Life in Grant County

"Rural life is relaxed, friendly and represents traditional values.  Rural life is rich in community life, but epitomized by individuals struggling independently to make ends meet."  Privacy can be a thin blanket in a rural community where everyone knows your name and everyone knows your business.  The lack of anonymity in a small community spills over to every family. Everyone knows you, your spouse and your children. They know where you live, and they know your hobbies and friends. Sometimes you wonder if this is a good thing. Then you realize it’s the same for the local merchant, farmer, mechanic, electrician, teacher, preacher and business owner. You're part of the fabric of small-town life, and it is finely woven cloth, indeed.  But then you conclude that the lack of privacy is a positive thing because when you need something, the entire community immediately comes to your aid.  A sense of community is our great and abiding strength.

Life in Grant County is about relationships built around families, church and school.  "You are comfortable sharing experience with these people because you know they will listen, that they will care, and that they will put those values of caring into action." It is about farmers strolling through their pastures to count livestock and yet about golfers walking through their pastures counting strokes.  It is about knowing the number of traffic lights that will be met with discontent and yet, serve as a reminder of the constant changes that are taking place.  Change is the only constant that remains and sometimes leaves us weary.

Life in Grant County means giving directions by telling the person to turn left at the first gravel road after you pass the red dairy barn.  Life in Grant County means not looking twice when a tractor rumbles through town, or you see someone ride through town on a riding lawn mower.  Life in Grant County means teachers remember when they taught your parents and all of your older siblings. 

Life in Grant County means that the person behind the counter will know your name; everyone will wave as they pass you by, and where mail still makes it to your house without all of the information being provided in the address field.  Children thrive in this safe environment, and since there is little news for our small weekly paper, our children occasionally see their photos in the paper for church, school, or a recreational event.  Life in Grant County means that you can drive up one side of the street and down the other and conclude that you have seen it all, or you can sit on the porch and boast that you saw it coming.  After living here my entire life, I have to say that my favorite part is the good feelings that come from knowing that our children are getting the best start in life in this safe and beautiful environment.

                          ~Judge Executive Darrell L. Link