Commentary

Local businesses, members, and the community were shocked with the news that a branch of one of the area’s prevalent financial institutions, Lewis Clark Credit Union, better known as LCCU, is planning to close its doors in Pomeroy. I know I was a bit taken aback to be informed that the institution on which my business relies has decided to leave us due to financial consideration!

Well, believe it or not, most of the country is in dire straits, especially those who were not able to take advantage of government grants, loans, or stimulus. We had to tighten our belts, trim the sails, pull ourselves up by the boot straps and keep going so not to create one more vacant building or store front in a community striving to open itself up to new business, families and vacationers in spite of a pandemic, inflation or any other reason.

LCCU has been a major part of the community, supporting downtown and rural businesses, organizations, community events, the school, the pool, food bank and has been a welcome asset to the library and theater. The absence of this business, that is so vital to the well-being of a town’s structure and has become part of the heartbeat of the town, just doesn’t make sense.

What I see for the future of Pomeroy, if our businesses can remain in place, is growth in the downtown area, development on the outskirts of town which means more people, more revenue, more business opportunity and a stronger financial base. Why give up on a community on the verge of it becoming more?

Pomeroy to me is an up-and-coming rural town where people can raise and educate their families with assurance that they will live relatively safe, a place for children to build strong life skills, experience a strong moral structure and articulation of thought, even develop a place where graduates will stay or someday return to raise their own families.

I see, with the changes the pandemic has brought about in the working environment, people are able to work remotely, allowing them a broader choice of living, which includes smaller communities like Pomeroy. Why do you think our 9th District Representatives Mary Dye and Joe Schmick, along with Senator Mark Schoesler, and in cooperation with the Port of Garfield’s Diana Ruchert, have devoted so much time and energy into getting fiber optic to Pomeroy? It’s just for this purpose. It provides an opportunity to develop enterprise and commerce in rural communities.

All these little pieces are slowly coming together and are jumpstarting Pomeroy, giving it back a vitality once lost to closed business through obsolete practices and centralization. But here we are again, on the verge of reinventing life in Pomeroy.

I believe LCCU’s departure at this point would be futile because they will just have to move back. Besides, vacating this community is not helping the next generation grow and develop; it is altering advantages this small community can offer everyone.

Build it and they will come.