Giving thanks for our advertisers, readers

We at The Fort Scott Tribune have a lot to be thankful for this year and every year -- and a big part of that is you, our readers and advertisers.

In a season of giving thanks and closing out the old year and welcoming the new, it shouldn't be unusual for us to say we appreciate you.

Staffers at the paper and I have made it a point to say thank you personally. Like most of us, we probably don't say it enough.

But it's important to remember.

Without you, there is no Fort Scott Tribune. We work for you, the readers and advertisers.

We are dedicated to serving the community and maintaining the public trust, providing responsible, accurate, reliable and useful products that include a daily community newspaper, a weekly free distribution newspaper and a website.

We are committed to progress, tradition, integrity, growth and excellence, with the goal of strengthening our place as the information portal in Bourbon County.

The paper you're reading takes money to produce and deliver to your home or business. Like other goods and services you buy, such as groceries and utilities, the newsprint, ink, plastics, and other materials needed to produce our paper every day increase in cost yearly and sometimes quarterly.

Every comic you read, every crossword you work, every entertainment section you scan, doesn't come without a price. Those costs go up, regardless of the state of the economy, typically 5 percent and more every year.

The cost of your Fort Scott Tribune has not risen the same as inflation or the same as these other products, the majority of which are not delivered to your home or business.

Yet we're more than just a few recipes, community briefs, fillers and the story of the day that may or may not find its way into other mediums.

We are the daily source for what's going on with government, in our courts, on our streets, in our schools and on our playing fields.

Other outlets have some of these things but you're not going to find the depth and breadth of local and area news coverage anywhere else like The Fort Scott Tribune.

Do you think it's important to know:

* If your taxes are going up?

* How our schools are faring?

* How the local sports teams are doing?

* What time church services start on Sunday?

* When baseball sign-ups start?

We do.

If you have bought a paper, run a classified ad or promoted your business with a display ad, you have supported that effort.

So, congratulations for supporting your community.

The Tribune is a unique business.

Like many businesses, our goal is to improve each year.

Unlike other businesses, the measure of our success is not just financial.

We believe a strong community is an informed community, and our goal is to help build a strong community.

We're not a charity, but we give to and generously support civic and community groups and causes. Our staffers are members of these organizations.

Our priority is you; what affects your life on a day-to-day basis here in our place in the world.

We take this responsibility seriously.

Other professions are more lucrative and don't place workers under a public microscope.

It takes a lot of courage to work at a newspaper.

At almost any other job, you can make a mistake in anonymity.

Not so here.

Folks in the community tend to remember a mistake for years.

So it speaks well of our staff and our community that we maintain our commitment to accuracy, honesty, integrity, fairness and responsibility.

Our employees do business with those who do business with us. We support those who support us.

That's another positive.

So thank you for your support.

If you are an advertiser, please know we appreciate you.

You have made an intelligent choice. You could be spending your advertising dollars with entities which do nothing to build up the community from which you draw your customers.

Yes, we believe we are the medium for promoting your business. But on another level, your support of us, which allows us to do our jobs better, helps build up the community.

If you are a reader, thank you as well. We know we have people who have been with us most of their lives. We value that connection. Thank you too for supporting our efforts.

If we show a bias in any way, we hope it is in our pride of our community and neighbors.

We're here to serve. And we've done so for countless years, many decades in fact, and will continue to do so.

Call us if you have information to share.

And during this holiday season, we will remind you to read the ads in the paper and support your neighbors by doing your holiday shopping in our local communities.

Thank you for your support.

Our best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.

Floyd Jernigan is the publisher of The Fort Scott Tribune.