Winds of positive change blowing through McCook

With less than two weeks to go before the start of the new year, it is abundantly clear that the forces of change will continue at a brisk pace in the McCook area.

Within a matter of a few days, we have discovered that a new style of supermarket -- called Buy n Save -- is coming to town. It will be located in the current SunMart East building. Originally built as a Safeway store, the building later became Hinky-Dinky before selling to Nash-Finch and converting to SunMart.

Also in the past month, the McCook area has welcomed two new eating establishments -- the Twin Dragon restaurant and the Pizza Hut-KFC-Taco Bell complex. And, soon, we will have a third new eating place, the Taste of Texas BBQ, opening in the former Valentino's location.

Today's front page includes a story about extensive remodeling and improvements associated with Community Hospital's conversion of parts of the Stinnette Building into a medical complex, as well as improving the looks of the entire complex, which includes the Oz-Tex doughnut shop and D&S Hardware.

Still other changes are in the discussion stage. At Monday night's City Council meeting, additional discussion took place concerning the Outback Addition, the housing development that Claude Cappel is proposing in northwest McCook, beyond the the school bus barn on West Q Street.

If a plan of action can be agreed upon by the city and the developer, another site for home building will be opened up in McCook.

Changes are taking place in the downtown business district as well. Country Whimsey, a popular craft show provider, now has a year-around location on Norris Avenue, and renovation is in the early stages on McCook's tallest building, the Keystone Hotel.

In the constant ebb and flow of commercial enterprise, there are both openings and closings on the local scene. The fate of the Quality Farm Store location in McCook is still in question, and the closeout of Performance Athletics on Norris Avenue continues.

While there have been employment cutbacks following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, there is also hope for future projects. One of the big things that could be in the future of this area is an ethanol plant, using the carbon dioxide by-product as an aid to oil recovery in the area.

One thing we have discovered in the past few years is that it takes constant effort to keep a community on the grow. Despite the new jobs created by Valmont and the Work Ethic Camp, McCook's population has not increased and school enrollment has actually fallen in the past few years.

While grateful for the positive changes which are taking place, we realize that we cannot rest on our laurels. Progress is an on-going process and we must work together to help this community and this area grow and prosper.