Yes, Virginia...

That someone can help us understand how the contractor on the Hwy. 259 by-pass is not behind schedule... I saw momma kissing Santa Claus underneath the notes last night.

+++

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And for Christmas we’re wishing:

That the city’s grant application will be approved and downtown streets, sidewalks, light standards and dangling utility lines can be made sparkling and fresh;

That TxDOT can find a way to preserve the shape of the traffic circle while increasing its circumference and installing a miracle surface that won’t buckle under the pressing weight of all the trucks that must circumnavigate it every day;

That we could learn to take opposite sides in local issues without resorting to name calling and personal attacks, without seeing disagreement as an attack on our integrity;

That Kinky Friedman will get far enough in the gubernatorial election to make the governor’s race at least entertaining;

That the almost-ancient derricks over the Sabine River might sweeten the view of East Texans traveling Hwy. 42 for more decades to come;

That the sales tax blessing which has landed on Kilgore might continue forever and find its way into parks and trails and streets and increased water pressure; That we will decide we can afford to replace the hundreds of virtually-illegible street signs;

That Synergy Park will fulfill its promise as the brightest light in the East Texas industrial distribution center office park constellation;

That someone can help us understand how the contractor on the Hwy. 259 by-pass is not behind schedule;

That Elder Lake at Synergy Park, with its handsome pavilion built around a historic homesite, be recognized as a lovely and quet day-use park that draws visitors from surrounding communities;

That retailing as innovative as Fashionation and the Shops at Two-O-Five will spring willy-nilly from downtown;

That our existing restaurants can coexist profitably with the newer, shinier and trendier fast-food and franchise places that line Hwy. 259;

That Ford, General Motors and Chrysler find vehicles to recapture the automotive marketplace;

That global warming might be truly understood;

That drivers of pickups, family trucksters and sedans be as alert for motorcyclists as motorcyclists are for their four-wheeled neighbors on the highway;

That builders of ‘affordable’ housing would discover Kilgore;

That Kilgore Economic Development Corporation will find a way to incent homebuilders as it does industrialists;

That patriotism would not be confused with loyalty to a president or a party;

That we understand that the reason our flag is different is because it stands for the freedom to burn the flag;

That Meadowbrook Golf Club will become profitable and stay that way;

That the dozens of people and companies who have declared bankruptcy in recent years would be stricken by a bout of conscience and walk into the News Herald and pay their old debts or, failing that, be stricken by the pox;

That tenants will be found for the remaining empty spaces in the shopping centers along the main drag;

That the city could hasten the demolition of the many vacant, crumbling houses that draw vagrants and crime in our city’s aging neighborhoods;

That Sabine ISD, which this year appeared dangerously close to fielding a really good football team, will keep Coach Greg Anderson long enough to allow him to develop that program;

That Mike Vallery never, ever tire of coaching football in Kilgore and that Jimmy Rieves remain at Kilgore College for a couple more decades;

And – finally – we would wish that Christmas is a blessing for you and your families, that the New Year finds you well and loved and loving.