Editor: Newspapers play a vital role in our nation

This week is National Newspaper Week, and it’s a good time to reaffirm our commitment to our readers and advertisers as well as to our community in general.
For more than 145 years, The Clarendon Enterprise has been bringing you the news – or Spreading the Word, as we like to say – about all the comings and goings and doings around Donley County. As perhaps the oldest business in town and for sure one of the oldest in the county, it’s easy to take for granted that the newspaper has always been here and always will be. That’s certainly our plan; and with your continuing support, that’s how it will be.

Many small towns have not been so fortunate. Over the last several years, we’ve seen several rural newspapers close – some due to lack of advertising revenue and others due to a lack of someone to pass the torch to. But for the most part, we still see that vibrant communities are ones that have active newspapers.

Today more than ever, our communities need reliable information. Rumors can spread fast with social media, but digging out the truth and reporting honest facts is work. It takes time and resources, but in the end it is worth it to know what is really happening. You can find that kind of information on social media – on The Clarendon Enterprise page, of course. You can also get it on our website – ClarendonLive.com – and in our printed and digital editions of the paper.

Some say newspapers are relics of the past, but this is not true. Good newspapers have adapted to serve modern audiences. Our web and social media audiences continue to grow, and our digital subscriptions have grown more than 33 percent in the last year with new subscriptions being added weekly. People want reliable news, and the Enterprise and other community newspapers deliver that.

In addition to providing you news right now online and in print, we also are the county’s historian. Today’s news is tomorrow’s history. We are mindful of that, and so we carefully maintain digital and physical archives that date back to 1878. If you want to know how the Bronchos faired in 1930, you turn to us. If you want to know who they will play this week, you turn to us. Our Facebook page carries live updates from the football games, and then our printed edition records forever how the game came out.

Look at this week’s issue. Readers will learn who their new city administrator is, what events are coming up, what’s happening with the district court, what streets are being paved, what have Hedley school kids been up to, how did the junior high football teams do, what real estate is available, and so much more. News and information like that is available every week in print and more often online.

None of this would be possible without you – our readers and advertisers. You keep us going literally and figuratively. To you we pledge to continue to keep covering the news as fairly as we can and to keep being your eyes and ears for the place you’ve chosen to call home. Thank you for your support.

Meanwhile…

Last week, City Administrator David Dockery hung it up and retired. But then on Monday he was back at City Hall to serve as a consultant for a limited time. So while he’s gone but not totally gone, we still take this time to tip our hat to his service to our community.

Being a city administrator is a tough job, especially in this town. Like being the editor, you’ll never make everyone happy. Some people may even wonder why we need an administrator, but I maintain the city government is too big to not have someone watching over it daily. Dockery has done that job very well.

At the very least Dockery should get the Longevity Award for serving – or surviving – longer than any other city administrator. Seriously though, he deserves credit for many things during his tenure. The city is in better financial condition than when he found it, and there is a long list of accomplishments over eight years. Paving projects, long-term water system improvements, the new City Hall, the aquatics center, and downtown revitalization are just a few things that come to mind. Some of those projects were more popular than others, but all of them moved the city forward. And he did all of them while closely guarding the city’s finances. Contractors learned quickly that Dockery would not let them cut corners or give the city anything less than their very best effort.

Dockery would be the first to not take credit for any good thing that happened. In his philosophy, if it’s good, the mayor and city council get the credit. If it’s bad, then the blame should fall on him. I think though that most people who have served and are serving as elected city officials would agree with me that these accomplishments likely would not have happened without his steadfast support and professional service.

Your editor and the administrator may not have always agreed 100 percent on different issues, but there was never a doubt that Dockery always did what he thought was right for the city.
Thank you, sir, for your service, your friendship, and your dedication. Clarendon is better than when you found it.