Fast away the old year passes, Hail the new, ye lads and lasses,

Fa la la la la, etc. etc.

Friends, it is time to change the calendars. The old year grows weary, weary with the burdens, tragedies, world conflagrations, and bitter elections that made their way into the history book during 2016. We are glad to see a fresh page.

A new year brims with opportunity. We undertake a cleansing of our mental closets. Resolutions abound, all well intentioned, and some are kept. We walk along in a period of hopefulness for a few quiet weeks of winter until the real world intrudes again. But we are grateful for the respite.

But until Sunday brings us that fresh page, we reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly, preferring to remember the good.

Our communities are great places to live, each offering much to their residents and to visitors, and each striving to make improvements to public institutions wherever possible. Not many places in this nation have the dual benefit of beautiful landscap...