There was a time, back when I first moved to Hanford from the Los Angeles area 17 years ago, when almost everyone I met in my day-to-day life was a native -- if not from Hanford itself, then certainly from the Central Valley area.

I don't know exactly how the demographics would stack up at this point, but last week I met three people, one after the other, who all relocated to Hanford from either Los Angeles or the Bay Area in search of affordable housing, safe streets, and a better quality of life, just like I did 17 years ago.

It seems I'm meeting more and more people with that story lately, and it's becoming apparent that we ex-patriot city dwellers are not quite the minority we once were.

And while our demographic may be changing due to the influx of us out-of-towners, I also think it's because many of the young people who grew up in the Central Valley are no longer staying around here.

The first students I had in my classes when I was a teacher are now old enough to be graduating from high school and heading off to college. But I've noticed that many who are ambitious enough to move on to four-year colleges and universities do not return to Hanford, even after achieving their degrees.

I see their names on the Wedding Announcements page of The Sentinel all the time: "Mr. and Mrs. Proud Hanford Parents are pleased to announce the engagement of their son or daughter ... who, upon marrying, will be establishing their home in Somewhere Else, USA."

I'm not sure what drives young people away from here, while we continue to attract folks relocating from more urban areas. Perhaps the answer can be found in economics.

For instance, all three people I met who had relocated here from northern and southern California were entrepreneurs: The first owned a mobile glass company, the second had bought a carpet-cleaning franchise, and the third was the new owner of a restaurant. And while I didn't ask any of them if they had college degrees, I do know that all were working in professions where a degree was not mandatory.

So what happens to our native sons and daughters, who go to college and get degrees but choose not to become retail or service-type business owners?

It's something I wonder about, because we have three children living here in our house who all have the expectation of completing four-year college degrees someday.

The first has dreams of becoming a photographer for a major news service such as the Associated Press. The second wants a career in aeronautical engineering. The third would like to be a pediatrician, and is the only one who (if all three hypothetically stuck to their plans) would be able to easily find work in the town she grew up in, if she wanted to. But she could just as easily find it elsewhere, too.

And quality of life issues tie into the mix, too: When we send our kids off to another city or state to complete their higher education, are we a desirable enough locale that our kids will want to return home from those picturesque college towns eventually? Can we compete, not just economically, but also in terms of offering exciting recreational activities and cultural offerings here in town (not two hours away)?

Because it does seem that while some folks are arriving here from other areas, too many of our own children are heading out and not returning. The "brain drain" of our higher-educated native sons and daughters is something we may need to address in thinking about the kinds of businesses we want to see in our area -- if we want our those kids to settle down here and raise families of their own, that is. Sure, a new Lowe's will provide lots of jobs, but most of them will be minimum wage. Don't we want to attract other businesses, ones where our college-educated children can find a place as well?

I don't think I am imagining that the demographics are changing around this area. I hope that somehow, Hanford can be not only a Boom Town, but also a Boomerang Town, where kids grow up and to off to college, but "boomerang" back home, finding challenging, well-paying jobs close to where they grew up.

As we head into this holiday week, I can't help but think would make getting the whole family around the table on Thanksgiving a whole lot easier.

Diane Sayre is a freelance writer living in Hanford. Her column appears weekly in the Sentinel. Readers can write to her at The Hanford Sentinel, P.O. Box 9, Hanford, CA 93232.

(Nov. 19, 2007)