Editorial: Thank you for supporting the Chronicle for 25 years

Twenty-five years ago, something spectacular came to Charles City and New Kent County. No, I’m not talking about the first McDonald’s (even though that did take place nearly 25 years ago). I’m talking about the establishment of the New Kent-Charles City Chronicle.

The Chronicle is celebrating 25 years of existence. The newspaper has been a driving force to get information out to citizens and others within the localities.

For some odd reason, it seemed that I was destined to work at the Chronicle. In Volume 1, Issue 10, I was on the front page of the newspaper signing banking slips with my fellow classmates at the newly opened Peninsula Trust Bank in Charles City. During the next four years, my name would appear in the athletic news portion of the paper as well as the honor roll.

After graduating college, Alan [Chamberlain] asked me to write sporadically for events that he couldn’t attend. I did a few of those stories while I worked as a substitute teacher. In 2012, I was hired as a writer for the paper and in 2014, became the newspaper editor. I have come a long way from my early beginnings and today, I can truly say that the Chronicle is easily the best and enjoyable job I’ve ever had.

With that said, this is my time that I want to thank each and every one of you who have ever picked up the Chronicle. In today’s world of instant news, the Chronicle has focused solely on news that affects Charles City and New Kent County. This is what makes us unique and I want to thank you all because without your support reading the newspaper, it would be nonexistent.

Next, I want to thank the advertisers and patrons who supported us as well. For those who don’t know, the Chronicle is a free newspaper because of support from those who believe in us. Some of these advertisers have been with us since day one while others have jumped onboard recently. Whether it’s a small classified ad to one that stands out to others, our advertisers have been a strong backbone to us. When someone advertises with us, I occasionally make an unannounced visit or establishment to support them. I am a firm believer in giving back locally and I continue to do that. So, to the advertisers, thank you for your support.

Finally, I’m going to leave you a few facts about the Chronicle that you may not know. Besides being in existence for 25 years, the Chronicle is dropped of in more than 60 locations throughout Charles City and New Kent. Our printed editions reach nearly 15,000 people each week while our online edition garners 10-15,000 people per week as well. We have also transcended online, watching the numbers of our social medial pages grow as well from 100 to nearly 5,000 on Facebook, while our Twitter followers are slowly beginning to catch steam. These numbers are a testament of the bond between the community and the newspaper as the staff at the Chronicle will continue to bring you the most accurate and important news. We do our research, gather information and all details before we publish articles because we want to be accurate, not fast and misprint information. The Chronicle knows how a child’s picture on name on the Honor Roll in the newspaper to an organization’s recognition is important to our small localities as I have been on the opposite end before.

There will be news articles, reports, and information that you may not like or disagree with that is published. I completely understand that, and you’re entitled to your opinion. We encourage discussion on our social media pages and want people to interact respectfully.

So behalf of the staff (past, present, and future), I’d like to thank you personally for supporting the New Kent-Charles City Chronicle and look forward to writing another similar article as this one at the conclusion of the next 25 years.