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 Why Do Small Towns Fail? Milbank, Ortonville, Big Stone Cit

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PostSubject: Why Do Small Towns Fail? Milbank, Ortonville, Big Stone City, This is a Must Read Article   Why Do Small Towns Fail?  Milbank, Ortonville, Big Stone Cit Icon_minitimeTue Feb 16, 2010 12:45 pm

This is a recent story taken from Hazelton, ND describing how a few years ago this small town attempted to lure young people into their community.

Then the story proceeds to describe this small town as clique' and now this young couple understands why the community has failed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100216/ap_on_re_us/us_saving_hazelton
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Lady Hawk
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PostSubject: Pride and Prejudice in Ortonville   Why Do Small Towns Fail?  Milbank, Ortonville, Big Stone Cit Icon_minitimeSat Feb 20, 2010 10:47 am

A very interesting article. For many years there has been a hollywood stereo type about small towns in the south being cliquish and corrupt. Perhaps that stereo type is unfair. When one looks at the corruptness of the past city council and others in the clique who supported them it doesn't look like the southern towns have the market cornered.

I had always expected the midwest to be different. I always thought of the midwest as good decent folk. I wonder what it is that makes people turn a blind eye to what is going on around them and causes them to ignore injustice instead of standing up to it. There are men and women who have fought and died for the freedoms that we have.

There was a book written about 200 years ago called "Pride and Prejudice." That title could fit many small towns today. "Pride" in the fact that they can point to the house that their grandmother was born in and "Prejudice" against any outsider who has moved to town.

This is a story that happened here in Ortonville.

There was a new young family that moved to town and immediately they looked for a church. They thought they found the perfect one and the wife wanted to help the youth group with a fundraiser and offered her services. She had her own party sales business and offered to do a fundraiser at Cornfest and was given the go ahead by the pastors. She had secured a booth at Cornfest and paid for it as well as putting over a thousand dollars on her credit card ordering the products she would sell. The day before Cornfest she worked all afternoon baking and making preparations. The next day, one hour before she was going over to the park to set up, she received a call from the youth pastors wife stating that the church elders had met and that one of the elders had a wife who also had her own direct sales business and the elders wife was offended that this new woman was going to have the fundraiser instead of her. The elders voted to not allow the church to be used for the fundraiser.

This woman was distraught. She had put out advertisements about her fundraiser to benefit the children, she had put over a thousand dollars on her credit card with product, she paid for the booth, she made the samples and now, after weeks of preparation, she is told one hour before it starts that the board doesn't want her. She couldn't just sell the products because the company she works with has strict guidelines and if you purchase products for fundraisers they can only be sold for that purpose.

For a new family who had only been in town for about a month to be treated so.........

There is a prejudice in this community against "outsiders." Many make jokes about it and will laugh it off. Things do come full circle. All one has to do is to look at the loss of businesses and see that Ortonville is hurting. There are many people who will say "Well, we moved to town and we are being treated nicely." Yeah, go ahead. Hold on to that thought. As long as you are of use you are treated nicely. If the EDA loans you money they will treat you nicely. There are many who will treat you nicely....to your face. Try talking to the new families who have children in the schools. What goes on behind closed doors in the town operates in the open in the schools. I have talked to mothers who have moved to town only to be distressed by how their child is bullied at school. Why not? After all children learn their behavior from their parents.

Skin color isn't the only prejudice. In this community there is a prejudice against "outsiders." It doesn't matter the color of your skin or the church you go to. All that matters is if you came from somewhere else then you don't belong. You will be tolerated if you go along with them or have some skill that they need. Until that attitude changes Ortonville will continue to struggle and people will continue to be hurt. It is up to each individual to decide if they are going to behave like the christians they profess to be or if they will continue to use their christianity as a weapon.

So, what happened to the young family who moved to town? They stayed a few years and left. It is the norm. The Click Club and Gossip Group is effective in pushing people out of town. They aren't worried. They think their town is better off without them.
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Zorro
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PostSubject: Re: Why Do Small Towns Fail? Milbank, Ortonville, Big Stone Cit   Why Do Small Towns Fail?  Milbank, Ortonville, Big Stone Cit Icon_minitimeSun Feb 21, 2010 1:19 am

Lady Hawk
I remember when you first told me about the woman who had the rug yanked out from under her by a rather unchristian act of the church she attended. Sorry to hear they left town.
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PostSubject: Re: Why Do Small Towns Fail? Milbank, Ortonville, Big Stone Cit   Why Do Small Towns Fail?  Milbank, Ortonville, Big Stone Cit Icon_minitime

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