But, after so many years of stagnation, of seeing very little of any great significance happen in our town and  county, I’m of the same opinion of many others I’ve talked to, all who have said “It’s an exciting time to live in Columbia and Adair County right now.” And truly it is.

Speaking of our high gasoline prices, Mayor Pat Bell gave a brief update on his quest to try to find out why we always have to pay more than folks in neighboring counties at Monday night’s city council meeting, and it wasn’t too encouraging. (Although I don’t think too many people were holding their breath until we get an answer.)
Mayor Bell sent a letter to the major suppliers of gasoline to the places that sell it in our fair city (all but one place that sell gas are parts of chains that numerous locations) asking them if they charged the retail outlets here the same price for gas as they did similar outlets in other towns.
Mayor Bell said that he has received two replies, and neither came out with anywhere near a straight answer to his question. “They more or less beat around the bush,” he said, saying the price gas is sold for is based primarily on what their competition’s price is. If that’s the case, it sounds like a conspiracy to me (something I’ve always thought). The gas companies, and the retail outlet owners, are going to bleed us for every dime they can.
Mayor Bell said that they are considering buying their own tanks and pumps to provide fuel for city vehicles, and may discuss it with county officials to see they might do some type of joint venture thing. I suggested that the city and county go into the gas business and put in pumps so they could sell it to everyone. They could make a profit to enrich the city’s and county’s cofers, and at the same time save us regular citizens a lot of money too.