Center comeback shows community spirit
When the Canton Senior Center reopened last week, it was one more step on the long road to recovery from two devastating floods that hit the county in September 2004.
It took time, but slowly the county is coming back. What has helped the process not lose momentum in Haywood County has been a cadre of caring people — from state and local leaders to friends and neighbors — who keep chipping away at the needs until they are met.
As Rep. Ray Rapp so eloquently said during the dedication of the renovated senior center: “Good can come out of tragedy. This building is symbolic of the spirit and resiliency of this community.”
Juanita Dixon, who Rapp called the “angel of Canton,” had similarly inspiring words.
“We’ve all heard the saying ‘you can’t go home again.’ We’ve proved that statement wrong,” Dixon said.
Canton Mayor Pat Smathers has vowed from the beginning Canton will not only recover, but come back better than ever. As with the other public works projects that have been renovated, from town hall to the Colonial Theater to the spacious and elegant meeting space now available at the Canton armory, the mayor’s prediction has rung true for the senior center as well.
While the community residents who depended on the center for a source of camaraderie and a hot meal had to make do in the interim, there were plenty of helping hands to ease the burden, starting with the folks at the First United Methodist Church of Canton who offered their building as a temporary meeting center.
As the latest entity to rebound, Canton residents and all those who made the senior center renovation possible never lost sight of the goal. Last week they were rewarded once again for their perseverance.
School accreditation
Hats off to the Haywood County school system for making the extra effort to achieve districtwide accreditation status. The effort, if successful, will mean the system can proudly note its standards are among the top in the state.
No where does such an effort reap as many rewards as in the area of economic development.
In the information age where proximity to markets doesn’t need to trump quality of life considerations, Haywood County can be on the radar screen when corporations search for ideal locations.
Business recruiters stress high- quality education, as well as plenty of recreation opportunities, high speed Internet and a low crime rate, are at the top of the corporate relocation list.
Having an education system that can showcase districtwide accreditation will help in more ways than one. It might not only entice employers to set up shop here, but it will provide an opportunity for all our home-educated talent to find a job close to their home and families.
