LETTERS: Observations
To the Editor:
I am part of that generation more than 50 years ago who graduated from Marion High School and then "moved away." I was not alone. I was part of the class of 1945 and maybe 70 or 80 percent of us never returned. I am guessing those figures have not changed very much for any graduating class since. Someone might suggest that since I do not live in the area I have no right to make comments. But living at a distance may provide insights not seen up close or personal.
Does anyone have a vision or even a dream for Marion 10 years from now, or 50 years from now?
The growth of any community, or even the maintenance of sufficient size for basic services depends on an educated labor force and jobs. Many businesses have a down side of some kind, and community decisionmakers can't always be overly picky. We lived in El Dorado at one time. An oil refinery is a lousy neighbor with noise, smell, and occasional emissions that can burn through the paint on your car. But it provides some good jobs. We often travel through Emporia. A meat packing plant provides lots of jobs but the community often has to hold its nose. We lived at one time in a city that had a plant that produced wrenches. The stamping machines could be heard (and felt) over a large part of the city
Now I hear gossip about many wind-powered electrical generators being established in the Flint Hills, and the naysayers are busy. Maybe a major feed lot or hog farm would be a better alternative. Of course, it needs to be located downwind from everybody.
While you sit and bicker, remember, every year you are exporting a sizable group of your own children for want of a meaningful future, and, it seems to me, your community gets a little more desperate.
Tom Isern's column in the Marion County Record's July 31 issue is about a completely different subject but he makes a couple of relevant observations. In light of the past, "let us begin not with a hymn, but with confession of sins."And, "we live in a land of free speech, freedom of association, and digital free enterprise, wherein the loudest voices are not likely to be the wisest." I have been around long enough to have, from the sidelines, watched at least two rather pleasant communities go from a sense of identity and, yes, pride, to an attitude of hopelessness. It is not a happy memory. I wish for my hometown only the best for the future.
Leon Hayen
Topeka
