Editorials

At the end of the day: Reason to celebrate April 26, 2007 - | Editor/Publisher

The city of Dierks is celebrating a 100th birthday this week. We hope everyone in the area will head to north Howard County to help Big Blue bring in another century.

Dierks has a special never quit spirit, nurtured by its hardscrabble soil obviously. And residents have a lot going for them living as they do in an unpolluted land, surrounded by some of the best hunting, fishing, and camping in the nation.

But it is people who make a place and Dierks area residents have a lot to celebrate. One item really stands out - they bit the bullet.

Somehow it is appropriate that cowboys and cowgirls when asked to “bite the bullet” will so.Dierks Schools teachers and employees and patrons did just that. About two years ago, Dierks Schools was placed on fiscal distress by the state. This meant the school was in financial trouble. Salaries were frozen, expenditures were kept to a minimum, everyone had to hunker down.

Dierks School District patrons were asked to pay more taxes to support their school. They did so, increasing the millage from one of the lowest in the state to 43 mills. Bottom line: They support their school big time.

Now it is paying off. The school was taken off fiscal distress. Teachers and staff who bit the bullet and hung in there were given a well-deserved raise this year.

Good schools make good communities and we can tell you from personal observation spirits are high in Dierks, thanks to the businessmen and women who supported the tax increase.

“From Hardscrabble to Dierks: 100 years to remember” is the theme of the anniversary celebration.

At the end of the day, Dierks is a special place because of its special people.

I invite your comments ...

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