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What can you do?
A column by Karen Henslee
I'm often reminded of why I like living here.
Remember only a few years ago, when three buildings on Main Street burned?
While there was little we could do about the flames, as folks stood and watched in horror, the businesses that had not yet been touched, could still be saved.
People just started rolling up their sleeves and moving furniture, files, pottery; you name it, and it was transported to safer locations. It was incredible. There was no concern for permits or official ways to get it done, it was just done. Random sparks can travel a long way and you never know where they'll land or if they'll get enough air to ignite.
Turn on the national news and you can see the raging fire caused by sparks of poor decision-making and fueled by fear.
We, too, can feel the tightening of the belt, but folks in our area seem to be resilient in the way they handle these things.
Looking back through bygone issues of The Sentinel, during tough times, the community held together. Through the near elimination of the logging industry, and the closing of the aluminum smelter, to name a few of the more recent occurrences; but also through two world wars, Korea and VietNam, the pages of The Sentinel show a community that sticks together in the tough times. It's in the tough times we see what's really important.
Yes, there are challenges ahead. No one can argue. But it is time we come together, become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. And at the risk of being repititious, the Home and Garden show was a small example of something that can be accomplished when people work together.
One of John F. Kennedy's more famous quotes is, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." It's true about our hometown, too.
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