Editorial for October 31, 2001

Remember your hometown pride



Included in your Tifton Gazette today is a special supplement titled "Hometown Pride". It features information and advertisements from locally-owned businesses from around Tift County who are proud to be a part of our local economic landscape.

We are proud to spotlight these folks and all of the businesses in this community. The attacks on our freedom on Sept. 11 further damaged an already fragile U.S. economy. We don't know how long the war with Afghanistan will last or how long it will take for our economy to rebound. For our local businesses, the next two months are critical. Many retail outlets rely on the Christmas shopping season for a large portion of their annual outlook. A weak Christmas isn't just bad for them, it's bad for all of us.

Tifton and Tift County has grown to the point that there is room for many different sizes and types of businesses. As the old saying goes, there is indeed enough to go around. But flocking to Valdosta or Albany or even Atlanta to do your Christmas shopping directly affects an economy like Tifton's. We believe that it's simply a mindset that you can't get everything here. We think that if you look around, you'd be surprised what you can find.

We salute our businesses that emphasize service and quality. Their success is vital to our local economy and we hope we all keep that in mind throughout the year, but especially over the next two months. We, too, have a lot of hometown pride and are glad that our local merchants take pride in what they do.