It is an established fact that money spent in a community such as ours circulates about seven times before it leaves. Given that fact and the small size of our community, chances are that money spent locally is going to come back to benefit the spender in some way, perhaps many ways.

Some people understand that and others just don't get it. With the national economy in such turmoil right now, an understanding of the importance of spending locally is vital to the economic health of Wilkes County. Being imprisoned by the mindset that sees only the bottom line allows our economy to be sucked away and circulated seven times somewhere else.

For example, if you need to purchase clothes, household supplies, and groceries for a total of $800 at Wal- Mart in Thomson, the same list of goods might cost you $817 at Maxway and Bilo in Washington. That $800 at Wal-Mart would be gone from Wilkes County - and the sales tax would be used to build things in Thomson.

However, the $817 at Bi-Lo and Maxway would be used to pay the salaries of people you know and who live here. They in turn might continue the chain by also spending locally - perhaps where you work so that some of it contributes to your own salary. And every time some of it is spent it supports local taxes including sales tax, a portion of which goes directly to the building of the new high school/middle school complex.

The Wilkes County School System's extensive contract for copiers throughout the system is currently on the table and twice Superintendent Joyce Williams has recommended that the Board of Education award the contract to an out-of-town bidder. A local bid is slightly higher. Twice, the board has declined the recommendation but cannot, by law, act on its own to award the contract locally.

Board chairman Ricky Callaway, and members Kay Finnell and Kelly Powell deserve some enthusiastic pats on the back for their stance and determination to award the contract locally. We hope the others will come around to their way of thinking.

In the meantime, the process is not simple and the copier contract is massive. The superintendent and the board are right to be particular about the details. But in the end, they must all understand where the true value is.

The true value is right here in Wilkes County - in its economy, in its businesses, and in its people.