During the Licking County Chamber of Commerce’s 67th Annual Groundhog Breakfast, sponsored by Licking Memorial Hospital in Newark, Ohio, the chamber awarded the annual John Alford Community Service Award to Jim Matesich, CEO of Matesich Distributing. As he accepted the award, he said Licking County residents will have opportunities before them that the past generation didn’t have because of economic growth that is coming to the county over the next 10-20 years. He said he saw businesses close and factories sit empty. Through that, his family’s business survived, but he said it took teamwork.