Giving Thanks For Year One

It was a year ago this week when we were introduced to the rhythms and rituals of producing a community weekly in the Touchet Valley after we bought the Times from Loyal and Kathy Baker. We had no idea at the time what a gratifying adventure it would become. In that first week before Thanksgiving 2009, we were totally focused on writing stories and taking pictures for our first issue while stepping onto the steep learning curve with ropes and crampons.

Just making it through the first night felt like finals week. But slowly, as the weeks went by and we became more comfortable with our daily tasks, we began to implement our vision for the newspaper: we added color, changed the layout, started new columns, split the paper up in sections with sports and a monthly business page, and began covering more stories in Dayton and Prescott.

We went all local, relying solely on our own reporting and contributions from writers in the community to fill our pages, with the exception of Milt Priggee's editorial cartoon. These days we rarely produce an eight-page anymore (post-holidays editions may be the exception). It's usually at least 12 pages. The response was very encouraging. Our subscriptions and single-copy sales started going up, more advertisers climbed on board, and we began to get more submissions from local writers and photographers. Our goal was to increase our subscriptions from 1,071 to 1,250. We were delighted last Wednesday when we reached that number with our 1,250th subscriber. Meanwhile, our news stand sales are now around 300, so our total circulation is about 1,550 and climbing every week, thank you very much.

Earlier this year, we began our renovation of the historic Times building, upgraded our computer system, started a Facebook page and, this summer, we went online: http://www.waits­burgtimes. com.

Just a few weeks ago, we opened an office in Dayton to bet­ter serve readers and advertisers in that community. We hope to be back in our remodeled Times offices next month and will invite the community to help us celebrate the grand reopening. In short, a lot has happened since Thanksgiving 2009. Not in our wildest dreams did we think our purchase of the Times would go so well. But honestly, we would not be here without the help of many, many people in the Touchet Valley whom we'd like to thank on this occasion of our first anniversary. First, of course, there is Loyal, who generously showed us the ropes and made introductions. We still call him for advice and he dispenses it readily. Our staff has been a huge key to our success: administrative assistant Norma Bessy, managing editor Dian McClurg and ads legals production coordinator Bob Nowell.

Our contributing writers include weekly food columnist Judith Henderson and regular Burg contributor Jane Butler, plus other contributors such as Paul McCaw, Jeff Broom and Tom Hebert.

Contributing reporters have included Maya Garcia, Ros­indee Thompson, Ross Hamann and Curtis Seiss, while contributing photographers are even more numerous: George Gagnon, Ross Hamann, Bob Deal, Ian Withers, Rosindee Thompson, Roy Ramirez, Todd Wagner and Curtis Seiss. We mentioned recently how the Union Bulletin supports us with printing, technical support and ads sharing. The Blue Mountain News also shares ads with us, and for that we're grateful to Ken Graham and Vanessa Saldivar. Scott Underwood, our IT consultant, has been phenomenal, and Ron Smith of Northstar Construction is doing an awesome job on the building. Last but not least there are many people to thank for the encouragement and support - too numerous but we'll cite just a few: Tom and Anita Baker, Dr. Carol Clarke and many mem­bers of her staff of administrators, teachers and coaches; Doug Johnson and his school's staff; AJ Jacobson in Prescott; Randy Hinchliffe and Kelly Steinhoff at the City of Waitsburg; Trina Cole and Craig George at the City of Dayton, and Prescott Mayor Libby McCaw; Leroy Cunningham and Ross Steven­son, Paul Gregutt and Karen Stanton, John and Marilyn Stell­wagen, Walt and Gwynn Gobel, Mike Hubbard and Markeeta Little Wolf, Jim German and Claire Johnston, Lisa Ronnberg, Paul and Marcene Hendrickson, Bette Lou Crothers, Jennie Dickinson, Jim and Anne Walsh, and many, many others. Thank you so much for making this a fantastic first year. Cheers to the next one!