Itís the old adage ñ no pain, no gain. I would add, no pain, no gain, no growth. Growing pains are a given as a community blossoms. Take Falcon, for instance. Last†month, Jason Gray reported that the Falcon chamber had considered disbanding; this month, the organization has decided to do some reorganizing ñ and itís not the first time.Ten years ago, when Falcon was just planting the seeds of growth, a small group of business people established the Falcon Business League. We were part of the original group.† Although some people today donít agree, eventually the chamber was dubbed by many as a ìgood ole boys club,î and truthfully it was. The board definitely consisted of the ìold guard.î Who is to say thatís bad? When there arenít many of the avant-garde types in a seedling community, who else is going to get the ball rolling?†The only problem we had with the ìold guardî was their hesitation to let the newbies join them in developing and running the chamber. In all fairness, some people are apprehensive about a newspaper person unless, of course, they want positive recognition. But we had a good following of advertisers and readers from the get-go. Anyway, when my then partner and current editor decided to run for president of the league, that old guard insisted she run for secretary or maybe even vice president ñ certainly, the presidency would be saved for one of the fellers.†Long story short, the growth of the business group was hampered by a few issues like the incorporation of Falcon. Boy, talk about growing pains. There were times when I thought we were going to witness a gunfight in the middle of town ñ that would have been the Safeway parking lot at that time.†Fast forward a few years, and the Falcon Business League morphed into the Eastern Plains Chamber of Commerce.†Truthfully, we wish them the best of luck.†Speaking of growing pains, KOAA Channel 5 TV has caused a few headaches for the Woodmen Hills Filing 11 design review committee (commonly called the homeownersí association board).† The committee has come under fire for foreclosing on a home after the homeowners failed to pay assessment fees for more than four years.†The New Falcon Herald will follow up in the March issue because there is always another story behind the story.††Well, itís February already so Happy Valentineís Day! March is up next, which means we are closer to springtime in the Rockies. Itís kind of like no pain (winter); no gain (spring and summer)!See you in March!– Michelle
