Looking forward, looking back
Editor’s Note: The publisher of the Journal-Sun analyses 2021 and looks forward to 2022 with observations and thoughts.
There is no doubt that 2021 was a crazy year for most of us. The ongoing residue and variance of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to change the landscape of our reality. In fact, it appears as though it will continue to do so in the years to come. Even in our community we have wrestled with how our day-to-day lives will look. The pandemic has already affected the way we eat out, shop, interact with each other, treat our health, go to church and get news and information.
The question now is how much can we go back to our old way of life and what we can expect our future to look like. At the newspaper our reality continues to change too. As we pause to look back and peek forward, the Journal-Sun stays committed to serving the community and being a place to find trustworthy news and information. Our hope is that everyone stays healthy and prosperous in 2022.
OBSERVATIONS
Covid is not going away anytime soon but the community is trying to find its new normal. Bars and restaurants, retail reopened earlier this year. Many retail businesses and restaurants are desperately trying to get back to the old normal. Governor Abbott has committed work to that end with opening everything back up, reducing masks, while working with the CDC and other federal agencies to make sure everyone has the opportunity to get vaccinated if they want.
President Biden has already mandated Federal workers and healthcare professionals to get vaccinated. His other mandate, to have employers with over 100 employees vaccinated or tested is in a heated legal battle that will find its way to the supreme court. OSHA announced that employers will now have until January 10, 2022 to develop compliant policies and until February 9 to begin their testing programs.
The Northeast Texas Community continues to see new and ongoing COVID cases. Our county, like the rest of the country and world continues to struggle with hot topics related to the pandemic. Daily guidance of mask mandates, travel, vaccines, and social interaction continues on. Only time will tell how the policies, guidance, and vaccines will protect us from a disease that continues to change and mutate.
One thing is for sure, the human race continues to fight and adapt. Business models have changed, and good people have risen up to help and serve our community. It is encouraging to see people help pick up groceries for people, take them to doctors offices and drive people to get various COVID-19 healthcare. Genesis Primecare and other doctors’ offices have helped prevent the spread of COVID by having drive-through clinics. Services like Waitr have started in our community that allow many to still get tasty restaurant food while staying home. I have also noticed that people wash their hands more and respect each other’s space when they are out.
One hope I have though this time is that everyone would give a little more grace to retail and restaurants workers. Many of these businesses are understaffed. Things aren’t functioning the way they used to. We should be thankful for those that are working hard to serve the community, not punish the ones that are out there trying. I can attest as someone who runs a business that finding employees can be a challenge.
Here at the Journal-Sun we too have a smaller staff than we used to. Doing more with less as a business seems to be a new norm. Thankfully we have people in the community that send us pictures and information. Moreover, I wanted to thank Phyllis Warren from Queen City ISD, Terry Gaston from Atlanta ISD and Siglinda Smoak from Linden-Kildare CISD for getting us lots of great school news. Also, we have been happy with our Facebook participation. We are thankful for one largest social media presence in our community with about 10k followers.
MOMENTS THAT SHAPED THE PAPER IN 2021
When looking back at 2021 there were several memorable moments of impact. Besides COVID, the February Snow Storm sarcastically called “Snowpocalypse ‘21” brought nearly two feet worth of snow. This became a National Disaster throughout the state with many losing their electricity. During this storm we noticed that there wasn’t a resource directory that people could go to. Even in 2021 Google you can’t find everything on Google. In this case, especially when there is no electricity. We printed our first Cass County 2021 resource directory/newcomers’ guide this year to make sure people can find resources when they need them. We also printed our first safety & emergency preparedness section in the paper.
Another great moment is when a couple of our local bands went to state. Every two years area bands compete to see who advances to state. We were blessed again to see Queen City and Atlanta’s Bands go in 2021, with a strong third and fourth place respectfully. To commemorate the occasion, we produced a special band section with a portion of band sponsorships and ads going to the band programs. Thanks to the community eight hundred dollars were raised for each program. Christus, City of Atlanta, Kelly Ashbrook, Flint’s Furniture and Cornerstone Abstract and Title all purchased full pages. Several other businesses sponsored individual kids. Thank you to the whole Cass County community that participated.
It should be noted that Linden also had a strong showing this year, in an off year State because of COVID. We are blessed to have several good band programs in our community.
In 2021 the community saw the WildFlower Trails, SummerFest, and Music City Theater begin to have events again.
Over the last two years we have enjoyed entertaining the community with our April Fools section. Most people responded favorably, with only a few people saying they didn’t like it. Both sections created a lot of buzz on social media and sold a lot of papers. We will see if we decide to do another this year.
This year the Journal-Sun teamed up with the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce to do its first Job Fair. Many businesses were struggling to find workers, so we wanted to help. There was a steady stream of people to walk through the fair. Next year we are going to move it to April.
Next week we will do an overview of the stories we followed in 2021, ones we will continue to follow in 2022, some new things to expect at the paper, goals of the publisher and thank yous.