No One is Coming

2/22/26

Dear Editor,

            Hardin County needs to know that No One is coming to save us. No amount of infrastructure work will bring in business on its own merit (although vital). Not one single organization alone can entice business to come to Hardin County. A single good candidate elected cannot bring change to a board or department alone. No amount of public record requests will bring honesty and transparency to our local offices, but I am encouraged.

            I am encouraged by our fight to keep the Hardin Hills nursing home beds local, which paved the way for Vancrest to build their new facility. I am encouraged by the voices that rose up in opposition to the solar farms, and the integrity of the townships to enact resolutions to prevent future developments. I am encouraged by our last election, where many races were contested and new bodies filled those positions. I am encouraged when I see a long-standing dream realized through the Kenton show choir as it uses our new facilities to generate income to support its own programs. And, I am encouraged by those who have a heart to genuinely serve our community in elected positions (government or private) that have been trudging diligently up-stream toward a better Hardin County.

            So, where does that leave us- it leaves us with a choice. Our shoulders bear the responsibility of our future. We have watched as regulations, inflation, cultural movements, and predatory entities have swooped in and taken our hopes, dreams, and realities. Often our farm land is not passed down to the next generation to farm due to political trade wars on crop prices and selling out to better profits. Our homes are over-priced, taxed to death, and utilities subsidizing unwanted grid outlays. We are rural America. We cannot and will not stand by any longer.

            It is going to take you running for village council, for township trustee, for county positions, and boards all over Hardin County. We have given over our local governments to the same ‘ol selected group of people for far too long. What we need is you. You, who don’t have time to read this letter. You, who are tired and stressed over finances and schedules. You, who doesn’t want to be in politics and are afraid of ‘becoming one of them’. It’s you because you’re a fighter. You are putting in the hard work to make a life for your family, and to pass on what you want to see in this world.

There is never going to be a time where one person ‘saves the day’. But there is a time where we all can join together to take back the power that our Constitution has given us. There is a time in the near future where we become the ‘place’ to build a company, to raise a family, to get involved, and relax in the comfort of our freedoms (fought and won for us). Otherwise- our backs will bear the stripes of apathy yet awhile longer.

Michelle Laubis