Sands of time
Much has been written about "sands through the hourglass." Most of us float along, content in our little world until something or someone comes along to tip the hourglass. When that happens, the result is sort of like a shift in the earth's tectonic plates — sending life as we know it into chaos. Such has been the case lately for our little newspaper family.
The first "shift" occurred earlier this spring when we hired a new editor, Grant Overstake, at the Hillsboro Star-Journal.
Readers of the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin and Hillsboro Star-Journal had been sharing similar pages with both Peabody and Hillsboro news for a number of months. Readers in Hillsboro complained about having Peabody news in "their" paper. Peabody readers complained about Hillsboro news.
With the introduction of Grant, the Hillsboro and Peabody newspapers are on their own again, hopefully making all readers content.
If you haven't checked out the "new" Hillsboro Star-Journal, take a look at it. It's bold, bright, exciting, and full of Hillsboro news. Grant is a cracker-jack reporter and superb photographer. In fact, he's just a heckuva nice guy.
The second shift that rocked our little world was the resignation of Linda Schmidt. She was our super-efficient business manager and this editor's right hand. She was one of those people who went quietly about her work, willingly absorbing a few more tasks each week.
It wasn't until she left that we realized how much she actually accomplished and how much of a void she left in our family.
She's gone off to Arizona in order to be closer to children and grandchildren. We miss her, but understand the desire to be close to family.
The third tip of the hourglass will happen this week when sports editor Mike Norris writes his last column, designs his last page, and stuffs his last paper.
Mike came to us a couple of years ago, fresh out of college. We knew we wouldn't keep him long. He was destined for bigger things.
Losing Mike is a double-edged sword for me. You see, when Mike came to town, the staff at the newspaper joked that the only way to keep him would be to find him a girl. Well, that girl happened to be my oldest daughter, Jamie. As things happen, Jamie and Mike were married last summer and presented us with a wonderful grandson about a year ago.
Now Mike and his little family are off to the Big City to pursue a different career path. We wish them well, but won't say goodbye. We know they'll be back so Grandma can get a "Mitchell-fix" and Mike and Jamie can stay connected with their family and friends in Marion.
So, even as the hourglass tips and the sand flows at different speeds, it continues to fall and life continues to flow. In the next few months, we hope to be introducing you to the new faces of our newspaper family. For now, things will be business as usual and we'll keep bringing you hometown news week after week. Count on it.
— DONNA BERNHARDT
