IT’S TODAY: Our number 1 resolution? Our only resolution: This
region must find a way out of its economic hell. This region — 
McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter counties — has had the highest
unemployment rate in the entire state. This recession has cost
thousands of jobs through layoffs and closed factories. Sawmills
have been stilled, and oil drilling has slowed.

Why has there not been a regional conference called with our
legislators and economic development experts to at least brainstorm
some possible solutions?

Why have we not seen any support groups developed for the
unemployed, particularly as so many face the end of benefits in the
near future? What help has been out there for people losing health
insurance or unable to afford COBRA?

Why hasn’t someone hired a specialist in the federal
government’s stimulus programs? Is there any doubt that rural
Pennsylvania — the whole rural part of the country — has been
overlooked in these programs?

Our neck of the woods is lucky in one way. It’s so poor all of
the time that you don’t see a big change when things go downhill.
As one wag observed, they just lower the price of beer by a
nickel.

That said, we are certain that once the rest of the country
bounces back from the recession, we probably won’t. Instead, our
rural areas will continue their slow death — losing not just jobs,
but population, stores, amenities, businesses.

This is a complex problem and we can acknowledge that many
people in our region have devoted their entire lives to doing what
we have so blithely suggested in this New Year’s Day column.

We know, too, that some things are beyond our control. In some
ways, we probably could use a little help from the government.

On the other hand, waiting for help hasn’t worked for the past
50 or so years.

Perhaps the one thing we haven’t tried — in earnest — is to help
one another, to work together. People in north central Pennsylvania
are resilient, and caring and hard-working. So are our leaders, our
local governments, and institutions.

Maybe we can’t pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, but we can
pull each other up by the bootstraps.

Hey, it’s worth a try. After all, it doesn’t look like the
Calvary is on its way again in 2010.