If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then Natchez-Adams County is badly in need of psychotherapy.

With nearly as much certainty as the inevitable arrival of hot, humid summers, a number of issues seem to rear their heads each year.

From downtown Natchez’s on-again, off-again enforcement of the much-ballyhooed sign ordinance to Ferriday’s water woes, the issues that plague the Miss-Lou seem to spin back up almost yearly.

Other perennial re-runs include whether or not to fund economic development for Natchez-Adams County, what to do about the Natchez-Adams Schools and how to handle the cries for improved recreation facilities in Adams County.

The issues are not insurmountable. They just need our leaders’ focus and some tenacity if we ever hope to check them off the public “to-do” list.

We’re convinced that when our elected officials get together and communicate openly with both each other and with their constituents, our community can get past these pesky perennial problems.

When a community starts moving in the same direction with the goal of tackling problems, it will quickly be able to move onto more important issues, rather than rehashing last year’s issues over and over and over again.