There's plenty to do in 2008

By Staff
Jason Cannon
I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions, primarily because I think they're silly. If you need to lose weight Jan. 1, you probably needed to lose it months before.
The same goes for not smoking or breaking any other bad habits.
This year, I've made a list of resolutions that I would like to see happen. In many ways, I won't be able to do this alone. However, I'm committing myself to doing all I can to make these happen.
1. Help the chamber of commerce find a suitable replacement for Lisa Stockton. I'm on the Chamber Board and I have enjoyed working with Lisa for nearly a year. While I have only known her for a brief time, you can see the quality groundwork she had laid. Finding this replacement will be a challenge but it's possible.
This could pay dividends for years to come. Finding the right person, much like Lisa was during her time, could spell more retailers for the county. This means jobs and increased tax dollars.
It also helps with industrial recruitment, which means even more jobs.
2. Help increase membership in the Franklin County Cattlemen's Association. I'm also a member of this group and I thoroughly enjoy it. This year, there's a big push to increase membership statewide. For only $30 per year, you get a pretty good magazine each month and a steak dinner at the annual banquet.
You don't have to have a cow to be a member. The Cattlemen's Association is a group of people who support the beef industry as a whole. If you enjoy a good steak every now and again, you need to join the Cattlemen's Association.
The is also a powerful organization in the state. The guys know how to get things done in Montgomery and farming communities like our benefit greatly from their work.
As an added bonus, Franklin County's own Orland Britnell will be installed at the state association's president in February 2008.
3. Make continued improvements to your community newspaper. We have already begun the process of making further additions to the Times in the next few weeks. I can't let the cat out of the bag just yet, but we feel these additions will make your newspaper even better.
If you don't push yourself and challenge yourself, you'll never grow. We hope to experience further growth in the coming months by continuing to push ourselves.
We've already enhanced our website since it's redesign in October.
Our content has been enhanced through partnerships with both Google and CNN. Hopefully our web readers have already noticed the world news portion of site thanks to 'widget' courtesy of CNN. If you haven't noticed it, look on the home page below the calendar. The widget updates constantly with updated and breaking stories from around the globe.
This list is short but it's healthy. Hopefully, if I can be part of making these goals, they will offer residuals through the community for months and years to come.