No matter what your job is, without exception, you spend your day dealing in some commodity. If you’re a restaurateur its food, a banker deals in money, a broker in stocks and at newspapers - you guessed it - we deal in information.

For months now, local officials, business people and others have been extolling the virtues of Decatur County and why it deserves to be the next home for Honda. As a newspaper, we convey that message to our readers through news articles.

Not surprisingly, I’m sure, our counterparts in Van Wert, Ohio and Washington Court House, Fayette County, Ohio are doing the very same thing. Everyone is putting their best foot forward in an attempt to drive away with this lucrative deal, and the moves are covered by local reporters in those places.

So, since the one commodity is information, we’ve worked out a trade we think is good for everyone. We’ve arranged to share a story written by our news team with the two Ohio newspapers and they have agreed to do the same. It may be difficult to hear why Van Wert County and its 29,154 residents, or Fayette County, with a population of approximately 28,400 people, thinks they should get Honda over Decatur County but it is good background to have. Any coach worth his or her salt always looks at hours of film and researches the opponent before taking the field.

This series of stories will provide our readers, as well as theirs, a neat inside-look at the main players in Honda’s game of musical cities. It will also offer a perspective the respective news teams couldn’t do on their own. Sure we can tell you Fayette County already has two successful Japanese plants or that Van Wert has a median house value of $70,800 and expects Honda to add 1,200 new students within a 15-mile radius of the new plant, but that’s only a small piece of the story. What are the people like, how do they feel about Honda and what are they willing to do to court the international auto manufacturer? These stories need a local flavor only a hometown newspaper can provide.

So, starting Saturday, sit back and read a little bit about the competition. Size them up and form your own opinions as to which city has the best shot at the 1,500 jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in investments. And, as always continue to read the Greensburg Daily News. Even though we are sharing a story with the competition, we’re still your daily news.

To comment on or view reaction to this or other local stories please visit www.greensburgdailynews.com.