Local Covington News columnist Barbara Morgan wrote in her column this past week about local leaders who have dreams about the future of Newton County. If you missed her column, it can be seen at covnews.com.

We believe a community needs its dreamers — those are the ones who have a vision and a desire to see what the future will bring from those visions .

It is true Newton County has been hit very hard during this economic crisis, and some very good people and leaders of our community have been brought to their knees by the affects of one of the worst downturns since the depression. Nevertheless, we still have visionaries.

The comments from some of the local folks Ms. Morgan wrote about are not only encouraging, but are necessary for us as members of our community. Their comments encourage us not to falter in our vision of what Newton County can become for all of us who live here now and for those who will come to live here in the future.

What we need is to take those visions and to work and sacrifice in order to make them come true. We need men and woman with strong determination and character who are willing to devote the time and effort in to taking visions of those who dream and turn them into reality.

Our forefathers here in Newton County had their visions, and we are fortunate that they were stout-hearted men and women available to carry out those visions. We just lost one of our finest visionaries, Roy Varner.

That is why, considering all things, Newton County is in good shape and poised to begin an unprecedented controlled growth of industry and population that will in turn make our county one of the most viable counties in Georgia to work, live and play when there is an upturn in the economy.

Encourage our visionaries.