Editorial: Reaching a milestone

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and it certainly appears to be the case as your editor marks 20 years on the job this month.

Two decades is a milestone to be sure. Some folks might say that’s a good point to shift directions. In my case, it puts me just under half-way to my great uncle George Wayne Estlack’s mark as having the longest tenure in our paper’s history.

To say that a lot has changed since 1995 would be a vast understatement. Clarendon has changed, the newspaper business has changed, and Lord knows our world has changed. Some things we could see coming, and many things have caught us by surprise.

My position gives me some advance notice of things to come from time to time. For instance, I learned four weeks ago from a press release that there is “A strong likelihood that October 7, 2015, will be the End of the World!” This column is being written October 6, so I’m assuming you’re going to be around to read it. If you’re not, well, I guess I just missed the biggest news event of my career and I apologize in advance for not forewarning you last month. I just didn’t want you to panic.

If I thought tomorrow really was “the end,” I’d write a more appropriate column for our final issue. But honestly, the world has ended, the anti-christ has come, and the country has gone to hell many times since October 1995.

We do our best to deal in the facts as best we can discern them and leave the prophecy and nail-biting to others.

Surprises have been in abundance. If you had brought two fifth graders and a pre-Kindergarten student into my office that first week I was on the job and told me that I would be married to one and the others would largely run the paper by 2015, I’m sure I would not have believed that. And yet here we are… and with a Cub Reporter and a Cub Photographer learning the ropes to hopefully follow their old man someday.

My professors at Texas Tech prepared my generation of journalism students for what they thought the digital revolution would bring to the newspaper business. They weren’t far off with how our paper is now read on electronic devices, but I don’t think anyone expected how totally dependent people would become on their “telephones.”

We can disseminate information now quicker and to a wider audience than we could in 1995 when we were bound strictly to the printed newspaper. But our obligation – my obligation – remains unchanged… to bring you the most accurate information we can, to connect our readers with the stories they care about, and to do what we can to improve our community.

This year’s National Newspaper Week theme is “Power of the Press.” That power or influence is derived from the trust that you, the reader, places in your local newspaper. Your faith in us and our advertisers’ support of us allows us the privilege of keeping you abreast of everything you need to know about life in Clarendon and Donley County. From what your city council is doing to what’s going on with this exciting waterpark opportunity to how the Broncos, Owls, and Bulldogs are doing to who has the best sales this week, it is our honor to serve you.

Thank you all for your support these last 20 years. Your confidence has meant the world to me and my family, and we look forward to continuing to serve this great community.