Our thanks to the Adams County Board of Supervisors for having the guts to stand up and lead when necessary.

Earlier this week supervisors unanimously agreed to step up to the plate and agree to take on some potential liability for something the City of Natchez’s leaders were scared to assume.

The problem started a couple of years ago when the city opted to sponsor a federal grant to help the owners of the area’s only railroad line, Natchez Railway LLC.

The grant was to pay for improvements to structurally subpar bridges along the railroad between Natchez and Brookhaven. The weakened bridges require train cars to be filled at less than capacity, which makes the transportation option less efficient.

City leaders, most of whom were signed off on the original application, got cold feet when they realized language in the grant application potentially could put maintenance liability on the city if the railroad ever went bankrupt.

Fortunately, county leaders realize the importance of the railroad and the unlikelihood that the maintenance concerns would ever come into play. The county signed off on assuming that responsibility which clears the way for the grant money to be received now.

Sometimes leadership is not just doing the safe thing, but doing the right thing in face of potential risks.

In this case the slightly liability is far outweighed by the economic benefit of having an improved rail line.