Ah, Labor Day, America’s holiday! It’s the day that we honorthose whose dedicated efforts are the cornerstone of the economicprosperity of this country. It is a day we can kickback and relaxand enjoy the fruits of the collective labors of this nation — forwithout that collective effort, we would not be the world leader weare today.

A talk that our staff here at the Daily Leader frequently hearsfrom me during company meetings is the importance of our unifiedand collective effort in producing The DAILY LEADER each day — forwithout the dedicated effort of each department workinghand-in-hand, a newspaper would not be produced.

“No one department is more important than the other,” I say. “Wecan have the best news coverage, but without the efforts of ouradvertising sales staff, we cannot pay the salaries. We can havethe strongest advertising staff, but without quality news coveragewe are not a newspaper that readers want to purchase.”

“We can have the best news coverage and the strongestadvertising staff, but if we do not have the best efforts of ourgraphics design team, we cannot put it all together in a readableproduct. And even with the best news, advertising and graphicdepartments that create the newspaper on a computer screen, if wedid not have a dedicated production crew to print the paper — ourpresses would not roll. Organizing all of this is ouradministrative and management staff, who handles the small detailslike paying the bills, preparing payroll, ordering supplies,tracking employee benefits and keeping track of everyone,” I tellthem.

Then to pull it all together, I like to remind them, “we can doall of this work, put in the extra hours, work the hardest we haveever worked creating the biggest newspaper ever, but if thecarriers who deliver the paper to our readers fail to do their job- it was all for naught.”

Like any business, or industry, this country is a team. Thecollective efforts across the country by the workers — be itlaborers, assembly line workers, office workers, garbagecollectors, managers etc. — allow all of us to enjoy the successof this nation.

Sometimes that unity and teamwork fails and the economy falters– jobs are lost, lives are disrupted and distrust prevails — andthe economic engine begins to sputter.

Three hundred and fifty-five days ago this nation was brought toits knees with the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001. Out of those dark anddreary days we found a unity and trust. While our economy was onthe road to recovery, we were again shocked by Wall Street scandalsthat took down WorldCom, Enron and others.

Locally our economy has been hurt, but a look around at thebuilding going on, new businesses opening up or establishedbusinesses expanding or moving to new locations, tells us that abright future is on the horizon.

This area has been blessed with hard working dedicatedindividuals who are proud of their community and unified in itsgrowth and vitality. It is the secret of our success.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day holiday.

Write to Bill Jacobs at P.O. Box 551, Brookhaven, MS39602.