By the number of e-mails and comments following a recent column on socioeconomic trends in Cayuga County, there seems to be an interest in how such trends rank our community and the path we are on. As a result, here are some more items from the luncheon sponsored last month by the Cayuga Community Health Network

The network works to both promote healthy lifestyles and provide ”consumer-level health information“ to enhance the quality of health care in our community. Part of that effort is based on a basic tenet of its executive director, James Kennedy, who knows the best way to deal with problems is to identify them early on.

With that in mind, the network brought in one of the co-authors of the work, ”Socioeconomic Trends and Well Being Indicators in New York State: 1950-2000,“ Dr. Paul Eberts of Cornell. Some may find Eberts' name familiar. He was a regular presenter for several years at Leadership Cayuga sessions.

Eberts told the group of about 40, which included several Leadership Cayuga grads, at the Sunset Restaurant, about some of the strengths that Cayuga County has and also some trouble spots that are showing up in his review of trends.

For example, despite the work of such groups as the Reduce Adolescent Pregnancy Coalition, teen rates for births are higher than seven like counties around us. Teen pregnancies for 15- to 17-year-olds are up, and the births by single mothers are almost one third of the births in this community. That is troubling on several levels. That age group has a higher proportion of low birth weight babies, which impact their futures dramatically and increase health care costs. It impacts the need for affordable and timely childcare as well. There is also a high likelihood that these single parents will not only not go on to higher education to learn the skill sets required in a 21st century economy, but won't even get out of high school.

That, by the way, has not deterred women from going into the work force. According to Eberts' study, nearly 60 percent of local females work.

That trend also impacts not only the need for day care, but family lifestyles, since a great number of households are headed by women.

Eberts pointed out that our education trends are flat. In a world that is more and more knowledge-based, that is a long-term danger for our local economy. It is no surprise that manufacturing is down, but agricultural dollars generated per farm are up. Nearly 28 percent of our economy can be classified as ”other.“ They include construction, food services and recreation oriented areas - they are also highly susceptible to outside factors, such as a downturn in the national economy.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be e-mailed

at cozguytho@aol.com