Change is a good thing

     First and foremost, I want to give kudos to Jennifer Fischer, our Jones County Extension director, for having the insight and ingenuity to install a Free Little Library at the fairgrounds here in Monticello.

     You can read all about it on the front page of today’s Express.

     I think this is such a neat idea! In fact, why not install another Free Little Library in Monticello?

     The concept of a Free Little Library is to take and return. If you see a book inside that sparks your interest (Don’t lie, we all judge books by their covers.), simply take the book home to read. Then, either bring it back once you’ve finished reading it or replace it with one of your own, perhaps a book that inspired you that you want to pass on to others.

     It’d be even better if you left a message inside your book about why you enjoyed reading that particular book or what you hope others get out of reading it. Then perhaps that person will write his/her own message and return it for others to read. It’s an ongoing cycle.

     And if you liked a particular author or book in a series that someone left inside the Free Little Library, visit another free library: the Monticello Public Library. Our city library has A TON of books at your disposal as well. (I might be a little biased because I love to read, I love our city library, and I’m on the library board.)

     On another, slightly related topic, change is a good thing.

     Think of all the great, positive changes that have taken place in Monticello alone over the years. For instance, if change is such a bad thing, was it bad to build a new high school in 1997-98? (I bring this up because I know it was a hurdle to finally pass a bond issue.)

     In my almost nine years in Monticello, I have seen a lot of great changes in this community, a community I now call my own: a new downtown park, a positive out of negative with the downtown fire; a new permanent stage at the fairgrounds; a new home for the Extension and the fair, the Youth Development Center; a new horse arena at the fair (which I thoroughly enjoyed this year during the fair covering the Horse Show under the roof); a new convenience store/truck stop, Karde’s 151; a new hotel, Boulder’s Inn & Suites; a new modern community college facility, Kirkwood; the expansion of our local industries; many new businesses throughout our community; and so much more.

     What a list! And that’s just in the past nine years! Can you imagine how long the list would be if you included all of the great changes in Monticello in the past 20 years or more?

     While change is a good thing, it’s also a hard concept for people to accept. I’m sure the idea of building a new high school in Monticello was tough for some people, especially those who went to school here in what is now the middle school. Perhaps that’s why it was hard to imagine a new middle school when the bond issue was proposed last year. Who knows…

     When we lost several businesses and buildings in November 2012 after the downtown fire, that was an unimaginable change. Now what? What would Monticello’s downtown look like? Would people and businesses return after the fire?

     Well, not only did businesses return, but we also gained a new feature: a pocket park. Without businesses seeing the benefit of rebuilding and reopening, and without a feature to help attract people to our downtown, we could have a pretty sad sight, a hole in our downtown landscape that never gets filled.

     Some people didn’t see the need for a hotel in Monticello. But let me tell you, I drive past Boulders on an almost daily basis and see many vehicles in their parking lot. Just this weekend the lot was full with visitors in town to canoe, kayak, and tube down the Maquoketa River. Fair week was also a busy week/weekend for the hotel with many out-of-towners here for the concerts at the fair.

     So, while change is hard to grasp, it brings a lot of positive aspects to Monticello and Jones County. Change is a good thing.