Jasper County officials are on the right track by trying to turn a negative court decision into a positive outcome to offer good jobs and an improved quality of life for residents.

The S.C. Supreme Court last week overturned a lower court decision. The Supreme Court's 5-0 decision says that the lease agreement between Jasper County and Stevedoring Services of America, a private Seattle-based company, to develop a $350 million deep-water port terminal on a portion of 1,776 acres that the county is trying to condemn serves private interests more than the public interest.

Stevedoring Services was to supply the money to build the container shipping port. The residents of Jasper County would own the land and lease it to the company for $1 a year. Justices said the action would be unconstitutional because a private developer owning and operating the port would not be a sufficient public use to justify condemning land.

Jasper County Administrator Henry Moss is optimistic the project will move forward. In the ruling, the court said, "We express no opinion regarding (the) county's ability to accomplish the project in a different manner."

Moss has pushed a plan to build a major port for more than a decade. Many people dismissed the idea before the preparation of environmental and economic studies. Moss and Stevedoring Services are ready to carry on the fight. Stevedoring Regional Vice President Jake Coakley said last week, "We've had these road blocks before, but we still think it's a great project. It brings economic growth to the area and it brings the capacity of handling containers that is sorely needed in both South Carolina and Georgia."

Moss and Coakley aren't the only people who see benefit in building the port. Over the last five months several developments have taken place that give hope that the project will come to fruition:

The chairman of the Chatham County Commission has endorsed the project, saying a proposed port on the site was good for both states;

Legislators in Georgia and South Carolina are considering creating a joint Savannah River port authority. Georgia's proposed legislation, to "study the condition, needs, and issues and problems" associated with "each other's economic activities along their common border"; and

Gov. Mark Sanford has warmed to the idea of a private-enterprise port in Jasper County. In April, the governor said the idea of a private developer proposing to pay for infrastructure that the state normally would have financed was worth examining.

Recasting the condemnation proposal so that it will be acceptable to the court could have tremendous potential for Jasper County's economy. Developing jobs and improving the standard of living for residents of the third-poorest S.C. county is a noble goal. Estimates are that the port would employ 250 people making union-scale wages. An additional 2,000 jobs may develop in businesses that surround the port.

Sometimes the second time around is better. That is a concept that Moss and others contemplate as they move forward. One thing is for sure too much is at stake in Jasper County to give up on the project now.