Sometime, when you have time to surf the Web, pretend you want to visit a town or city - any town or city - anywhere in the nation. Try large cities and small towns.

Do a Google search and check out the particular city or town you have in mind, whether it be Huntsville, Alabama; Yuma, Arizona, or the small town of Portage, Wisconsin.In most cases, you'll find websites far better than those for our local communities. Check for yourself.Try to find Lehighton's website on a Google search. It's very difficult.There are some local towns with websites which are outdated, incomplete, or don't exist at all.If a company decides it wants to relocate locally, they might have trouble finding much out about the community by looking on a hosted website.At least two local municipalities have spent pretty good amounts of money in the past year or two to improve their websites. Apparently good things take time because the sites are not complete. They're certainly not updated or comprehensive.We're in the 21st century, when the Internet has become a major source for information. Whether attending a marathon race in a town, going shopping in the community, or learning about tourist sites, people rely on the 'net.That's why it is important that local municipalities not only have information websites, but sites which are updated and easy to navigate.Borough officials should become proactive in assuring their respective municipality's websites are complete, functioning, and kept current.Whether people want to visit a community with business intentions, tourism curiosities, or recreational purposes, you can bet that the Internet is one place they'll try to find information.Unfortunately, such info is not available on the Web in too many of our local towns.By Ron Gowerrgower@tnonline.com