Being a newspaper, it turns out our place is often "gripe central." When people are unhappy about something, they often come to us, if for no other reason than to vent, such as in our Speak Out! section.

But many are more serious than that. They contend that our city has serious problems and faces some decisions that could make or break us for years to come. We, ourselves, pointed to the coming city election as being an important one, particularly for the future of downtown Marshall.

And in the end, almost no one signed up to run for city commission. There is a race in District 2 to replace incumbent Alonza Williams, who decided not to run again. Zephaniah Timmons will run against William Ryan Fason there.

But District 2 is only one of four seats that are up for election in the May race and the other seat where an incumbent isn't running for re-election, District 3, only drew one candidate, Buddy Power. In that district Ed Carlile decided not to run again.