Phil Major, publisher

After 12 months, the year in review for 2019 has been reduced to just under 1,600 words (around 30 per week). I will not try to estimate the number of words we presented to our readers during 2019, other than to tell you that it was a whole lot. Along with those stories were hundreds of photos, winnowed from the thousands we took.

Perhaps most important of all, we published hundreds of advertisements from businesses, organizations and individuals that make it possible for our great communities to continue to have a truly local newspaper. If you’re not tuned it to why that’s important, I can get you some phone numbers in communities that have lost theirs.

All of that means there was (and is) a lot going on around here.

From the courthouse to the school house to city hall and into your homes, there are more stories than we can possibly tell, but we will continue to bring you as many as time and space allow.

It’s always interesting to take a quick look back through a year’s worth of news events.

You can get a good perspective on where we’ve been and what is still left to be resolved and accomplished.

There is much progress to report on many fronts as our communities wrestle with how best to improve upon our quality of life.

The year ends with us heading into what could prove to be a somewhat contentious political season. Voters will be choosing the Republican nominee (and de facto winner with no opposition in November) in six county races, a story which will be well represented in our pages. Then there will be important state and national elections along side.

Wood County appears poised to see some major advances in the coming months and years, and it is an exciting time to be here. The groundwork is being laid for this area to be the gem of East Texas. And we’re already well on our way.

New business, housing development and exciting new school programs are coming, and that news barely scratches the surface.

And this is already a pretty exciting place. Just ask anyone involved in the community, and they will tell you of many evenings and weekends when they’re trying to be two (or more) places at once.

There’s a little something for everyone, from recreation to arts and entertainment, as well as more ways to give back to the community than you can imagine.

That’s evidence of a strong spirit of neighbor helping neighbor, as well as a real desire to continue to advance opportunities for education, employment and leisure time.

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the idea that it is 2020, two full decades since Y2K put a scare into things.

We hope you enjoy our look back at 2019 and will join in making 2020 another wonderful year for us all.