Sen. Roy Herron speaks to Paris-Henry County Chamber of Commerce

By Bill McCutcheon
Paris Post-Intelligencer
February 22, 2010

"These are certainly challenging times, but I strongly believe better days are coming," State Senator and congressional candidate Roy Herron told a roomful this morning at the Paris-Henry County Chamber of Commerce.

Herron said state sales tax receipts have declined now for 20 consecutive months and that's causing unprecedented pressure on state lawmakers to balance the budget. "We're not like those in Washington - we're required to live within our means here in Tennessee."

Herron said he believes Henry Countians have 10 good reasons to be hopeful about the future.

"First, Highway Seventy-Nine, right outside this building, will continue to be important. Already four-laned from Paris to Kentucky Lake, it will soon be four-lane all the way to Clarksville," Herron said.

That in itself means increased tourism, increased business opportunities for the area.

"Plus, increased access to the area as we continue to push for completion of the Two-Eighteen Bypass around Paris, will be even more important in the future," he said.

Another reason to be hopeful is the growth of the University of Tennessee at Martin.

"Online classes and dual credits for students still in high school will help UTM and our area."

Increasing support of technology centers - vocational training - will only help the job situation Herron said.

"Good jobs used to rely on strong backs," he said, "now, more and more, good jobs need strong minds. It's almost mandatory today for most any job to require computer skills."

He said the proposed port in Lake County, though it's on a different river, will prove to be important even here in Henry County.

"I believe we'll see at least three-thousand good paying jobs come out of that," he said.

His fifth reason to be hopeful is the education reform just passed in the legislature's special session.

"We've got to get it right in K through Twelve, if we want to make a long-term difference overall."

The expansion of the Union City Airport and addition of air services from there should be important to all of northwest Tennessee, Herron said. Seventh on his list of hopeful signs is that Tennessee is listed in the top five for favorable business climate in several business journals.

"Taxes are another strong point for our state," he said, "especially when compared to other states. We are among the least-taxed of the fifty states."

Recent reforms in workers' compensation laws have helped us.

"We also have great local leadership and, most of all, we have great people," he said.

The ever-increasing federal deficit should scare everybody.

"If you're not scared," he said, "you just haven't been paying attention."

Herron said it's time those in Washington focused less on party affiliation and more on the future obligations of the country.

"We used to have elections just every couple of years," he said, "and now it's non-stop. Partisanship has gotten out-of-hand and it's time we stopped it."

Herron also said it's time we did better in math and science in our schools.

"Right now, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville has as many engineering graduates from other countries as from the USA," Herron said, "and I think Tennessee Tech at Cookeville has more."