Will B.
Christmas has passed with a “ho ho ho” and many celebrations and New Year blew right by in the blink of an eye. Hello, 2024. I just know everyone had the best Christmas ever and hopefully nobody overdid it at a New Year’s Eve Party, although it’s good to have at least one day a year to blow off steam and party like it’s 1999. I hope everyone remembered to eat their black eye peas.
The first Will B of the New Year is generally a soap box edition but I found myself looking to the new year with a hopeful gleam in my eye. Let’s stay positive this year, Olney. There are many things to look forward to: it’s an election year and maybe, just maybe, we can get someone in office to move the country in the right direction again. Lessons learned in all from voters of the past hopefully.
Olney is still moving forward with plans to secure the city’s future with a new water treatment plant. No city can grow or survive without enough water. Olney Hamilton Hospital has worked diligently to push forward with plans for a new hospital. There have been some ‘for’ and some ‘opposed’ and I will admit I was opposed in the beginning only because the way the funds were going to be obtained.
Olney has a great many elderly and those on fixed incomes and we were just hit with the new water bill increase after all, but most of the funds will not be footed by Olney taxpayers so I am all for the plans now. A new hospital will bring more business and people to Olney as well as a new facility to take better care of our elderly and other needs of the County.
Keep Olney Beautiful is still pushing forward with plans for a new city pool after completing upgrades to our recently renovated Griffin Park. A new pool will be a welcome amenity to Olney; we all know how hot the summers are here and a refreshing day at the pool is just the thing to relieve the heat of the day or break up a boring day during summer break.
Our Chief of Police has brought the Olney Police Department into the 21st century and now we have a police department that would rival any big city. Chief Dan Birbeck will make his bid for Sheriff and if elected I expect he will do amazing things for the Sheriff ’s Office.
Olney has seen some great restaurants come and go and a few have stayed the course and are still here. One might look at it as a negative to see so many failures but on the positive side, we get something new and who knows what the next café may bring us here in Olney.
This is Will B saying, Olney for me will always be the best little town anywhere, with the best people and I believe the future is bright here in Olney.