A nationwide salmonella outbreak and the investigation of the Peanut Corporation of America plant in Blakely has created a constant barrage of unsavory publicity for the community, often accompanied by photos like the AP photo above. There's no way to buy the amount of publicity our little community has received the past several weeks. However, considering the source, we would just as soon Blakely and our "Grand Old Lady" were a bit more anonymous right now.

I guess there is someone out there who knows how, but it is difficult to measure exactly how much of the bad publicity from the outrage being directed toward Peanut Corporation of America is rubbing off on the community.

The outrage from family and friends of those struck by salmonellosis, the many companies being impacted, an angry public and government officials was fast and furious last week when the FDA's findings were made public, and have been relentless since. Even President Barack Obama has weighed in on the issue.

Some of that outrage originates right here in Early County as well, where all those affected by the salmonella outbreak — including the company's employees and families — are being wrapped in prayer and heartfelt best wishes.

Now that we DO have your attention... let me tell you a little about our community and its people.

They deserve better than the constant litany of bad news being regenerated, often served up with photos like the AP photo above of our "Grand Old Lady," the name affectionately given our courthouse during a $3.5 million renovation in the early 1990s.

Early County is a great place to raise a family and locate a business... a great place to call home!

Like most communities across the country, ours is not immune to the usual problems associated with small rural communities. But, it is not driven by the level of greed we're seeing today in Washington, on Wall Street and possibly in Lynchburg.

And, while most of the news reporters converging on Blakely with their AT&T wireless devices feel like they are in Mayberry with no signal, we're not in the middle of the "boonies!" While "you can't hear me now" around here on an AT&T phone, the fact is, we're already better connected than most small communities, and all them city folk have to do is "Google" SGRITA to find out that in the near future we will soon be better connected than some of them and most all rural communities.

We're located almost dead center of virtually every amenity you can find in Atlanta, with the exception of the traffic, crime, Falcons and Braves. About 85 minutes to the north is Columbus and Tallahassee to the south. Albany is 45 minutes to the east and Dothan 30 minutes to the west. Get your metro area map out and see how far it is to where you want to go and what you have to drive in to get there!

We do have a high level of poverty, but our community leaders are working hard together to attract jobs to Early County so more of our brightest young folks can earn a living and raise their families here. I could tell you about the efforts of our city and county officials, chamber of commerce and development authority to make our community a better place to live.

I could tell you about our five-year economic development initiative, "2012." And, I could tell you about the visions of "EC2055," a 50-year visioning initiative.

But, the important thing to understand is that impressions of Blakely and Early County being ingrained in the minds of people across the country by this tragic, ongoing news story are not representative of our community.

And about our peanuts... The peanut industry's image is suffering a tremendous blow from the alleged actions of American Peanut Corporation and the repercussions of the expected media frenzy.

Some people across the nation are shunning all peanut products because of the problem stemming from this single plant.

But, understand that the peanuts we grow in Early County and Southwest Georgia are the best, safest peanuts grown anywhere in the world. And our farmers growing them are the best peanut farmers anywhere in the world.

And while the feds and states have apparently got some work to do to insure it, our country's food, including peanut products, are the safest in the world.

Got a lot more I would like to talk to you about — our teachers, our law officers, our college, our hospital, our industry, our hunting and fishing — but for the time being I simply invite you to visit our little community. Keeping in character I'll just say, "Ya'll come on down now, ya hear!"