This past week has been one of the busiest weeks of my life. I will explain:

My role as news editor kind of makes me “second in command,” for lack of better terms, on our news staff. For this reason, I don’t always have the opportunity to cover late-breaking news stories.

This past month, however, members of our news staff have been taking some much-needed vacations (yes, believe it or not, we are not robots programmed to operate 24 hours a day, as some may believe).

This situation afforded me the responsibility of covering last Saturday’s tragic drowning at Lay Lake and Wednesday’s standoff.

Before I go any further, I want to say that my heart goes out to the family members affected by the drowning. I do not know them personally and could not possibly imagine what they are going through, but I pray God will grant them peace and comfort in His perfect timing.

We do not like to have to report on these stories, but we are journalists, and our job is to record what goes on, both the positive and the negative.

This past week I have not pleased everyone with my efforts, but I don’t believe that is ever true for anybody. My stories were not error-free, but they were as accurate as time constraints would permit.

It’s difficult to carry the stigma of newspapers, which is often that they are known for having mistakes, when you are a perfectionist. One of my goals here has always been to try to convince people that it doesn’t have to be that way.

When we are fortunate enough to get a whiff of good news, then we can really sit back and enjoy what we do. The function of this is to give people something concrete that marks a special time in their lives.

If you ever have a question, comment, concern, news tip or story idea, please call me at 755-5747.