To the editor:
My father and his ancestors on both sides going back well over 170 years were born in Brown County, and my mother has been a resident here for 90 years or so, so we know that in BC — like most places — we can look back on things done by well-meaning people, and by the opposite.
Thing is, things change. Some good and some not so much.
People with iPhones growing from their hands, teens wanting a skate board park, and Frisbee Golf are all changes. Changes can’t be held back, and shouldn’t be, but rather understood from both the clearness and the confusion of the present day.
Actually, what do we want to protect? Is it just to keep things the same as some mostly imagined past? Jump in your time machine and dial in 1950 and you’ll see outhouses, iceboxes, a fair number of wood stoves, dirty everything, a single color population, and not even one TV in the county. All water came from wells that had their own problems, and “sewers” were septic tanks — sometimes — and again: problems.
Not long before that, you’d find it a tough trip to Columbus on the Old Nashville Road, and a real occasion to visit Indianapolis.
But for those hardy travelers from not too far away, there was quaint little Nashville with its few artists, its small shops, and the Nashville House. Worth a day trip, mainly because of its proximity to the Brown County State Park. A treasure.
At that time you probably wouldn’t have envisioned the growth that was about to take place in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Better roads, better tires, and an increase in things to see and do here created traffic problems even for towns on the way.
Come back to the present, and you see tens of empty small shops, a declining and aging population, a declining school enrollment causing problems of its own, and nothing major on the horizon to give it all a boost.
Wait a minute, there is something: a new indoor entertainment facility that will create jobs; excitement; county income; Nashville income; retailer/hospitality/banking income; and, because of the experience, thoughtfulness and preparation of the developer and those already involved, a solid new addition.
And about those changes I mentioned earlier: When there are reasonable, experienced people involved who have the county’s best interest at heart, especially when they do not demand or even expect ownership, good for us.
J. Baughman, Brown County
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