Saturday night will close out the calendar on 2011, but it won't bring closure to some important issues in Warren County.
This year, perhaps more than many others, has spawned contentious issues that are difficult to resolve quickly.
There are the questions hanging over the ill-fated Allegheny Center for the Arts Building on Liberty Street in Warren and the disposition of hundreds of thousands of dollars in state grants that were earmarked for it. There are also many questions about the how and why a building in the heart of downtown with the potential to enhance the block's historic beauty now looks like a boarded up derelict.
With any luck, an audit underway by the state Department of Community and Economic Development will provide some answers to some of those questions and at least clues to the others.
So far, that is all we have to rely on, because public officials have been loathe to provide any detailed information.
A charter application for Eisenhower Middle High School continues to figure into virtually every decision the Warren County School Board is faced with, making it the biggest uncertainty in a near future that is fraught with uncertainties.
The charter issue has also embroiled the Warren County Commissioners, who don't normally get involved in educational issues. Having once turned down a request to draw down a $750,000 trust fund they administer to lend startup aid to the charter, one commissioner has vowed to revisit the issue when a new member hailing from the area primarily served by the charter takes his seat.
Along with the uncertainty has come disagreement, suspicion and even anger to the point that the big picture of what Warren County means as a community sometimes seems forgotten.
Perhaps if some of these issues come to closure we can move on and make 2012 a year in which we come together to plan a future that keys on unity and understanding.