It is with a touch of real pride that I announce we’re beginning our 12th year of publishing the Bay City Sentinel.
By “we,” I mean MaLinda, Jessica and me.
There have been a few others along the way and I always will remember their contributions.
Since I grew up in the business.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned the Sentinel name came from my father’s weekly in Seminole, Texas, where I spent the first years of my life.
And MaLinda liked the idea of the Sentinel of being the guardian of the facts, especially in today’s wide world of media choices.
The nameplate of the Seminole Sentinel long incorporated the image of a war chief in his full headdress.
And Black Seminole Indian Scouts were organized by the Army as trackers and soldiers in the West Texas frontier.
MaLinda and I discussed starting the paper – and a new chapter in our lives – while managing the Fairfield Recorder in North Texas.
We were both kind of nervous starting a newspaper.
I had been publisher here for 15 years, but I certainly didn’t own the paper.
I truly wished I could talk to my dad back then.
He was of the hot type era of newspapers and got his education in New Orleans and Shreveport in the 1920s.
Still, some aspects of community journalism don’t change over time.
But we were in 2014 and lots of friends were constantly telling me starting a newspaper would entail lots of work.
Actually, the question was more like, a newspaper? Who starts a newspaper these days?
Me, by the dent of time – I started out as a reporter in 1973 – and MaLinda by working in different businesses and gathering knowledge that way.
There’s things we’d change along the way – perhaps limiting the number of dogs and cats we have – but I think we’d do it again.
For me, it’s all I’ve ever known. And it’s a business that has gone through lots of change.
I tried to explain why I believe in newspapers the other day to someone who just thought the print media was a dinosaur.
But I believe in what we do – keep the public informed so people will make informed decisions in their community.
There’s a reason politicos want the media stopped.
So, we’re ready to keep the faith and tell the truth in world full of surprises.
On behalf of the three of us, please keep reading the Sentinel and telling us what you think.
