A letter has been circulating since Saturday that seeks to blame the Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce for the author’s perceived notion that “the business hub of the county is rapidly disappearing as stores continue to close.” Though we have repeatedly tried to persuade him to allow us to publish his letter, he declines for fear of harrassment. Perhaps that is because his letter is largely without merit or credibility.

The “business hub” of which he writes is downtown Washington. He asks if the Chamber is disturbed by business closings and says he can’t see any signs of efforts to reverse the trend. He negates the current national economic recession and says “a more accurate finger would point” to the Chamber as the root of the problem. He further blames Washington city officials and staff for not shopping locally. And he accuses the Chamber of keeping secrets because he can’t see that “anything new is coming.”

The letter sounds good and a number of business owners responded with letters of support. They wrote of the money they had invested, their hopes for success, their loyal customers, and the potential of the town. They also wrote of “stagnant and ... greedy ... big frogs in this little pond,” of uncooperative landlords and inflated utilities, of being ignored by the local population, and of the local “demi gods” who pull the strings. It turns out that the good sounds are just a rant providing an excuse for struggling or failing business owners to vent their own frustrations.

We truly sympathize with anyone whose business is struggling or failing. We’ve been there – more than once. It’s tough, and it feels like you’ve been betrayed, and you’re embarrassed, and you’re broke, and you’re discouraged to the point of rage. We also applaud those owners who stepped out in faith and took a risk to try and make their own lives and those of others in Washington a little better in whatever ways their businesses served.

Any business venture is a risk and if it fails it joins the ranks of so many others that have also failed. But as callous as it may sound, the ultimate blame for any businesses failure rests with its owners. No one else is responsible – certainly not the Chamber of Commerce or the local government.

This newspaper’s circulation and ad revenue are not as much as they have been in some years past. However, it’s not the Chamber’s fault and it’s not because a city official didn’t buy a copy of the paper this week. It’s because we’re not doing enough. In some way or another, we’re not servicing our market with what it wants or needs. It is therefore up to us, and nobody else, to change, cut back, adapt, reorganize, expand, get out, or do something to boost our share of the market. Those things are very hard to do.

It would be a lot easier to lock the doors, blame the Chamber and the “powers that be,” and go out with a bad and defeated attitude.

It is not the Chamber’s, nor is it government’s job to save downtown businesses from failure. The Chamber is doing its job by sponsoring and organizing downtown shopping events, coordinating and raising all the funding for such attractions as Independence Day fireworks and Snow on The Square (Thank You McDonald’s and Washington Little Theater), and promoting Washington in countless other ways.

Times are tough right now for everybody all across the country. It’s not time to shirk and blame. It’s not time to take a vacation. As one Washington business owner said this week, “It’s time to go to work.” It’s time to dig in, think outside the box, make some tough choices, put in a few more hours, get your hands dirty.

Washington and Wilkes County may not be the most lucrative markets there are, but they are what we have, and they are where we live. For those of us who have chosen to live and work here, there is something, some quality of life, that makes it worth it. To preserve that, there can be no room for misplaced blame, we must all adopt an attitude of “Let Me Help” to make business better in our small part of the world.

As for anonymous letter writers and venting victims – business is business. It works or it doesn’t work based solely on the choices and decisions made by business owners. You can’t blame outside organizations, governments, or even customers. It’s not personal ... it’s business.

– Editor