Our community guide is now available and packed full of useful information

We are distributing our annual Community Guide. Many of you will receive it in your News Journal this week, while others will get it in the following weeks. The reason for splitting up the mail deliveries is that it takes our printer too long to process it all at once. It is a big book, so be patient, all local subscribers will receive a copy as soon as possible.

In addition, we are making deliveries to numerous locations throughout the area for others who want a copy. Our Community Guide has proven over the years to be a highly popular book. The main reason for this is that it contains useful information, unlike some that are mostly advertising. I’ve had people tell me that it is more useful for business related calls than the telephone directory. The elderly especially like it for its big, easy to read print and easy to find categories. (That includes me.)

This year’s edition is especially attractive. Linda Carpenter designed the cover which focuses on the area’s entertainment. While I’m bragging I want to include some compliments to those who work on our Web Site. It is impressive. If you want your news when it happens, not tomorrow, the next day, but sooner, then our site will keep you informed of all local breaking news stories.

We’ll give you this for free, but to receive all the news in detail, plus columns, statistics, classifieds, and many other features then you have two choices. You can subscribe to The News Journal or to our electronic edition on our web site at www.thenewsjournal.net, or both.

Our electronic edition is especially appealing to our out of state subscribers because they can read the current edition of the paper at noon each Wednesday, several days sooner than the mailed edition. Fortunately, our local post offices deliver the paper every Wednesday, many receiving it before it is posted on our web site.

Our of state subscribers to the electronic edition will also save substantially over the mailed copy. Local subscribers requesting the electronic edition can receive it free.

Newspapers are changing. Many dailies have gone of out business while others have suffered huge losses in both advertising and subscribers. Fortunately for us, our subscriber base remains strong. Like all media in this area we have seen a decline in potential advertisers. We’ve counted over 40 businesses shutting down this year in the tri-county area. However, we are not facing the dilemma that many others you’ve probably read about have suffered.

Don’t think that newspapers will some day fade away. There will always be newspapers, even though some may take on a different form. Journalists are extremely important to our society in that they keep government in line and expose society’s ills. We’re moving ahead by offering both an updated electronic edition along with our newspaper edition of the news.

*It has been birthday week for some very important people in my life. Saturday I attended my grandson Blake’s birthday party. He is two years old and the apple of my eye. This week my sister, Bena Mae, is celebrating a birthday. Her writing in this newspaper has added to its value. And today, as I write this, my boss Terry Forcht is celebrating a birthday. Happy birthday to all!