A Letter from the Editor

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a love affair with the newspaper. Growing up in our house, being the first to read the local weekly newspaper was a big deal. And the Sunday paper, that was an even bigger deal to be the first to sort through the multitude of sections – news, sports, business, and life sections, the comics, and of course, the pile of advertisements that ultimately gave the Sunday paper its familiar thickness.

While news and sports and even the comics certainly had my attention, it was a weekly column written by Erma Bombeck that I dove into first, followed by “Dear Abby” who had the ability to solve all-walks-of-life issues via the written word.

But it was Erma and her uncanny ability to find the humor in the simple moments of every day life that crazily drew me into a career of community journalism, namely the weekly newspaper sector.

I will admit that the week of Oct. 24, 2016, won’t soon be forgotten. Early that Monday morning as I worked to meet the paper’s usual press deadline, I learned that a good friend – 55 years old and the healthiest gal I probably knew – had passed away the night before as a result of a brain aneurysm. I cried a lot, and as I continued to work that day, tears clouded my eyes, but I got the job done.

With puffy eyes still visible, the next morning I received another call that had me in tears once again. My emotions were still visible from the prior day’s news as an unfamiliar voice on the other end of the phone notified me that my position as the local newspaper editor was being eliminated. I thought it was a bad dream, but no, I was fully awake and this, unfortunately, was no bad dream. It was real and it was happening to me.

But I wasn’t ready to part ways with the role that I’d had in this community for the last 12-plus years. And that’s when the wheels started churning for what you have in your hands today – the Brandon Valley Journal – and what’s to come in August when we officially roll off of the press with two locally-focused products, the BV Journal, our weekly community newspaper, and the Brandon Valley Trader, our free shopper.

And that’s when folks – many of you in fact – bought into my vision, helping to take my simple dream of “printing a happy little newspaper” to the formation of Brandon Valley Media Group, L.L.C. and our products – Brandon Valley Journal, Brandon Valley Trader and our website, www.brandonvalleyjournal.com - to life!

Our focus will be on all things local, Brandon Valley, and it is our goal week in and week out to give you local news, local sports, local features, local photos, local everything. We hope you’ll take some time each week to tune into what’s happening in our coverage area, and of course, we want to hear from you. We want you to tell us how we’re doing, let us know what topics you want to read about, and keep us in the know of what’s happening in your classroom, your neighborhood, your business and in your life, so we, in turn, can tell your story in print and in pictures. And whether you believe it or not, we all have a story to tell, and we’re excited to tell yours.

We’ve pledged to do our part to provide local news, sports, features and photos every week in our print and online products. But we need you do your part, too, by subscribing to the BV Journal in print or online and supporting us by promoting your business, community organizations and events through our various advertising opportunities.

As I look back now at that week in late October 2016 – a week that I lost a good friend and a job that truly connected me to this community - I realize now that Brandon Valley Media Group, L.L.C., was God’s plan for me and for our Brandon Valley family all along. He’s the one that planted the idea in my head and heart. He’s the one that led me to all of you, and has given me the strength, the courage, the wisdom and the connections needed to follow through in launching a new era of local community journalism in this place we all call “home.”

I, no, we surely couldn’t have done this without Him, and all of you, too.

Jill Meier

Your “local” BV Journal editor