Orange isn’t the same? Good!

Contributed
Published: August 14, 2008

To the editor,
In response to Mr. Dobyns’ letter to the editor, “Orange just isn’t the same,” I murmur, “Thank goodness!”
It’s true, according to the old maxim, you can’t go home again. It just doesn’t work.
I, too, recently visited the small hometown of my youth. The movie theater was gone, as was the corner drugstore. My father’s newspaper building has been turned into a seedy-looking laundromat and the fingers of poverty clutch forgotten yards and vacant homes. It’s a bittersweet journey to our childhood homes, and the fault does not lie in the hands of today’s elected officials. The fault is the result of time and all citizens throughout the years, whether they are rich or poor.
As a citizen of Orange County for nearly 40 years, I applaud our growth and our enthusiasm for the future. There are no vacant storefronts on Main Street. We have tourism, we have an Arts Center, movies in Taylor Park, libraries, a fieldhouse, recreational activities, farmers’ market and so on. We are Hometown, USA!
The elected officials of Orange are no more responsible for the county poverty level than I am responsible for the national debt.
The town of Orange is very much alive and well! It is not a ghost town of yesteryear. So, Mr. Dobyns, please don’t mourn the Orange of your memories but help us celebrate the Orange of tomorrow!
Marcia Poole
Somerset