LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Appreciate your past, but look to the future

To the Editor:

There are times when we are all too close to the forest to see the trees, as in the case of the refurbishing of the high school to meet the needs of today and tomorrow for today’s health care providers.

Early in my youth, our family made its way to Albany for health care from Donalsonville, and today, more than six decades later, I only pass through Albany to visit grandkids in Macon. Possibly your community leaders with an admirable intent of preserving historical structures should visit downtown Macon or Savannah and marvel at the rebirth of those communities due to the creative solution of preserving exterior architecture while capitalizing on available square footage for the needs of a changing environment and world.

I have spent the better part of my career “saving buildings,” however unless there is a future for a positive use, only so many historical buildings can exist until all around them become dilapidated.

Appreciate your historical past and look to the future. Make those difficult decisions to move forward while surrounding tomorrow’s students in an envelope of the past. What better security can you offer for our health care workers than a safe environment to learn their skills?

Emory Johnson

Climax