Editorial/Op
Central Has Spoken
By |
Anniversaries are a good time to look back and take stock of where we have been and whether we are still on the right path. It was five years ago, in August of 2008, that I created the internet blog/news site “CentralSpeaks.com”. I was convinced that many people in Central were as interested as I was to know what was going on in our community and to have a place we could share our events and stories and read everyone else’s. Working full time in our transportation business, the best I could do was to open up the site and hope that the people of Central would Speak…..thus the name Central Speaks. And BOY have you spoken!
In five short years, 6,787 separate events and stories about Central have been shared on CentralSpeaks.com. For over three years now those celebrations and news articles have also been in print in Central Speaks, our weekly community newspaper, now capably run by your Central High and LSU graduate Beth Fussell. Although the posts started slowly at first, 6,787 news items in 5 years is about 4 per day, every day, 365 days a year. That is a bunch of news from a small town.
I was told early on by an experienced journalist that community newspapers did not have the room to publish all of these “little” stories. I guess it is a good thing I didn’t know any better, because he was wrong. There IS room for all of the “little” stories. More importantly, these stories are not “little” to those of you whose children, friends and neighbors are IN the stories. YOU are what makes Central Speaks a true “community” newspaper.
I could describe for you what and who all of these “little” stories involve, like anniversaries, T-Ball championships and all of the selfless efforts of a community filled with generous people. However, it would be easier for you to just flip through the pages of the newspaper you are reading now and think for a moment about the people impacted by each of these “little” stories. A story about the 60th anniversary of two people is important to hundreds of family and friends. The first place baseball team has 14 players, but 200 friends and family want to know about it. Relay for Life may be attended and celebrated by 50 cancer survivors, but cancer has affected all 27,000 of us in some way.
So, let Central Speaks tell your “little” story. Email Beth Fussell at [email protected] or call 262-3730 and Beth, Lindsey or Angie will get help get your story told, your event publicized or your business advertised. As you read today’s paper, understand that much of it has been brought to you by the people of Central who contribute their “little” stories that are actually the most important things going on in this great community. Central Speaks… Central Has Spoken.
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