By Tony E. Windsor

The Town of Laurel received disappointing news during its Monday night meeting of Mayor and Council. Laurel Chamber of Commerce President, Donald Dykes, informed the town leaders that after 15 years the Chamber will no longer sponsor the annual July 4th Celebration. Dykes also apologized that the town council had inadvertently not received a letter that was intended to be mailed out to the Laurel Fire Department and the town in August making the announcement. It was only recently that he found out the Laurel Fire Department had received the letter, but not the town. "It was our desire to make sure that two of our biggest supporters, the town and fire department were told before anyone else was made aware. I apologize that this did not happen," he said. Dykes said the decision to no longer sponsor the 4th of July community event was not an easy one to make. "This was certainly not an easy decision for me, because I have been a part of this event pretty much since it started," he said. "I remember the early days when there was Johnny Janosik and his trash trucks along with me, Janet Lee and Debbie Brittingham helping clean up after the event." Dykes said the Laurel Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors felt it was time for the Chamber to move on to taking care of its primary obligation to the business community. "It was felt that this year's July 4th event was very successful so it was the right time to move on, while we had a successful event," he said. "Planning for this event starts in January and runs all the way through July. This makes it hard for the Chamber to focus time on our primary mission, which is to maintain a network for our local businesses." Dykes said the event is not only time consuming in terms of preparation and coordination, but also very expensive.