This newspaper is put together each week by a staff of dedicated men and women who work tirelessly to report on the news and happenings of this community. The grinding schedule and weekly must-hit deadlines can become consuming, making it challenging to look ahead.
We have our own week, one that starts and stops on Wednesday. Before the last press run of this edition has finished, the editorial staff will be meeting to go over next week’s plan from meeting and event coverage to features that will fill the next paper.
The planned editorial staff for the paper consists of four general assignment reporters, a full-time and part-time sports reporter, a part-time arts reporter, an editorial assistant, an associate editor, and an editor.
We also have Charlotte Boynton, our most seasoned staff member who has been a clutch performer here since 2013. Just this week she’s on the front page with a story about two local veterans who traveled to Washington, D.C. through Honor Flight Maine.
This year, we had three members of the team hit 25 years of serving up the news in various capacities. Sherwood Olin, Jeff Hillman, and Steve West have all hit the quarter-century mark in the past few months. This is an extraordinary achievement, especially in this day and age, and we greatly appreciate their service.
Two other employees just hit the decade mark, with Maia Zewert and Amber Clark racking up 10 years of service.
There are many others here that work day in and day out to assist the company, and we do not recognize them enough publicly to thank them for their service or celebrate their tenure working for the benefit of the community. A complete list is included on page 10 with years of service to make sure we recognize all of those who contribute.
You may have noticed that the number of reporters with bylines on the pages is down a bit over the last couple of months as we are still trying to hire for two positions. Mixed in with the seasoned production staff and members of the editorial staff are two newcomers.
Ali Juell and Christina Wallace started on the same day in June as fresh reporters just out of college. Shortly after they started, they became the only two full-time general assignment reporters at the paper. That’s right, two newly graduated students have taken on the roles as both most junior and senior reporters in the newsroom.
Why is this significant?
These two reporters have hit the ground sprinting, and in our opinion, are doing a fabulous job. It takes a lot of work to cover the county, and they are covering much of the meetings and events as a two-person dynamic force. We are incredibly grateful that they stepped into these roles, and have chosen to step up and hit each challenge head-on.
As we work to bring on additional reporters, please keep in mind that we are working hard to cover as many events and meetings as we can. This is even more challenging right now than at other times. And, if you see any of our staff out and about, please thank them, especially the two intrepid reporters who are filling in everywhere they can.
