Citizens have duty to review county's growth plans

Editor:

There will be three community meetings to allow all citizens to learn about Columbia County's Growth Management Plan and provide important input. I encourage everyone to attend. Yes, it is true that everyone is busy and it is sometimes difficult "to do one more thing." However, this opportunity presents itself once every five years, and when your future is at stake, it is your duty to make every effort to attend and participate in updating our plan.

The current Growth Management Plan is no more perfect than the people who created it. The same holds true for the future plan. And it is a good thing it isn't handed to us in perfect condition, because it gives us the opportunity to work on it, improve it, and make it work better for us in the coming years.

A German engineer named John Fritz, after working for months to get a piece of machinery finished, came into his shop one morning and said, "All right boys, let's start her up and see why she doesn't work."

Please don't pass up the opportunity to provide your input on what is and isn't "working right," and how we can fix it so it will "work right" for our future. And, more importantly, let's have a plan by the people and for the people, and not just by committee and elected officials.

Jeri Whitworth

Evans

(Jeri Whitworth is a member of the Growth Management Plan Steering Committee.)

Columbia County Growth Management Plan Hearings

Harlem community:

Thursday, June 23, 6 p.m., at Harlem High School, 1170 Appling-Harlem Highway

Appling-Leah:

Thursday, June 23, 6 p.m., at the Board of Education Building, Appling

Evans-Martinez:

Tuesday, June 28, 6 p.m., Government Complex Auditorium, Evans