“We have witnessed unprecedented events in the past year. We have elected a black man as our president. We have witnessed an economic downturn the likes of which most of us have never seen,” McEwen told the audience. “We have watched while the price of oil went above $145 and came back to approximately $30, and have endured near record consecutive days without rain. We live in interesting times.

“Just after I made this speech last year, the unthinkable happened. The Alon Refinery experienced a catastrophic explosion. It's impossible to describe the devastation we saw the following day... That afternoon Jeff Morris, CEO of Alon USA, came to Big Spring, and I knew everyone was OK and the fire was under control, and Jeff could tell from my face what my next question was. And he told me at that point, 'Russ, we're going to start tomorrow rebuilding this refinery.' He said they would have the plant up and running in less than a year, and I thought he was crazy, and I was wrong.”

McEwen went on to thank a number of local residents and volunteers for their efforts during the past year, and reflected on ongoing renovations at the historic Settles Hotel he hopes will revitalize the downtown area.

“When Brint Ryan took this project on, I truly don't think he had any idea how much it was going to cost, and I'm very thankful he did not,” said McEwen with a grin. “When it is completed, the Settles Hotel will be the centerpiece for downtown Big Spring. Kris Ryan, who is heading the project up for the Settles Hotel Development Company, has done an outstanding job. In the next year, the city will be repaving Main Street, Scurry and the side streets downtown.

“During that project, we will also be doing street-scaping and landscaping so we'll have a better environment for all of Big Spring. Main Street will really turn into a boulevard with medians in the middle, and as you drive down the street, we feel like visually, it will take you into the downtown area. It is my strong belief there will be great economic changes in downtown, and it will extend up Main and Scurry.”

McEwen also noted the recent rash of vandalism at Comanche Trail Park, saying how the community responded to the unkind acts reflects the best of Big Spring and Howard County.

“In this past year, we have found out the worst and the best about who we are,” said McEwen. “Some people decided what great fun it would be to chop down the totem pole (in Comanche Trail Park)... to chop down an icon to our community. Many people would go to that totem pole, and it had great meaning to them. But someone decided to take an ax to it and fell the totem pole. I can remember thinking it can't get worse than that. Boy, was I wrong.

“Within days someone — and I call them idiots, or an idiot, and I give them credit for more than they deserve — set the Kid's Zone on fire. And what I saw for the first time since I've been mayor was a righteous indignation from people... They said we will not let this stand. And within days, contributions were pouring in. David Justice with Cornell Corrections called and told me he had people out there who could carve a new totem pole. We will have a new totem pole, and we will erect a sign... acknowledging (the pole's original artist), how it came down and how it went back up. And when we open the Kid's Zone, it will be bigger and better than ever.”

And with the word “stimulus” being batted heavily around the nation's capital's these days, McEwen said it was time for Big Spring and Howard County to come up with their own fiscal lifeboat.

“It's time we began a Howard County stimulus package,” he said. “We've had enough stimulus packages from the state and federal government. When we are spending our money, I ask that you make sure you spend it locally unless that product can not be bought locally. Make it a habit to shop Big Spring first. Make it a habit to do business with our merchants.”

McEwen recounted recent travels that took him through the heart of United States, pointing out a painful difference between communities in other states and communities in the Crossroads area.

“There is no litter in Nebraska or South Dakota, and you know what? It's not because they pick it up so often. It's because they don't litter,” said McEwen. “They care enough about their environment that they will not allow their landscape to look terrible. Keep Big Spring Beautiful does a wonderful job of going out and trying to keep our community beautiful, but it's an impossible task.

“Every year we get into a situation where we have a clean up day, and they say, 'We just picked up 40 tons of trash.' Is that not tragic? What if we got clean and those volunteers were freed up to plant and make things look better, as opposed to picking up trash? What a difference we could make. And, to that end, it is our challenge to do everything we can. We need to quit being slobs, because that's what we are.”

McEwen closed his address encouraging local residents and officials to make needed changes to the Big Spring area and not be afraid to move forward.

“I began this speech by noting we live in interesting times. We're faced with difficulties that we heard our parents and grandparents speak of,” said McEwen. “There can be two responses to these times. Pull in your horns, hunker down and prepare for the worst. Or we can use this as the opportunity of a lifetime. We, as a community, have the opportunity to do the latter, thus changing the future of Big Spring and Howard County. Let's learn to spend our dollars here. Let's change the face of education in Howard County. Let's find a new sense of community. Let's make certain that all entities in Howard County are working together to be certain we're spending your money wisely.

“We will weather this storm, and we will emerge stronger. We will take this opportunity and turn it into a day our children will look back on and not ask why more wasn't done, but rather look with pride at what we did for them. This is literally an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime. While others are scared, let's be bold. Let's go out and do things differently and change the landscape. Please join me in looking to the future with a new sense of optimism and a new sense of hope.”

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it