Richard Rogers, WHEO, radio host for the Great Day In The Morning show wrote this in his daily radio blog for the WHEO Internet site.
Promoting Patrick County!
As a concerned citizen of our community as well as a public servant through my work at WHEO radio and my involvement in the community as President-elect of the Stuart Rotary Club, a member of the Board of Directors of the Patrick County Music Association, it has been encouraging to see the revitalization in recent years of the organization that promotes our county and its business community, the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce. Just a few short years ago, it seemed that the local chamber of commerce office, burdened by financial, staffing, and image problems, might not survive or remain a viable force for community improvement. Today, however, the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce is a vibrant, rejuvenated organizaton that is at the forefront of efforts to attract tourists, jobs, and potential new residents and to promote economic development and the prosperity of our existing businesses and industries. Bolstered by a dramatic increase in membership in the last couple of years, the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce appears to be stronger and more focused on its mission today than at any time in its history. One of the major reasons for this positive turn around is the leadership of the chamber's Executive Director Tom Bishop and a highly competent and qualified chamber board of directors. Tom and the chamber leadership, which will be headed by President Janice Wilkins this year, have taken a proactive approach to promoting our community. Tom has gained widespread respect within the local business community, and from residents of the county as well as persons visiting the county from all over the country and around the world.
This respect was most evident on Friday night, Jan. 5th when the annual Patrick County Chamber of Commerce banquet was hosted by the Historic Star Theater in downtown Stuart. The place was packed with an enthusiastic crowd that included local business, civic, and community leaders, state and local government officials, the media, and the honored special guest and keynote speaker, former Virginia Governor and native Patrick Countian Gerald Baliles, who was presented so many awards and a honors that he could have used a wheelbarrow to cart them out of the threater. Baliles highlighted the work of the Patrick County Education Foundation, which he founded to increase the level of adult education and workforce training in our community. The foundation, which recently welcomed Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, has been a outstanding success and has served as a model for the rest of the state. Baliles also outlined the agressive approach that Patrick County should take if it is serious about elevating tourism to the level of being a major sector of the local economy. He noted that the county and its residents must also consider cleaning up our county and unsightly spots that detrat from the county's enormous natural beauty. He indicated that we must set in our minds the type of image that we want to convey to visitors to our county and work to create that visual image. If Patrick County is to get a significant share of the approximately $16 billion Virginia tourist industry, our community must make a significant investment in energy and resources to make it happen, Baliles noted.
I commend the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce on the work that it is doing and urge county residents to get involved in the effort to make our county as attractive and as inviting as possible to the thousands of visitors who come to our beloved county each year. I am so enthusiastic about the work of the chamber of commerce and the positive direction in which our county is headed that I recently joined the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce as an individual member. Businesses and individuals who are not not a part of the chamber might want to consider joining me as backers of this organization. I look forward to working with the chamber of commerce through my radio work and my community involvement in the coming year. Congratulations to the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce on the job it is doing in "promoting Patrick County."
Richard Rogers, WHEO
