Imagine

    I have a Dream.  It began with a visit to North Georgia and a little town that captured my imagination by taking their old, 10 room school house and transforming it into an art gallery, museum, black box theater, and science lab to study about the area's ecology.  A trip to Nashville Tennessee included a dinner theater performance in the old school auditorium they salvaged.
    Later I visited Ocean Springs Mississippi, where far-sighted folks saw in their old 1927 school the very same things. A Public Radio show was hosting a live broadcast from that location, featuring Mississippi musicians.  And so the Dream took root – "Why can't WE?"
    Why can't WE take our Old School Gym, purportedly the oldest existing school building in the entire Parish, and make it a venue for live performance?  Why can't WE hold a dinner theater there featuring local talent and food from one of our fine restaurants?
    Why can't WE offer a space for our local dance studios and Central Community Theatre to hold performances?  Why can't WE have a space for local artists to show their work?  Why can't WE have a museum where our Historical Society can exhibit the large amount of documents and photographs they have collected for the benefit of our children?
    Why can't WE have a place to display historical artifacts that are DAILY being thrown away because there is nowhere to keep and preserve them?  Why can't WE have a hands-on exhibit where our school children can learn how life was back in the earliest days of the Central community – learn about spinning, and churning, and planting, and all the things our earliest settlers had to brave to carve out a living in the days before Wal-Mart and McDonalds?
    And, why can't WE preserve a place that saw years of graduates receive their diplomas, saw basketball games and school assemblies, and is the only building that remains of the school that gave Central Intermediate School, Central Middle School, Central High School, and indeed, our very City of Central, their names?

Why can't we?

    Our School Board has unanimously voted to give our City 30 days to demonstrate that its citizens do indeed want a Cultural Center that encompasses all of these marvelous things.  If they are not convinced, they have stated they will DEMOLISH the Old School Gym immediately thereafter.
    Folks, anyone can tear something down.  It is so easy.  What requires work is to come together to create something marvelous that benefits EVERYONE in our community. But isn't that what our town is known for?
    Didn't we create a city out of nothing?  Didn't we fight to have our own school system?  Didn't we vote to support our new schools with our tax dollars?  It is easy to tear something down.  It is not easy to live with regrets. 
    I believe the citizens of the City of Central want the wonderful things a Cultural Center would provide – not just for us, but for citizens of the future.  I believe that you share my Dream.  I believe you understand the value of the past and its irreplaceable nature.
    I believe you want these good things for your children and your children's children.  I believe you love your city and want the best for it.  Won't you help?  Please take less than 5 minutes and sign the petition advertised below.  Make our Dream a Reality.