As small towns struggle, people lose

I returned Sunday afternoon from what might be my last visit to Laurinburg, N.C., a pleasant little town that extols its Scottish heritage (the Mc--- section of the phone book goes on for pages and pages) and banks on community pride and civic involvement. My daughter and son-in-law have made their home there for seven years, and my wife and I enjoyed our visits. We met gracious and friendly people who made us feel welcome, and my daughter and her husband enjoyed a large network of close, dependable friends.

But now they're moving away, bidding goodbye to close friends and looking forward to putting down new roots in a place where they will raise their children.

Laurinburg was named an All-America City the same year that Wilson won the honor.

But like a lot of towns of its size (15,000),  Laurinburg is facing difficult times. Scotland County's unemployment rate led the state for months. A number of major industries closed, and some stores shuttered. The county was home to a thriving agricultural economy in the early part of the 20th century, and there's still a good bit of farming going on, but agriculture has undergone a drastic change.

The city still has its charm. Last weekend, the dogwoods and azaleas were all in bloom, and some quiet streets were ablaze with color. Residents strolled the neighborhoods and stopped to gab with neighbors. The downtown is still vital with some specialty shops, a successful coffee shop/luncheonette and the newspaper office. Still, it's hard to escape the shadow of economic foreboding. With agriculture withering and industries moving overseas, where will the jobs come from to maintain the stylish homes and pleasant gardens that dot the town?

Laurinburg is like a lot of other small towns — I'm thinking of Wendell, Farmville, Stantonsburg and others — that once thrived but now struggle. Unless these towns are close to a larger metropolitan area, as Wendell is close to Raleigh, and can take advantage of the spillover of residents and income, they will have a difficult time. Americans are not only moving from the country to the city, they are moving from small town America to metropolitan America. I cannot count the number of my high school classmates who moved quickly to Charlotte or the number of my children's classmates who made their homes in Raleigh. Small towns across North Carolina are struggling to retain their identity and their economic viability after being bypassed by new highways and having their most promising youth sucked away by larger cities. In the Midwest, I'm told, it's even worse as tiny farm markets shrivel out of existence.

The loss of small towns has an impact deeper than the disappearance of a few jobs. Small towns have nurtured American civic-mindedness, community pride, cooperative spirit, friendliness, patriotism, spirituality and creativity. They have given Americans a chance to slow down and enjoy the azaleas in the springtime or a maple-lined street in the fall, without the jangled nerves of a traffic jam or the bustle of an unforgiving, tight schedule.