Editorial

'Spotlight on ...' feature makes its debut

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

While leafing through newspapers from other states, Gazette General Manager Shary Skiles came across an idea which captured her attention. The inspiration came from the N'West Iowa Review, an award-winning newspaper based in Sheldon, Iowa.

Specifically, what impressed Shary were a series of special sections in the Review focusing attention on communities in Northwest Iowa. "We should do the same thing here," Shary thought, so she brought the idea to the attention of the Gazette's management team.

Thus was born a series of sections which will appear monthly in the Gazette over the course of the next two years. Called "Community Spotlight," the section will be a combined effort of the Gazette's staff.

In the first installment, the community of Cambridge is featured. The Gazette's publisher, Gene O. Morris, did the writing and photography, and City Editor Gloria Masoner handled the layout and design.

"We want to thank the people of Cambridge for their cooperation," Morris said. "Cambridge is an active community filled with dynamic people. They made the first Community Spotlight a fun and fascinating project to do."

The Spotlight pages will appear in the Gazette today and in the Cambridge Clarion Wednesday. "We want to thank Jolene Fisher, the Clarion editor and publisher, for working with us on this project. She helped make the project a success."

Plans are already in motion for the second Community Spotlight, which will appear in September. The featured community will be Palisade.

If residents of other towns in the area have a preference as to when they want their towns to be spotlighted, they are encouraged to get in touch with Bruce Crosby, the Gazette's editor. He can be reached by phone at (308) 345-4500, ext. 120, or by e-mail at editor@mccookgazette.com.

Turn to pages 15 through 18 for the Cambridge Community Spotlight. Get to know a little more about your neighbors in Cambridge, then drop us a note or give us a call with suggestions for future installments.

Big 12 Roundup -- Also in today's issue, the Gazette presents the first of 20 consecutive weekly pages titled, "The Big 12 This Week." The page, compiled by Universal Press Syndicate, includes football team reports, schedules, standings and statistics. The Big 12 pages will appear each Tuesday, reviewing the past week's happenings and looking forward to the coming week. To get a season preview for the Northern Division of the Conference, turn to Page 9 of today's Gazette.

Happy reading! We hope you enjoy the two new features debuting today: "The Big 12 This Week" and "Community Spotlight."

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