This past weekend, Lecompton celebrated Territorial Days. It’s a fun celebration that not only brings visitors to the town but also brings the town together. Lecompton is a smallish place. But for a smallish place it has a great deal of history. And it has loyal, civic-minded residents.

Folks are proud of Lecompton, its traditions and its history. There’s the territorial capital museum, There’s Lane University where President Eisenhower’s parents met. The homes are well tended, and the streets are still a safe place for kids to play.

In recent years the town’s also tried hard to revive itself economically. The “Territorial Days” celebration is only one example. There’s a new boat ramp to the Kaw River at Lecompton, for instance. There are new signs on the Kansas Turnpike urging travelers to stop.

It’s the kind of town that truly is the heart of America. But, suddenly, it finds itself under threat, not by city folks taking over or by West Nile virus carrying mosquitoes. No, the threat faced by the town and people of Lecompton is a combination of needed bridge maintenance and foolish, excessive frugality.

Lecompton sits on the south bank of the Kaw. On the north bank is Perry. They share a school district. Perry-Lecompton High School is actually across the river in Perry. So is a small shopping center and several major employers. County Road 1029 connects U.S. Highway 40 (Sixth Street in Lawrence) to U.S. Highway 24. Route 1029 also connects to the new Lecompton exit from the turnpike.

During the summer, a fair number of folks get off on that exit and take 1029 and the Lecompton bridge to get to Perry Lake, a popular summer destination. A fair number stop in Lecompton to get gas, buy groceries and see the tourist sites.

The problem is that the Lecompton Bridge over the Kaw needs a new road surface. The powers that be have a choice. If they close the bridge entirely, the resurfacing will take a shorter time and, therefore, be less expensive. If they keep the bridge open, the resurfacing project will take longer and will, of necessity, cost more.

There’s been quite a bit of support, some would say blind support, for choosing the cheaper alternative. And that is the threat to Lecompton. Even a short closing, which would last months, would wreak havoc on the town of Lecompton (not to mention Perry) and put the residents of Lecompton to immense inconvenience.

If the Lecompton Bridge is closed completely, there’ll be no way to get across the Kaw short of driving to the bridges in Lawrence or Topeka, potentially dozens of extra miles each day for residents who have to cross the river to go to school, go shopping, go to the park. And consider the cost of gasoline at today’s horrendous prices to drive all those extra miles.

Closing the bridge also will mean that the daily flow of traffic, traffic that often stops in Lecompton to buy things and to see the sites, will cease completely. If officials choose the so-called “less expensive option” of closing the bridge completely, the town and people of Lecompton may well suffer catastrophic economic losses. Just when Lecompton’s fortunes have been rising because of the hard work and effort of the townsfolk, a governmental act will set those efforts back. And all of this will occur needlessly.

When economists look at proposed governmental activity they look not simply at the particular cost-savings of the act but also at the costs that the act will inflict on the community as a whole. I would suggest that the economic, psychological and civic costs of completely closing the Lecompton Bridge far outweigh any savings that might be gained by such a closing.

I can only hope that all of the involved governmental bodies think twice before they do something so dangerous to the well-being of this small town. If I may paraphrase and adapt a famous saying attributed to Daniel Webster: “It is a small town. But there are those who love it.”