For the future

EDITORIAL

County Judge Steve Young took one small step for Rockdale and one giant leap for Milam County, when he invited the county’s movers and shakers to the first-of-its-kind Milam County Economic Summit in Cameron on Monday.

They met to listen to some experienced speakers in the economic development arena discuss what it takes to bring industry into an area like Milam County. (See County Judge’s column on this page for more details.)

They all mentioned change and discomfort as part of the process toward economic prosperity.

Drayton McLane, the successful businessman and former Houston Astros owner, told the audience, “You’ll never become what you want to be by remaining as you are now. We need to get into things that make us a little bit uncomfortable sometimes.”

Milam County will be having a series of discussions about the future of the county and those talks could get a bit uncomfortable. Things like money, politics, religion, diversity, values will need to be addressed in order to gain a clear understanding of our vision for the future.

McLane said true leaders learn to respect everybody. He suggested having lunch with someone you dislike at least once a month. “It creates in you the ability to think openly and accept ideas,” he said. “We close our minds quickly sometimes. We need to hear people through and respect them.”

The City of Rockdale is ready for these discussions.

We’ve prayed about it. Last month at Tiger Stadium, 125 attended the first-of-its kind community prayer. The community-wide initiative was used to ask for the guidance, knowledge, industriousness and resources to propel the city of Rockdale and county of Milam toward social and economic prosperity into the 21st Century.

Milam County is ready for these conversations.

They proved it to a national and global audience when Milam County, its business leaders and individuals, the Milam County Industrial Development Corporation, the Rockdale MDD, City of Rock-dale, Cameron Industrial Foundation and Cameron Economic Development Corporation partnered to try and bring a Fortune 500 Company to the area last year.

Although we didn’t get Amazon’s $5 billion new headquarters, it gave the county ground-breaking exposure and proved what great minds of the area can do when they work together.

This step Young took is the first of many that will lead us toward a vision for the future of Milam County.

All it takes is for us all to step up and into the conversation, so no one is left out. Embellishing a line from the Good Book works well here: “Together all things are possible.”—C.G.