Looking ahead to changes, we have every reason to feel good about the future

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.

In the last edition of the HCN, we announced we would be transitioning from a twice-a-week newspaper to a once a week. I am “over the moon” with this decision because it will allow us to continue to evolve to what we believe will be the epitome of a 21^st Century community newspaper. The new version of the Hood County News, which will be unveiled on June 10, is bigger, more complete, and full of information about our community, our people, and our activities. With our dedication to being ‘hyper local,” I believe there will be something for everyone, in every edition.

To accomplish our goal, we needed to make changes in our staffing and coverage patterns. In the past few weeks and in anticipation of the change, we have added several full-time staffers and multiple free-lance writers. These additions will allow us to cover community news that has previously fallen through the cracks. There are a lot of activities going on in Hood County and it is quite a task to keep up with all of them, yet this is our commitment.

I am tremendously excited to add Micky Shearon to our staff. He will be managing our social media and video needs, as well as writing an occasional feature story on one of our neighbors or on one of the many wonderful activities in our town. Many of you know Micky as the Director of the Opera House or from his time serving on the GISD school board. He and I have been hatching up plans on how the HCN can bring you more information, faster, and in an entertaining way. It is going to be a lot of fun, and I am overjoyed to be working with my friend as he starts this new chapter in his life.

I hope your readers are getting excited about what the future holds. I promise you are going to love the weekly paper and the ease and efficiency of our website to view breaking news.

Visitors to the HCN

This week it was my great pleasure to have teachers Karisa Glenn and Randi McPhate bring their students Rebecca Ballew, Ashlyn Adams, Harper Fox, and Annabel Ross to the Hood County News for a tour. These four students are a part of the Mambrino Elementary School newspaper. They are infatuated with newspapering and their teachers wanted to take them to the newspaper so they could experience a first-hand look. It was our pleasure to host the students and demonstrate how the newsroom works, discuss the obligation of journalists to be factual and objective, and let them watch the press print a paper. The girls were very attentive and asked wonderful questions, and there was no doubt in my mind the students were soaking up as much information as they could. Congratulations to Ms. Glenn and Ms. McPhate for going the extra mile. We are already making plans for next fall to include portions of the Mambrino Elementary School newspaper in the HCN. I am looking forward to it and bet you are too.

Thought for the day: The only way to make sense of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and enjoy the dance.

Until next time … I will keep ridin’ the storm out

sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260