Time to take on new challenges

Over and over in the past 20 years, the towns of Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas have shown they can succeed when people work together on projects of community-wide interest.

Two projects -- movie theaters and golf courses -- are good examples. In towns throughout the area, citizens are enjoying close-to-home entertainment and exercise because the people banded together to raise funds and volunteer their time at movie houses and golf courses.

Gazette readers have been reminded of the successful efforts in the first few months of the Community Spotlight series. In the opening installments, the spotlight was on golf course projects in Cambridge, Benkelman and Arapahoe, and theater efforts in Benkelman and Arapahoe. This month's Spotlight community, Curtis, will tell a similar story, as citizens there joined hands to build Arrowhead Meadows Golf Course and to reopen the Star Theater as a community project.

In months to come, similar stories of success will be shared by other communities in the Golden Plains' region. The efforts are wide in scope, depending on community needs and the desires of the people. Take Palisade, for example. There, citizens combined funds and volunteer time to create a community cafe and credit union.

The projects have done more than help meet community needs. They have shown us what we can accomplish when we have a goal, and when we work together to accomplish it.

What works for theaters, golf courses and community cafes can work for other projects as well. With rural America facing so many challenges, it is important that we do all we can to preserve a precious way of life.

Let's look around our towns. Let's look beyond the problems. Let's focus on what can be done by working together.

We've already shown we can succeed. We have set goals for golf courses, theaters, cafes and community centers, and we have achieved these objectives over and over again.

Now, it's time to take on new challenges. The process starts with leadership -- people with vision -- who enjoy the benefits of small town living and want to enhance and extend the quality of their communities. We know it can be done. We have shown that with our success on previous projects.