Attitudes key in economic development

Published 12:04 am Tuesday, February 5, 2013

We recently heard someone say there are two kinds of people in this world — those who will do whatever it takes to get the job done and those who won’t.

That simplistic generalization has a great deal of truth to it, as does the notion that people — individually or as a group — are either mostly positive or mostly negative.

The negative folks look at a problem, wring their hands and maybe kick the dirt a bit. They might get angry and complain about how unfair life can be.

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The positive folks — the ones who also tend to fall in the whatever-it-takes-to-get-the-job-done camp — have quite the opposite reaction.

They see opportunities and ways to improve in the face of strife; they see a hill ahead of them, and rather than turning around, they figure out a way to get over it or around it.

Fortunately, for Natchez-Adams County, our renewed economic development group is led by positive, whatever-it-takes folks.

That explains how October’s sad news Mississippi River Pulp’s Adams County facility would close has become today’s much happier headline — the plant has been purchased by the von Drehle Corporation and will reopen bigger and better than before.

What was a sizable job loss — nearly 80 employees — will now become a job gain, as the new owners of the facility expect to employ approximately 100.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and other dignitaries are expected to take part in a ceremony today to celebrate the new company’s arrival, but in reality, the folks who deserve the thanks are the positive people of Natchez and Adams County.

Those people created Natchez Inc., the community’s economic development entity, and those people support Natchez Inc.’s private funding wing, Natchez Now.

Today’s announcement is a celebration of taking lemons and making lemonade.