Region moves forward economically

For the past 18 months, business, government and nonprofit leaders have been coming together to create what’s called a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). This five-year plan serves as a regional roadmap and positions us to be able to receive federal economic development funding. The ability to leverage federal dollars is key in regional planning.

The plan itself has five goals and 11 initiatives within those overarching goals focusing on the following: regional marketing and branding; business retention and recruitment; preparing industrial sites; increasing entrepreneurship; planning our transportation infrastructure; addressing our workforce needs; accessing our riverfronts and their communities; and how arts and culture can create economic impact in our great region.

Initiative Councils have been meeting for the past 12 months to create plans to achieve milestones in their respective areas. After hearing each of these Initiative Councils present their progress and plans March 1, we couldn’t be more excited about what is on the horizon for our region. Collaboration among the various municipalities in our region is paving the way to economic growth. The next steps for this plan will include a steering committee review period and the approval of the implementation plan. The staffs of the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance and Local Government Council will then submit the plans to the U.S. Economic Development Administration by May 31.

CEDS is a key component in establishing and maintaining a robust economic ecosystem and serves as a strategic blueprint for regional collaboration. Many thanks to our partners in the private sector, as well as Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford and Campbell counties and the City of Lynchburg for making our regional CEDS a priority. We look forward to continued collaboration moving forward as the action plans are implemented.

LARRY JACKSON and BOB LEVEQUE

Co-Chairmen

Lynchburg Regional CEDS Steering Committee

Is it worth it?

What if, at the next school shooting which is inevitable, that 6-year-old child (like at Sandy Hook) or teenager (like Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland) or college student (like at Virginia Tech) were your child? Your grandchild? Your great-grandchild?

Would your views on gun violence in schools and common-sense gun laws, including banning assault-like weapons, be the same?

Could you look yourself in the mirror after the funeral and honestly say that your right to buy and use an assault-like weapon (an AR15, AK47 and bumpstocks) was worth more than your child’s life? Just wondering.

And I’m a loving father, grandfather, great-grandfather ... and a gun owner.

DENNIS TORRENCE

Appomattox

How we got to this point

How did the deaths of so many people occur in so many schools?

In my opinion, it started with one person who initiated the removal of prayer in our schools. Where was the outcry from every pastor, priest, rabbi and believer who loved the Lord but failed to strongly object to this decision?

And, also, since 1973, the Supreme Court has sanctioned the wholesale slaughter of our greatest treasures — our children — by abortion. After this decision, my husband predicted that the crime rate, murder rate and child abuse rate would increase because of thelack of respect for life. Approximately 3,000 babies in the United States are legally murdered each day by appointment. In America, more than 1 million babies are murdered each year.

These decisions opened the door to death. Proverbs 21:31 tells us that “safety comes from the Lord.” Perhaps, we should listen to the Lord who is all knowing, all powerful, all merciful and all forgiving of these foolish decisions.

Remember, our Constitution promises freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

FRANCES HOLZKNECHT

Lynchburg

Bad decision by GLTC

Recently, the Greater Lynchburg Transit Co. allocated its old office building on Kemper Street for future Lynchburg Police Department space needs.

With respect to the LPD and Chief Raul Diaz, no need is greater than the needs of inner-city youth. The neighborhoods around the old GLTC headquarters on Kemper are crime-plagued. Recently, there was a murder on Fillmore Street. The old GLTC building could have been turned into a center or outreach ministry for our youth.

It could have been called “The GLTC Center,” but GLTC turned a blind eye to criminal youth problems including murders, robberies and rapes, among other problems. GLTC was only interested in the money part of it all, since they now have a new, cozy building in the Odd Fellows Road area of the city.

BILLY HORTON

Lynchburg

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