This one is personal. My wife Kim's family opened the Whistle Stop Restaurant in Glendale in 1975. I waited tables there myself as a college student in the 1980s. Glendale draws visitors from across the region because of its character — locally owned businesses, a railroad that runs right through the heart of Main Street, a genuine historic district that's been on the National Register since 1988. That doesn't happen by accident, and it doesn't survive without intentional policies that say: new development has to fit the community, not the other way around.

Hardin County has just taken an important step in that direction. The county recently adopted a Creating Vibrant Communities plan for Glendale — a detailed roadmap for preserving Glendale's small-town character while guiding smart growth as the area develops. I support that plan fully, and I believe the same kind of thoughtful, community-driven planning should extend to Hardin County's other Rural Villages: Cecilia, Rineyville and Stephensburg. Each of those communities has its own identity worth protecting. Each one deserves a vision for its future before growth makes those decisions for them.

Our rural identity is a strength. I will:

• Support full implementation of the Glendale CVC plan and advocate for similar community planning efforts for Cecilia, Rineyville and Stephensburg — before development pressure overtakes them.

• Protect the character of rural villages through development standards that ensure new construction fits the look, scale, and feel of the community — not a highway commercial strip.

• Encourage locally owned small businesses and agritourism initiatives that bring visitors in and keep dollars circulating in our local economy.

• Support targeted infrastructure improvements — roads, broadband, wastewater — that make rural communities more livable without sacrificing what makes them special.