If you made it to the Lutcher Theatre Thursday night to see the performance of a Sound of Music you undoubtedly heard the best ever rendition of Climb Ev’ry Mountain ever sung.

Lauren Kidwell played the part of Mother Abbess.  As she sang the aforementioned show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein Musical the Sound of Music, the depth of her talent was more and more evident.

The whole production was great.  Maria, Captain Von Trapp, the Von Trapp children, Rolf, and the others played out the dramatic story in a compelling way.

Their singing was the highlight of the show.

The shows Lynae Sanford and her crew bring to Orange County are first class.

The Lutcher Theatre is a community treasure.  

 

Who should know how tax dollars are spent?

 

The State of Texas Legislature is currently in session and a member of the house and senate have sponsored bills in their respective chambers seeking legislation which would make it easier for taxpayers to get details on how tax dollars are spent.

What government entity would hide such information?

According to an opinion published in the Wednesday, March 6 edition of The Orange Leader, submitted by the editorial board of the American Statesman, some are hiding behind a ‘contorted’ rendering of the Texas Supreme Court’s 2015 Boeing decision.

Read the column for all the background, but it implies there are those who are hiding information from taxpayers.  The implication is, you pay the taxes, we will spend your money, and you have no right to know how it was spent or whether you got a good deal.

Corporations should have a right to protect their interests even when public tax dollars are in play.

But they must be held accountable to the taxpayers who worked, earned and paid the tax dollars used to finance their work.

Public disclosure is good.  Holding private companies spending public dollars accountable is necessary.

 

Vote Yes for Economic Development

 

A contingent within our community seems bent on sidetracking economic development.

A community in North East Mississippi had an aging plant, which manufactured motors to move your windshield wipers across your windshield when it rained.  But one day work was sent overseas, the plant closed and jobs went away.

Another aging plant manufactured automobile tires.  Eventually, the work was sent overseas, the plant closed and jobs were lost.

During this period of doom and gloom, three counties came together to pool their resources.  They formed an economic development team. They contributed money. The executive director of the economic development entity was constantly under the microscope of a rather small contingent of naysayers within the community.

Why he and his team continued to show up day after day, week after week to perform their work was and is a mystery to this day.

Today, some 25 years later, there is a new and bigger tire manufacturing plant, a cold roll steel mill and a diesel engine assembly plant.

The fruits of their labor are there for all to behold.

It is interesting what can be accomplished given time, resources and persistence.

I believe the Orange County Economic Development Corporation is in good hands with its current director and board.

I believe we will see good things happening in Orange County as a result of their work.

I suspect if we took the time to research we would find they have already made a positive contribution.

We owe them our support!

 

Bobby Tingle is the publisher of The Orange Leader.  You can reach him at bobby.tingle@orangeleader.com.