Our Viewpoint: It's all local news

When I was in junior high, we traveled to Hale, Missouri, to visit my dad's aunts and cousins. It was a town about the size of Noxon. It had a hardware store and a feed store, and my extended family ran the one restaurant in town. My Great Aunt Ila ended up putting together a cookbook of all her recipes, and the peach pie is still the best ever.

When we were in Missouri, there was a small article in the newspaper with all our names, stating that we were there visiting Ila and the family. It was my first experience being published somewhere other than The Sanders County Ledger. My first in The Ledger was my birth announcement. The second was student of the month in kindergarten (stop in and I'll show you pictures).

While local newspapers have come a long way from printing every visitor who comes to town (we have social media for that now), weekly papers such as The Sanders County Ledger are still all about local news. I am always so proud to tell people that every bit of content in The Ledger (other than the cartoon to the right) is produced here. Once in awhile we'll run something from a press release, but even with getting a press release I try to make it local.

This week we have the monthly Pinochle Marathon scores. Each week First Security Bank sponsors the publishing of the bowling scores. I often tell people that small newspapers are doing better than the larger regional and national ones because we care about our towns and each resident. As a news organization, we strive to print what is important to you, our readers. And yes, that includes monthly Pinochle scores, weekly bowling results, and the weekly sheriff's log.

While it's important to stay informed of national and even statewide happenings, our goal is to be your best source for local news. It's what we've done for 119 years, and we will hopefully be here another 119.

I'd love to hear about your first time being in your hometown newspaper. Email me at [email protected].

— Annie Wooden