2008 Year in Review

Editorial

My last editorial of 2008. I think the year had its ups and downs for all of us. Last winter was pretty intense, and this winter has started out the same. The economy couldn’t be far from our minds pretty much all year. The price of gasoline dropped almost in half.

Our governor hit the news big time. Morrison landed a new school superintendant. We gained and lost some good friends. I hope that you have ended the year with some great time with your loved ones. The new year should be equally as interesting with a new president, the ongoing saga of our governor, and hopefully some real recovery by our economy. 2008 almost gave us a clean slate by melting much of the snow with a warm up and rainstorm. I don’t expect to see the grass for long though.

I spent part of one of my days off last week outside with my family. I got the truck stuck getting there, but dug it out without incident. Our main goal was to go sledding. Mission accomplished! It seemed like a lot less work when I was younger. Maybe I was doing it differently. The ride down the hill is still fun, but the walk up just about killed me by the time we were done having fun. We also had some fun flying a toy helicopter that my son received for Christmas. These were a hot item this year at the stores, and I’m not sure who had more fun…Brady, or I. Anyhow, we had fun. We crashed a lot though. Somebody came up with a heck of a fun toy when they designed this one. I can see why they are so popular.

One resolution I have for The Morrison Post is to increase our advertising. I plan on being more aggressive starting the year to get more advertising revenue for the paper. Our original business plan was to have a paper that went to everyone in the immediate area and to cover the cost of publishing, printing and postage with advertising. It isn’t a new concept. In fact, newspapers in general get most of their revenue from advertising. We have a real advantage to offer our advertisers though since we go to everyone in the area, and our paper also reaches some people in Sterling, Rock Falls, Prophetstown and Fulton. We continue to send The Morrison Post to active military from our area. Our paper also reaches many out-of- state subscribers and lets not forget the snowbirds! We need to get potential advertisers to understand what our current advertisers know. The Post is a great and affordable way to reach their customers. My goal is not to replace daily news sources like radio and television. My goal is to bring local news and information of interest to Morrison and the surrounding area. Advertising revenue supports that goal. I should have more time to dedicate to that end early in 2009, so watch for some positive changes.

Thanks for reading The Morrison Post this past year and for supporting us in many ways. I appreciate it. Have a great week.

by Ben Wolf, Guest Columnist
December 31, 2008