Community Investment

Another busy week in the DDD newsroom.

Quite a bit was going on. It’s election time again.

It’s always enjoyable for me to meet and interview local candidates.

They all have varying ideas on how to improve our towns and schools.

One common theme they all share is the spirit of community.

Specifically, investing in our community. For any place to grow, the people must be vested in their communities.

Speaking of investments, the Bootheel Regional Hospital team held a public information, question and answer event at the Ely Baptist Church on Thursday night.

To say it was sparsely attended would be an understatement.

Granted, it was offered as a Facebook Live event as well, but it would have been nice to see better attendance.

The pews were empty, save for a handful of us, with only one councilman in attendance.

There has been much controversy over this venture. I would have thought it would have been a good opportunity for those opposed to this particular funding group to show up and ask pertinent questions regarding their doubts and fears.

The beginning of the presentation was basically a review of the vision for the hospital and some information on the construction timeline.

The highlight for me was when Monica Tulley, from the Billionaires Funding Group, spoke on the opposition to this particular hospital project and the plea from long-time Kennett resident and businessman Keith Mitchell to get behind it.

Like it or love it, for it or opposed to it, fearful or hopeful, didn’t matter to me, I just would have liked to have seen a packed house.

Healthcare is such an important component for an area to not only thrive but survive.

I’m tired of driving to Jonesboro, Cape, and now St. Louis for my mother to receive care.

This isn’t a unique situation here though.

City Councils aren’t attended well. Town Hall meetings stand empty for the most part, and we’ll see how the turnout will be for Tuesday’s election.

I’ll continue to say it.

Get informed. Get connected. Get involved.

The future of our communities depend on it.

See you out there.