It's time for community to look its best (05/16/08)

Sometimes it's easy to fall behind.

You have a busy Saturday, jam-packed with events with family and friends. It rains all day Sunday, and Monday is still muddy and soggy.

So by the time 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday rolls around, everyone in the neighborhood has fired up lawnmowers simultaneously.

That's pretty much what happened in the wake of Mother's Day all over Jay County.

Seldom have so many mowed so much at just the same time.

The important thing, of course, is that folks mowed.

That's the simplest thing all of us can do in the summertime to keep our community looking its best.

It's the easiest way to express our civic pride and our sense of self-respect.

But it's not the only way.

City officials will tell you that they are constantly dealing with problems that - in a more perfect world - they would never encounter: Lots allowed to turn into fields of weeds, junk cars, abandoned properties.

Chances are, you've encountered those eyesores too.

And chances are, you've wondered now and then how this community is perceived by newcomers and visitors. In some neighborhoods, most of the time, the image we present is great.

At other times and in other neighborhoods, we look pretty darned shabby.

Those are the times that the city's code enforcement officer gets involved and city council members start hearing complaints.

Instances like that are probably inevitable, but we'd like to see the community dedicate itself to making them as rare as possible.

For years, the Jay County Fair Board used the notion of "company's coming" as a way to motivate ongoing improvements at the county fairgrounds.

The same concept - always keeping in mind how we look to vistors and company coming to town - ought to spur a similar effort on every street in every neighborhood every day. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]