I’ll begin this week with Editor Steph’s column from last week. She did mention to me what she would like to write, but I had no idea what she was going to write. I was just glad to take a breath, turn off my phone, and focus on Good Friday and Easter.

I’m appreciative of all the folks who want to talk Webb Weekly wherever I go. I’m appreciative of the folks who reach out to me in text and phone calls, as everybody who reads our publication has my number. As far as emails, I do try to answer them, but quite honestly, I’m not an email guy. But to say I don’t get hit with some ridiculousness and hatred would be inaccurate. Sometimes I wonder if they even read my column or just have a predetermined, angry judgment of who I am.

Back to Steph’s column: it was titled “Double Dog Dare” and can be found, along with every past issue, at webbweekly.com if you missed it. It was in reference to the Epstein files. She fielded a Facebook post intended for me and asked if I was good with her answering the question first and response later, to which I replied, “Absolutely, and I wouldn’t change a word.” If you have not, please read the column that Steph prepared. I agree with every word she wrote, and it’s much better said than if I penned it.

I’ve been clear in my writing, I believe in God, family, and Country. I am blessed to live in this very special area we call home, and I’m thankful to be doing what I do. There is a battle of good versus evil being waged, and we must rise above it by working together, no matter of political affiliation.

Over the past 24 years, people have grown more outspoken, less friendly, and to be direct, just flat-out nasty. Everything around us, like Steph mentioned in her column, seems intended to divide us. And it’s probably only going to get worse.

Our area has stayed above the curve because of Democrats’ and Republicans’ ability to work together, which is most important the closer you get to home. I would always vote for the best candidate locally over the party because these are the folks who have the most control over our daily lives and how our area is shaped.

I’ve been clear since the Obama Administration that everyday hard-working Democrats need to take their party back. I never expected, or tried to get voters to switch away from the Democratic Party; I understand how deep its roots run. I have been clear that both parties need to be held accountable, agree to compromise, support our Constitution, and work for the American people. It wasn’t that long ago that I wrote we need better candidates from both sides of the political aisle.

Simply put, we need better candidates from both parties who set a better example for a stronger Nation. We all must avoid drinking the dividing Kool-Aid that is being poured out with personal insults and attempted character assassination as seen on the electronic device of your choosing.

I probably talk to more voting citizens than anyone in our area. I have good relationships with locally elected officials, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans. If you go back through my columns, when a locally elected Democrat does a good job, I give him a high five. I have recently attempted to stay away from local issues because I trust the elected officials. I see what they’re going through to attempt to make our area better while keeping taxes down.

I talk to local business owners; I don’t care if they’re Republican or Democrat, I want to give them the best version of me and help them promote and present their business the best way possible. The one thing almost all agree on is that small business is becoming most difficult and we need our locally elected to stand and fight for us together.

I cannot imagine being an elected official or representative of the Chamber of Commerce and trying to deal with some of the ridiculousness being thrown at economic development projects. Everything is a conspiracy theory, and someone is taking advantage of the other. I’m the last one who would ever want your voice to not be heard, especially when it comes to your neighborhood, however, it’s like the news and social media are conditioning us to reject economic development based upon opinion and hurt feelings, not the facts. Please try to remember that more money is needed at every level, and the only common-sense way to obtain it is through economic development, not raising taxes.

I’d better stop there, I’ll end with we don’t have to agree, but we do need to be civil and work together to make a better future for our children and grandchildren.

God Bless America.