Not to Become Big. To Become Ready.

Regional technical workforce could help grow the Moore County tax base and keep young people close to home

#Opinion • 9:45 a.m. July 1, 2026

The Jack Daniel Distillery is Moore County’s largest employer, but it cannot employ everyone who wants to live here, raise a family here and someday be buried in these hallowed hollows.

That is not a knock on Jack Daniel’s.

It is a fact of life in a small county with modern bills, young people making hard choices and a future that cannot rest on one payroll.

Moore County was built by people who knew how to work with their hands. Farmers. Tradesmen. Mechanics. Builders. Men and women who could fix what broke, raise what fed them, make do when money was short and keep going when the work was hard.

That way of life gave Moore County its backbone. But tomorrow’s leaders will not all farm the way our fathers and grandfathers did.

Many will still know the land. Many will still respect it. Some will still work it. But the next generation is also learning code, robotics, welding, nursing, aviation, cybersecurity, industrial maintenance, logistics, engineering, construction technology and advanced manufacturing.

That does not make them less Moore County.

They are the future of Moore County.

The question is whether this county is ready for them.

The workforce is already here

Within roughly 90 miles of Lynchburg is a deep pool of community colleges, universities, TCATs and technical schools – along with health-care training programs, engineering departments, welding booths, mechatronics labs and workforce pipelines.

Motlow is next door. TCAT campuses, MTSU, UT Southern, Tennessee Tech, UTC and nearby community colleges are within reach. North Alabama adds Huntsville, UAH, Alabama A&M, Calhoun, Drake State and the Redstone Arsenal economy. Northwest Georgia adds another layer of technical training.

That is not a thin labor pool. That is a regional workforce engine.

Moore County does not have to create all of that talent on its own. It simply has to be smart enough to catch some of it.

For years, small counties have been told economic development means landing one big plant, one big employer, one big announcement with a ribbon and a press release.

Maybe that happens. Maybe it does not.

But the next version of economic development may look smaller, cleaner and more practical. A precision machine shop with 20 good jobs. A software support company with a dozen employees. A medical device supplier. A robotics repair shop. A cybersecurity contractor. A logistics technology firm. A light industrial business tied to food, beverage, construction or advanced manufacturing.

Not 500 acres. Not smokestacks. Not growth that swallows the county whole.

Just real work. Real payroll. Real tax base. That is where Moore County should pay attention.

A technical hub here would not look like Nashville, Huntsville, Murfreesboro or Chattanooga. It should not. Moore County does not need to become another place that grew so fast it forgot what it was.

The math does not care

But protecting the county’s character cannot mean pretending the bills will stop coming.

Schools cost money. Deputies cost money. Ambulances cost money. Roads cost money. Fire protection, solid waste, public buildings, insurance, equipment and payroll all cost money.

The county can argue about tax rates, timing and politics. It cannot argue with the math. The money has to come from somewhere.

Right now, too much of that burden falls back on the same narrow base. Homeowners. Farmers. Retirees. Small businesses. The people already here keep getting asked to carry a little more because the county has not built enough new revenue streams to share the load.

That is not a long-term plan. That is a squeeze.

Moore County cannot fund a modern county on nostalgia. It cannot pay deputies with scenery. It cannot pave roads with good intentions. It cannot ask schools, EMS, sheriff’s deputies, teachers, road crews and public servants to do more every year while avoiding the hard conversation about how to pay for it.

At some point, the choice gets plain: Grow the base, cut the services, or keep raising the burden on the people already here.

Those are the options.

A technical economy gives Moore County a better one.

Not reckless growth. Not every field turned into rooftops. Not every hillside turned into a commercial strip. Just selective growth tied to skills, payroll and long-term local value.

Readiness beats wishing

That starts with readiness.

Moore County needs to know what land and buildings are truly available. It needs honest answers about water, sewer, power, broadband and roads. It needs to know which sites are ready, which sites could be ready and which sites are just wishful thinking.

It needs county government, schools, Motlow, TCAT, local employers and regional economic-development partners at the same table.

Not once. Not for a photo. As a habit.

The county also needs a clearer path for its own students. A Moore County High School student should be able to see how to move from a classroom here to Motlow, TCAT or another nearby program, then into a good job that does not require leaving the region behind.

That means dual enrollment. Industry credentials. Internships. Apprenticeships. Job shadowing. Employers willing to train young workers instead of simply complaining that nobody wants to work.

This is not theory. It is blocking and tackling. And it matters because the next generation is already making decisions.

Some of them will farm. Some will work construction. Some will go into nursing. Some will write code. Some will repair machines. Some will work on aircraft systems, medical equipment, fiber networks, industrial controls or logistics software. Some will leave and never come back. Some would stay close to home if the right job existed.

That is the opening.

Moore County does not need to be the source of every graduate. It needs to become a place where some of them can land.

That will require more than saying we love young people. It will require building an economy that has a place for them after graduation.

Raised here, hired elsewhere

A county cannot spend 18 years raising a child, cheer at graduation, then act surprised when that same child moves away because there is no job here that fits the skills they earned.

That is not preserving Moore County. That is exporting its future.

The founders of this way of life did not build Moore County by standing still. They adapted. They worked with what they had. They used the tools in front of them. They built farms, families, churches, businesses, schools, roads and communities with grit, patience and practical sense.

This generation owes them more than memory. It owes them stewardship. And stewardship is not the same as fear.

There is a difference between protecting a way of life and refusing to prepare for the next one.

Moore County can stay small and still be serious. We can respect agriculture and still welcome technical work. We can support tourism, local business, trades, health care, advanced manufacturing and remote professional jobs at the same time.

But we have to choose.

The talent pool is already around us. The schools are already training the workers. The regional economy is already moving. Huntsville is not waiting. Murfreesboro is not waiting. Nashville is not waiting. Chattanooga is not waiting.

And the next generation will not wait either.

Moore County can build a small, smart place for them to work, live, raise families and carry this county forward.

Or it can keep raising children for someone else’s economy. That is not preservation. That is surrender.