NEW IDEAS ARE WELCOME HERE

New ideas are

welcome here

Jeffery Smith has come home. He has a dream. After spending years working in the aerospace industry away from his home turf, hes returned and wants to help build the areas economy. Smith is seeking financing to help launch the Village Smithy in the Elgin Industrial Park. We hope he succeeds.

The Village Smithy wont be your traditional blacksmith shop. Smith plans to manufacture parts for the aerospace industry. His dream will become reality if he can put the financing together to launch his enterprise.

Our economy needs people with new ideas, people who are willing to look outside the box to prove that Northeast Oregon doesnt have to be a backwater region of Oregon. We might be remote by some folks standards, but the world has grown a lot smaller over the past few years. High-tech, manufacturing, call centers and other businesses that once had to be situated in metropolitan areas can now be sited anywhere. Smith realizes that, and hes willing to take a chance on Union County.

His goal is to start small and build. He believes that he can find the contracts needed to make the company successful.

The Northeast Oregon Alliance is willing to take a risk on Smiths dream. It has approved $100,000 to help set the plan in motion. The Alliances grant should provide the foundation for additional funding to put the infrastructure in place.

The investment might be a risk. But this region needs to take some risks and prove that we are open to new ideas and new business. Were glad that Jeff Smith decided to come home, pursue his dream and try to help expand the regions economic base.

Were not nearly as isolated as weve led ourselves to believe.

Still no clue

Famed college basketball coach Bobby Knight has put his former employer on notice that he might file a lawsuit over his firing last September. Knights letter claims, among other things, that the firing inflicted emotional distress and interfered with his ability to find another coaching job.

Knight WAS once a great coach. But he let his emotions get in the way of doing his job. If anyone inflicted emotional distress on Bobby Knight, it was Bobby Knight.

Indiana University stood by Knight far too long. An alleged choking incident involving a player, after years of allegations of similar actions, put him on a tight leash. It didnt take long before Knight jerked the lead too far, and he was fired.

Knights ego and temper became his undoing. And everyone but Knight knew it. Filing suit will only prove that Knight still doesnt get it.