BY MOLLIE DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

People often tell me that the news is always negative and only covers the bad, and sometimes when I read the paper or watch TV, it’s easy to get caught up in all of the bad things that happen. Negative stories also seem to get far more publicity. But, when I looked back at some of the stories I’ve covered in the past week, I realized there is good all around me in Shelby County.

In fact, for every piece of bad news, there are so many other stories of people doing good things for their friends and even for people they don’t know.

In just this past week, I got the chance to see Valley

Elementary School students cheer on a group of our law enforcement officers as they ran the Special Olympic torch to Troy University to start the games, I spoke to a Pelham High School teacher about a group of students who started their own group to develop and empower leadership among the student body, I learned about a group at the Cornerstone Church that reaches out to incarcerated youth and I watched hundreds of volunteers making fishing dreams come true for special needs students across Shelby County.

And those are just stories that I’ve covered in Pelham and Helena. There are good stories like that happening every day in towns and cities across Shelby County. There are stories about outstanding teachers, winning athletic teams and caring citizens.

Getting to cover stories like that is one of the reasons I like my job so much. I get the opportunity see the good, know the people making it happen and share the story with the community.

Bad things do happen everywhere, and Shelby County is no exception. But, through covering the news every day, I can confidently say the good greatly outweighs the bad here every day.

 

Molly Davidson is a staff writer for the Shelby County Reporter. She can be reached at 669-3131 ext. 24 or by email at Molly.Davidson@shelbycoun- tyreporter.com.