This newspaper will have a special section included with Thursday’s issue called “Good News Iberia!” that’s part of an effort to get locals to consider that though this community has its challenges, like the impact of the slowed economy primarily tied to the slowdown in the oil industry, we still have good things happening locally.

“Good News Iberia!” is an effort by The Daily Iberian and a number of local business sponsors to try to offer some perspective, to try to get locals not to ignore the negatives impacting us but to hopefully to balance out those negatives with some reminders we’ve also still got good things happening, reasons to feel some optimism about our community’s future.

The special section in Thursday’s paper won’t recap every single good news story that’s out there but seeks to offer some reminders of good things that have happened recently or which are thought soon to happen. The idea is, if we can get people talking about some of the good news items we share, hopefully they’ll find even more that should be considered.

We’ve had lapel buttons made up that say “Ask Me About Good News Iberia” which our employees and our business sponsors’ employees will wear next week. We’re providing buttons to area government offices, to area chamber offices, to area ports and the airport offices and others, to try to create some visibility for this good news effort, and to get locals talking about some of the good things we’ve got going locally.

We’re realistic. Running some stories and wearing buttons isn’t going to cause our economy to start soaring, won’t cause local businesses to hire more workers and give existing ones raises, is not going to solve any of the real problems.

But hopefully this simple effort can provide some balance, some perspective, will cause some people’s negative attitudes to be a bit less negative and cause some with positive outlooks to be even more positive.

This newspaper and the businesses that are sponsoring this section, and the many who have gladly accepted some buttons and promised to wear them next week, believe that despite the challenges our community faces, our future is still bright.

Check out the section in Thursday’s paper. Share your own good news examples on our Facebook page or in comments on our website or send us a Letter to the Editor or just tell someone you see wearing one of the buttons next week.

Sure we’ve got our challenges to work through, but don’t forget there’s still good news in Iberia too.

WILL CHAPMAN

PUBLISHER