Doing the right thing is easy, at least until someone has to write a check for something.

When dollars are on the table, a person’s motives can become a little muddled.

For literally decades, our community has worked apart.

All too often we’ve allowed the geographic boundary created by the waters of the Mississippi River to create an unnecessary barrier in our community.

In the last few years, great efforts have been made to start changing that practice.

The fact is, despite our living in two different states, residents of the Miss-Lou all consider themselves part of one, common community.

That’s why the work of the Miss-Lou Regionalism Steering Committee has been so refreshing over the last few years. The group’s work has led to private-and-public sector leaders getting to know each other and beginning to communicate about issues that affect all of us.

All of that is fine and dandy, and the work makes everyone feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But the minute money was requested to create a marketing plan for the area, suddenly the warm and fuzzy feeling turned a little cool and harsh.

Adams County, Concordia Parish and Natchez Now — a private fundraising wing of Natchez-Adams County’s economic development entity — are all being asked to contribute financially to the marketing effort. Supervisors are still considering how they might fund the request, but we fear if they don’t step up, the regionalism effort may die before it’s even really begun to blossom.

The plan is necessary for our community to take the next step. Prospective businesses like to see right-minded leaders willing to work in new, innovative ways to get the job done. Marketing our community regionally could be a great first step in that effort.