Apparently, there are two Northampton Counties.

At last week’s meeting of the Northampton Board of Commissioners, a motion calling for the county to provide $6,145 for runway expansion at Tri-County airport was not approved.

Hertford County officials have opted to provide their one-third share of the project. Meanwhile, Bertie County leaders were waiting to see what direction Northampton officials would take on the airport’s request.

While it’s true that Tri-County Airport is located in Hertford County, it does serve Bertie and Northampton equally as well. That airport sits in a central location, one easily reached by ground mode of transportation from anywhere within the three-county area.

However, it appears from the discussion generated by the Northampton Commissioners at their Jan. 20 meeting, Tri-County Airport sits on the wrong side of the county.

“I don’t understand who is going to benefit from the expansion,” said Commissioner Virginia Spruill, adding that she could understand the need if there was a lot of economic development going on in the area.

It seems to us that Spruill missed the point here…the point being economic development for your county. The key word there is “development.” One must first “develop” prior to experiencing economic gain. That’s like first planting a seed, watching it mature and then gaining from harvest.

Her comments were a slap in the face of every Northampton citizen residing in the eastern end of the county. Spruill and her fellow commissioners had no issues with providing incentives to help build the infrastructure that spurred economic growth along the I-95 corridor in the western end of the county, but yet she, along with Commissioners Robert Carter and Chester Deloatch, voted against the airport project.

The Commissioners are to be commended for their vision to help attract new business to the Garysburg and Gaston areas of the county. Equally, they should fully support efforts to do the same for the eastern side of Northampton.