Friday’s paper featured a story about a recent report published by Gov. Robert Bentley’s office showing Dallas County gained 246 new jobs in 2013.

This report may have been produced to highlight the good and ignore the bad – seeing as how it did not include many counties in the state, nor did it include the total amount of jobs lost in 2013 – but it is a ray of hope for Dallas County.

The county might have only gained one new company last year, but that’s still good news. Algix provided 46 new jobs and millions of dollars in capital investment.

Bush Hog even started showing signs of a comeback by adding 25 more jobs last year. Even with the increase, however, Bush Hog is only employing about a third of the people it it used to.

Economic recoveries do not happen overnight.

The recent report did not show any booming industries or statistics to be celebrated, but it did provide something we all need: Hope.

The last thing that Selma and Dallas County need are people to give up.

At times, there is a sense of pessimism that exists in our area.

Optimism goes a long way, and even though the people of Selma and Dallas County have gotten their hopes up to no avail previously, now is not the time to turn our backs on our community.

Our community is on the verge of gaining some traction in the fight for economic recovery. This report showed that there is something worth believing in when it comes to our area.

Let’s keep our chins up and hope for the best.