Bad news never comes easy, and the announcement this week that Vidalia Apparel will slash its workforce is an especially difficult pill to swallow.

The distribution plant has operated since 1995 and has been a consistent contributor to our area’s economy during that time.

From a community perspective, the layoffs are a blow to the gut, coming just as reorganized economic development efforts are finally beginning to see announced projects inch closer to reality.

The announcement is a speed bump to our economy, but it shouldn’t be viewed as a deathblow.

Our community will recover from this, even though the timing is bad and the pain stings a bit.

Let us all, however, not fail to see the human side of this.

No jobs lost come without great personal cost.

Many of the 150 workers who will lose their jobs will be under great stress and hardship in the days, weeks and months ahead.

We know, however, this community is capable of bolstering and supporting people in times of need and believe this will be no different.

The loss of jobs should force our community to consider just how important working together on economic development is to our area’s future.

For the Miss-Lou to succeed in a global economy, we must cooperate, work together, work smart and find ways to produce globally excellent products that are shipped elsewhere.

We must constantly do all of the above in order to keep our community’s economic fires stoked.