Randomly Tonia: The winds of change

Few of us like change. We adapt, of course, some sooner than others. I, for one, am usually forced into change kicking and screaming.

This last week the winds of change have been whisking in the new at The Western Nebraska Observer - changes that I, along with the entire team, welcome.

Our general manager, John Verser, has been promoted to publisher and will begin those duties in early November. This means he will be at the Sidney Sun-Telegraph overlooking operations at that publication in addition to our local newspaper and our sister publication, The Pine Bluffs Post. Current publisher Rob Langrell has accepted a promotion in New Mexico.

We are all thrilled for John, and we know that he will excel in his new duties.

This move did not leave us without a leader. Instead, I will be stepping up as general manager of The Western Nebraska Observer. While I have large shoes to fill, I look forward to the challenge.

I am excited to report that Penny Merryfield is back in advertising, selling and building the ads for our local communities. Penny has filled several roles here, including office manager, and as I write she is training our new office manager – Mary Kay Jenner.

Mary Kay is a great fit for this position and with our team and we are thrilled to have her on board.

Our latest addition to the team has been with us before. We welcome Dawn Fossand back as our staff reporter.

Dawn has hit the ground running, covering meetings and scheduling interviews at lightning speed. Her high energy is refreshing (and pleasantly exhausting) to see.

The Western Nebraska Observer team, along with our leadership, are happy to continue providing our readership with timely news.

We invite our readers to call us with news tips and story ideas, and share thoughts with us through letters to the editor.

Readers can expect to find the popular ‘Friends and Neighbors’ column, news, and sports, and a few new columns as well.

We will be talking with passersby, readers, leaders and friends to find out what is on the minds of the masses in a new once-a-month column, ‘Chit Chat.’

Once every month we will present an event and ask for your thoughts, in ‘Cheers or Jeers.’ Participants can simply share a thumbs up or down and the results will be tallied and shared.

Our team will share our views on current events – local, regional, statewide, national or worldwide in the new ‘Round Table Talks’ column.

We will revisit past interviews and update our readers in ‘Where Are They Now?’

And finally, each week, beginning in November, we invite our readers to share photographs with us. We will choose one entry each week as the ‘Photo of the Week.’ We ask that photographers submit photos from Kimball, Banner and western Cheyenne counties, to [email protected].

Photos must contain appropriate content, the photographer’s name, and the name of the county in which it was taken. Winning photos will be printed at our discretion and with photo credit.

We encourage our readers to be share with us, be involved and watch us grow.