With the arrival of a new year, it has become our routine to take a quick glance backward at the headlines generated in Robeson County before we plow ahead, and what we see is a mix of the good, the bad, the silly and the tragic.

Robeson County during 2015 continued to suffer from poor leadership, perhaps most notably the Board of Education’s embarrassing search for a new superintendent of the Public Schools of Robeson County. The school board identified a strong candidate, appeared to have had that person ready to sign a contract, then racial politics was injected and a local person who did not apply for the job was hired. It left residents angry and confused and, we believe, is the reason that on March 15 voters will have a long list of candidates to choose from and the possibility of a new school board.

The silliness continued with our county commissioners, still the best paid and benefited in the state, who all the sudden decided solar farms might be a health hazard. It is a wacky position anyway, but coming as it did after about two dozen solar farms have been located in the county, perhaps the most in the state, demonstrates that the board’s leaders are not guided by the public interest, but their own interest, re-election and the ability to use their power to put family and friends in county jobs. Three commissioners face competition, so hope exists for change.

There was plenty of change at the ballot box in November when municipal residents indicated their displeasure with the status quo, and two weeks later the chairman of the Lumbee Tribe was given the boot. But once again, the big election story has been that it just won’t die as no one trusts the results of the Pembroke mayor’s race and Precinct 7 in Lumberton remains too close to call. Their outcomes will be headlines for the new year.

Perhaps the most tragic story of the year remains the disappearance of Sara Graham, an 18-year-old from Fairmont last seen in early February. The daughter of two law enforcement officers, Graham reportedly was on her way to work early on a Wednesday when she disappeared, her vehicle found abandoned by the side of the road. Rumors circulated and were fed when her mother, a sheriff’s deputy, was fired without a public explanation. But 10 months later, law enforcement has not been able to determined what happened to the teen.

There was a sprinkling of good news throughout the year, with electrical customers in Red Springs and Lumberton getting some rate relief with Duke Energy’s purchase of assets held by the N.C. Eastern Municipal Power Agency; the announcement of a collaboration between Southeastern Health and Campbell University that means dozens of aspiring doctors receiving training locally, enhancing local health care now and later; Dr. Robin Cummings’ return to his native Pembroke as chancellor of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke; and “Shake Off the World,” a faith-based film that depended on local people for the cast and Lumberton for the backdrop.

But the best news was easily the decision by Sanderson Farms to build a chicken-processing plant near St. Pauls and a hatchery in Lumberton, which will mean a combined investment of about $140 million and the creation of close to 1,200 jobs, including 75 of the white-collar variety at the hatchery.

Sanderson Farms, which is noted as a good civic neighbor, has the potential to take as many as a fourth of the people who are listed as unemployed in Robeson County and put them to work, and the property taxes it pays in St. Pauls and Robeson County should enhance local services without tax increases.

We hope for more of the good news during this new year, and less of the silliness. March 15 is a day that could help this county head in a better direction.