NEW CASTLE —
What’s your vision for the future of New Castle and Lawrence County?
And just as important, what is your game plan for making it happen?
This community faces its share of challenges, but it’s not unique in that regard. It’s up to people to decide whether they are going to address these challenges or allow them to fester.
A new effort is under way to explore avenues for making positive changes locally. New Visions for Lawrence County wants to be the springboard for bringing people together and pursuing projects that will enrich the community in a variety of ways.
As part of this effort, New Visions is hosting its kickoff community meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at New Castle High School. The key focus is to explore ways to revitalize New Castle.
Volunteers within New Visions have been soliciting input and ideas for several months and are now prepared to broaden the effort. Specific plans at Tuesday’s meeting call for attendees to break up into four groups to explore various areas of interest and seek solutions to existing issues.
These four categories include safety, community celebration, communications and clean/green efforts. Individuals who believe there ought to be other priorities can raise those concerns at the session.
A basic concept behind New Visions is that aggressive, coordinated and cooperative efforts are needed to achieve community progress. Simply wishing for something better — or expecting someone else to do the heavy lifting — won’t produce results.
If like-minded and committed people can come together and work toward a common goal, success is much more likely than having individuals struggling on their own. Human energy and ingenuity are resources that New Visions hopes to unify in a manner that produces results.
But for that to happen, people have to get involved. And they have to do so with the understanding that progress takes both time and effort. New Castle’s problems did not arise overnight, and they will take time to address.
The good news is that mechanisms exist to address those problems. Success in other communities proves that.
The first steps, however, are communication and cooperation. New Visions is attempting to launch these efforts with its session Tuesday. We urge people who care about this community and are willing to share in the process of finding solutions to attend and contribute. The challenges are substantial, but so are the rewards.
Editorials
Our Opinion: Local group seeks to spark progress in community
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Our Opinion: Privatization of county jail is worthy of examination
Generally speaking, we support government efforts to seek more efficient ways to provide essential services. So we have no problem with the decision by the Lawrence County commissioners to solicit proposals for the private operation of the county jail.
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Our Opinion: We endorse candidates for New Castle board
The New Castle school district is often a study in contrasts. There are complaints about the district on everything from taxes to nepotism, from test scores to ethical slights. Yet at the same time, plenty of students within the district excel. It’s a tribute to the hard work of those students, their families and the educators who support them.
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Our Opinion: You should be frightened, outraged by IRS abuse of power
When people talk about government posing a threat to citizens, a common topic these days is unmanned drones. But a more credible threat may be the Internal Revenue Service. This agency, responsible for collecting taxes and enforcing related rules, has the ability to make life miserable for the average individual.
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Our Opinion: Our endorsements for City Council race
The city of New Castle needs help. Financially distressed and operating under Pennsylvania’s Act 47, New Castle must find ways to reverse its population loss and fiscal challenges.
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Our Opinion: Court frowns on gerrymandering, but only slightly
Pennsylvania legislators have received the green light to put their own political interests ahead of yours. That’s a key point in the latest Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on legislative apportionment in the commonwealth.
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Our Opinion: Study says distracted driving deaths are under reported
Suppose you operated a piece of heavy machinery at your job. And suppose it’s machinery that moves quickly with little effort. What would happen if you decided to take one hand off that equipment — while it was still in motion — and instead focused your attention on a telephone call?
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Our Opinion: Senate seeks to give states more taxing power
Congress is taking a stab at tax fairness. At least, where states are concerned. If you’re looking for meaningful reform of the federal tax code, that’s going to have to wait.
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Our Opinion: Look at handling of bombing suspects is warranted
We welcome an investigation into the handling of intelligence related to suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing. That probe may reveal little of value.
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Our Opinion: Right to know reveals intermediate unit problem
At this point, we have few details regarding the resignation of the director of this region’s intermediate unit. Apparently, there was a problem with purchases Cecelia H. Yauger made with a government credit card through the state agency that provides support services to area school districts.
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Our Opinion: New wave of ethics initiatives arrives in Harrisburg
There may be hope yet for Harrisburg. Recent signs suggest that even lawmakers are grasping that the ethics situation in the state capital is taking its toll. Maybe they are hearing from constituents who are fed up with the commonwealth’s seemingly endless string of scandals.
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