January2, 2013, Commentary By Mike Fak, Hard to believe the year is over and 2013 is beginning. 2012 sure went by in a hurry, especially the last 8 months.

The Herald has come a long way in that short period of time and we want to thank all of you for making that possible. We also realize we have a long way to go and we accept that challenge with eagerness.

In the spring we did a lot of studying and talking with all of you to find out what you wanted, and what you had no interest in. The feedback was almost unanimous, you wanted local stories and plenty of local photos in an easy to navigate format.

And so we geared ourselves to get out and about in the community to deliver what you asked for. We spend little time clicking and pasting information you can find everywhere else. Instead we spend our time covering local news that you want to read and to look at. Covering the local events has been fun for all of us at the Herald. But we consider the task also very important. A look at our Monday editions show we take getting around the community on weekends seriously.

The Herald is dedicated to continue to grow our local coverage and to be your source for stories and photos about us, stories and photos about us that you can't find anywhere else.

That is no small task in this busy community and we still have a long way to go to get to our goal of covering everything. But we now have seven exclusive, freelance contributors ready to hit the streets at the start of the new year and that will help us expand our local coverage. Couple that with so many great local sources that help with neighborhood news and you can see why we are excited about the new year.

We take the word, “New” in news seriously and realize in a small community we need to get the story out accurately and quickly to service our readership. Stories days after an event aren’t news; they are just stories about something everyone already knows about. Getting information to you quickly means longer or different hours for staff than what would be considered normal but if you want to be in this business that comes with the territory.

All of our equipment was purchased in 2012 and we will continue to upgrade everything from programs to cameras to computers and software to make sure we stay on the cutting edge of technology for all of you. We will especially look at new camera and video equipment as the response to our slide shows and videos has been unanimously positive. We have some fascinating things coming in that category for 2013 that we can't wait to show all of you.

We will continue to respond to every email we receive and greatly appreciate your submissions, feedback and suggestions. Please keep them coming in 2013.

We at the Herald understand that there is no entitlement in the news industry. No one is required to read any publication. No business finds it necessary to place ads in any specific publication. The Herald understands we must earn our readers and advertisers every day with every edition.

We look forward to sharing those efforts with all of you in the upcoming year..