Supporting your local businesses includes your hometown paper, too

I have always believed in shopping locally first and foremost. Our family buys its gas in the town where we reside. We buy our groceries and incidentals, and regularly dine at restaurants in town, too.

Sure, we spend plenty of money out of town, but the vast majority of our expendable income is spent in our community.

The way I see it, if we don't support those businesses in our hometown, what does that say about us as citizens? Bearing that in mind ...

Employees of this newspaper will participate in a subscription drive next Friday, Aug. 18. What's unique about that, you ask?

Well, plenty if you think it's important to have a hometown newspaper in this community.

The stark reality is that the newspaper industry is not the thriving industry it was decades ago.

But while people may be more inclined to read their news online these days as opposed to a hard copy, much work goes into producing that online version of the newspaper.

We are still working with the public, collecting information, sometimes in submitted form and other times through phone or one-on-one interviews.

We also supplement many of our articles with photos, all to provide our readers with the most in-depth coverage possible.

Whereas we do not have the staff the size of a larger publication, we employ multiple part-timers to help us achieve our hopes and dreams.

Each of us at the newspaper believes that the work we do serves a purpose in this community.

One of the most recognized journalists of the 20th century, Edward R. Murrow, had this to say: "Most of us probably feel we couldn't be free without newspapers, and that is the real reason we want newspapers to be free."

Please keep your friendly neighborhood newspaper in mind next weekend during our subscription drive.

Football draws near

You know autumn is just around the corner when football practices get underway.

Prep athletes began their two-a-days this past Monday. The season starts Friday, Aug. 25.

Keep your eye out for our special football preview the week of the first game.