My Mother always told me that the best things in life are worth waiting for…and that good things happen to those who wait.

Those truisms were proven today with the announcement by Toyota officials that they were moving ahead with the Blue Springs plant to manufacture the Corolla.

What a huge boost to the economy and to the future of the state and perhaps another example of what it means to put a state in the place of greatest opportunity.

But I think it is important to remember that while we had to be patient in waiting for the economy to improve to allow our newest corporate partner to move forward, the location of the plant in Northeast Mississippi didn’t happen because our state leaders waited.  They seized the day.

You might remember hearing from Dennis Cuneo, the former Toyota executive who served as a Toyota consultant, that Governor Barbour kept calling and calling and calling on Toyota officials – even when they didn’t have a project on the boards, reminding them that Mississippi was worth looking into.

There was also Gray Swoope from the Mississippi Development Authority, who has delivered on his reputation as one of the leading state economic developers in the nation, and his team who focused a strategy for competing for the project aggressively with other states – and creating a winning proposal.

Then there were the leaders in Northeast Mississippi, who put their part of the state in the place of greatest opportunity – David Rumbarger of the Community Development Foundation who organized the business community and who enlisted the help of Randy Kelley of Three Rivers Planning & Development District who joined in organizing mayors and supervisors in thinking creatively and coming up with a three-county alliance approach to pitching for the plant. 

They didn’t wait for the Toyota plant to come to them – they went out and marketed the “Wellspring” site at Blue Springs, taking their pitch across the world and demonstrating the unique alliance that was in play.

There was also some serious help from our Congressional delegation – and a huge boost from the Mississippi Legislature that responded promptly, efficiently and effectively to put the final elements in place to win the day.

I think it is also appropriate to give some serious credit to the leadership of Toyota, for not writing our state off and for taking the real effort to look at what we have to offer…and to Nissan who blazed the trail a decade ago in putting a stake in the ground and demonstrating that Mississippi was a good place for locating a major automobile manufacturing facility.  It is to the credit of each of these companies that they looked at the genuine opportunities that Mississippi brings to the table…in our resources…and our people. 

Like my Mother said, good things happen to those who wait.  But we also know from our Biblical teachings that the Lord takes care of the person who takes care of himself…and in this case, Mississippi leaders had the courage and the foresight to do what needed to be done to put our state in the place of greatest opportunity.

And thanks to our Governor…and these other leaders…we are celebrating, today, at a time when other states are only wishing for an opportunity like this to jumpstart an economic recovery.