It's always good news that a closed company is being reopened by a new owner. It's even better news when the company is 10 miles away. The announcement that Loggins Culinary of Tyler, described as a beef products company, will reopen the Lufkin Armour Eckrich plant that closed in March is a good sign for Angelina County's future.

"Grow or die" is the watchword of economic development, so when new economic blood comes in, it's a sign of health. The company plans to start up with 85 employees and grow to 125 by next year and more than 200 by 2010. That's against 165 lost when Armour Eckrich left.

So lost jobs will be replaced, but it will take time. Odds are many of the laid-off workers have found other jobs, and the positions created will be really new. Economic development pros I've talked to and listened to indicate the county job market is strong enough that laid-off people often find new jobs fairly quickly. They say that's what happened to most of the people laid off when Lufkin Industries closed its trailer division.

In that sense, just as Texas is better off these days than the rest of the country, Angelina County is a bit better off than the rest of Texas. That's a really nice situation to be in. The county unemployment rate hovers in the 4.5-5 percent range. On a national scale, 4 percent is considered full employment, so we're sitting pretty. The state, by the way, does not breakout unemployment stats for Diboll.

Nationally, unemployment isn't much higher than that, but the economy has changed. Growth these days is in "service sector" jobs, in restaurants, hotels-motels, office jobs. The high-paying manufacturing jobs are stagnant or shrinking. That Lufkin and Diboll still retain jobs that involve making things is another healthy sign for the area.

Manufacturing jobs bring new money into a community. When something made here is sold out of town or out of state, the money paid for that product comes out of some other city's economy and is new to this area. That's what new money means; it's here now and wasn't before.

Service sector jobs "recycle" cash. Unless it's a tourist or out-of-town businessperson, money spent at restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations is already here and shifts from one Angelina County bank account to another. Some of that money "leaks" out of the local economy when people go to Houston to shop or Shreveport to gamble.

A local economy has to have that new money coming in in order to survive.

Diboll continues to have a strong manufacturing base, but the future is uncertain. Anticipation - looking for opportunities to bring new industry to Diboll - will be the key to ensuring a bright, prosperous future for our community.