Looking back at 2007
This time of year, there is no shortage of time spent looking back at the previous 12 months.
It's as much a part of the new year as resolving to exercise or visit your neighbors more often.
Newspapers dedicate much ink and paging to the practice, the News-Topic offered its comprehensive “Year in Review” in the Jan. 1 edition, while television stations and news Web sites dedicate airtime to reliving those highlights and low points of the last 365 days.
Caldwell County had no shortage of low points. We saw more factories and businesses close, people of all ages losing their lives on the local roads, the deaths of local leaders and heroes, and still more questions than answers in the death of Emily Anderson.
I'll say no more about the things that make us shake our head in disgust or sympathy, as there are countless reminders of them every day (see tax increase yard signs and billboards).
For the first time in several years, however, I believe that Caldwell County has had far more good news than bad. Before you say “here he goes again, being a ‘homer'...,” please hear me out.
We are home to a state champion baseball team in South Caldwell High School, one of our newest schools (the Early College) is ranked second in the state after its first year, our Career Center produced a national championship trades team, our downtowns are coming back to life and there are various new commercial and residential developments taking shape. But the biggest positive news in 2007 was definitely economic.
Are we all better off than we were 12 months ago? That's a hard question to answer, but for the most part most Caldwell County residents would probably say they are about the same. We're still paying way too much for gas, our taxes are higher and if you're like me, you have less hair on your head and more girth around your belly. But I still consider myself blessed, as I'm sure most local residents would agree.
But the more important question, and the one that I think would get a resounding yes from most in Caldwell County, is: Do we have more opportunities today than 12 months ago?
I still hear many people criticizing the arrival of Google. As recently as two weeks ago I spoke with a senior resident of Caldwell County who just couldn't understand why our leaders would want to bring high-tech jobs here when we're all factory workers. Out of respect for an elder, I did not argue, but I'm in total disagreement.
We do not need “jobs” in Caldwell County. We need “new jobs” from “new industries.” That's what Google, and some of the other major jobs announcements of 2007, means to Caldwell County. It represents the dawning of a new age here. An age in which Caldwell County has the potential to be more than just a blue collar worker factory. That's not to say we won't continue to be a good place for blue collar jobs. Due to the loss of furniture jobs, we have a surplus of factory workers, but unfortunately there is a short supply of those kinds of jobs outside Southeast Asia.
So are the jobs that were created in 2007 a cure-all for what ails Caldwell County? By no means. Several hundred jobs, no matter who is offering them, will never replace several thousand jobs. But we did see some fantastic opportunities for the future as several new industries such as VX Aerospace, Vantage Foods and of course Google.
Now that 2008 is here, it's time to bid goodbye to the past and start looking ahead to the future. You may want to wear shades though - it's brighter than ever.
Edward Terry
Editor