Newscoma

Go grab yourself a cup of coffee and then take just about five minutes to read this article by John Brummett of the Arkansas News.

I’ll wait.

You done? Alright let’s look at this column and for a moment, think about what Brummett is saying because if you don’t think it’s happening all over including Tennessee/all over, then you don’t understand small rural towns.

The consolidation of high schools that he mentions in the first few graphs happened here in 1992 and was of the biggest local stories I ever covered while I was in radio news. The plan was to bring six high schools down to two.  It came down to money in many ways but it also came down to the argument that the heritage in towns that’s only source of a socio/economic base was their high school and, honestly, it was more about the emotional center of this towns. That was the rub. For months, this item was basically the biggest news story here. It even got to a point where threats of violence became common place.

I didn’t feel like I really had a dog in the fight while covering it because back then I had just come back to Hoots and had thought I’d be back in Nashville within a couple of years.

I own that. I just reported it and I learned a lot about the political machine from this one issue.

Of course, there used to be about 30 small schools all over this county back years ago. The compromise, over a particular contentious period of time split the county into fragments, was keeping four schools open and closing two. The two schools that closed in very small towns has impacted those communities.

Now as we fast forward 17 years into the future, the lines continue to blur. Brumment brings up something that has always happened. More highly populated areas are obviously going to get money from the federal and state governments. That’s a reality and it is what it is and what it always has been.

But he writes about a plan from the Delta Regional Authority in Arkansas that cites there is a plan afoot putting emphasis on “quality of place” instead of the old adage of quality of life.

Alright then.

As we look toward redistricting here in Tennessee and the sad fact that our latest foray in the general assembly has been guffaw worthy, and not in a good way, I can’t help but wonder who is advocating for rural communities?

To paraphrase what Brummett wrote, it’s like politicians say “Hey, I want your vote and I’ll see you again in a couple of years when I need it again.”

Rural advocates know things that could be beneficial in the long run. Yes, manufacturing jobs aren’t very plentiful these days, but in this area at least, agribusiness is still huge. Keeping localized ownership for large farming operations is something that people don’t usually talk about.

And, honestly, the issue of rural advocacy is not a partisan issue. Redistricting in Tennessee is one, however, and has been ignored to a large degree this session because we were too enmeshed in political issues and not people issues.

Those political issues have taken over the headlines. But there are always things going on underneath the surface and those things will impact our “quality of life” without us even knowing about what’s going on until it’s too late.

H/T Cracker