Normally by this juncture, I would have already penned a column about the upcoming forecast for this publication.
I might have even thrown in the phrase, “Our Star will continue to rise.”
Instead, I spent the New Year under the wonderful influence of anesthesia, hydrocodone and nausea medicine. Avid readers will recall
that I was having tests ran on my gallbladder and, as luck would have it, my body no longer comes with factory parts.
When the gallbladder is functioning at a whopping eight percent, carbohydrates in my body were not breaking down as needed. Needless to say, that bad boy was diced up and plucked from my torso Dec. 30, in what has already provided some much-needed relief. I want to thank everyone for the prayers; I went under the knife with exactly zero worry.
But sometime during my five-day euphoria, it dawned on me just how much change has taken place in the day-to-day operations at our office.
Our former staff writer, Charlie Benton, departed Dec. 21 for greener pastures: a new career in Knoxville, Tenn. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors, as is the case with our former staff photographer of 14 years, Art Miller, who put away his Nikon for the last time a day later.
All of this came as no surprise – thankfully – and the winds of change were already sweeping through our fine product before the departures. In last week’s edition, you might have noted the byline of Randy Foster, our newest staff writer. His wealth of experience in this field – and enthusiasm to return to his journalistic roots – are already paying dividends for our product.
I also opted to not fill the staff photographer slot, out of respect to Miller.
OK, so we have a new writer injecting some fresh life into our newspaper. What does 2022 hold?
About a year ago, I changed the longstanding motto on our front page from “Graham County’s hometown newspaper since 1955” to “providing unparalleled news coverage from and around Graham County since 1955.” The Graham Star might not have been in existence the last time alcohol was legally sold in Robbinsville – we were about seven years late to the party – but you can guarantee that with continued coverage of what promises to be a changing economy in Robbinsville, the amount, frequency and quality of what you pick up each week will do nothing but improve as we shuffle into 2022.
As always, thank you for your continued support.
And yes, our Star will continue to rise: that galaxy up there has plenty of room for it.
Minus a gallbladder, Kevin Hensley is the publisher/editor for The Graham Star. He is still adjusting to a new diet, so be patient if he appears “hangry.”