Times Renewal

It is with pleasure that I am renewing my subscription to “The Times,” and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Lane on her quality publication. We are all aware of the severe challenges faced by both small and large newspapers across the country, and I am so grateful that she is managing to continue her craft.  

There is much that I appreciate each week besides the quality local news coverage. Brad Trumbo shares his love of bird hunting, nature, and life on a farm (where I spent many hours in my youth) with a remarkably poetic writing style. I’m fascinated by his words as much as the content of his articles.  

I’m always eager to see where Karen Huwe and her family are traveling to, inspiring us to explore places that don’t necessarily involve an airplane ride. Vicki Sternfeld-Rossi amuses me with her ‘garden rodeo queen’ stories and gets my respect as well as sympathy for being an intrepid owner of a home that was very old when I was a kid.

The Pioneer Portraits is also a favorite. Several years ago, I posted on social media that, “You know you are old when the ‘Pioneer Portraits’ for 50 years ago was about YOU, and you were already well into grade school at the time!”  

And it’s great to see the Letters to Santa, pictures, and activities of kids whose grandparents I grew up with. I also get a kick out of my friend Jimmye Turner’s “The Friendly Forest” comic strip, and love Bill Rodger’s stunning photos of the countryside I grew up in. The community service that the Last Page serves should not be overlooked. I have traveled to Waitsburg myself to enjoy events I’ve read about there. And here’s wishing the best to Luke at graduate school; your recipes will be missed, whether I actually gave them a try or just drooled over them. 

When my mom passed away, I let my subscription lapse for a while. It made sense from a ‘belt-tightening’ standpoint, as I no longer had any family ties to Waitsburg. But I missed the weekly, for all the reasons I have listed and more. I sincerely appreciate its robust diversity of features and how the paper keeps me connected to my roots.

This letter is both a vote of confidence and a call for continued support of “The Times.” According to PBS’s Judy Woodruff in August of 2023, “about 2,500 local newspapers, a quarter of the total, have folded since 2005...depriving the communities of some of the glue that holds them together.” Please join me in helping to sustain this integral part of Waitsburg and surrounding towns, by keeping your subscriptions current, by giving gift subscriptions to former residents, and by purchasing advertising space for your business or event. Think of it as an investment in your quality of life.

Linda McKinney Herbert

Walla Walla, Wash.