BY LAWRENCE SOBCZAK,
PUBLISHER
and
CHRISTOPHER ROSE,
GENERAL MANAGER
“90% of the work in this country is done by people who don’t feel good.” — Theodore Roosevelt
This week we celebrate our 252nd issue and another year of newspaper publishing. With five years behind us, we begin volume six, issue one.
As many of you know, The Record was founded in direct response to the closure of The Romeo Observer in June 2015 and the closure of The Armada Times two months later in August 2015.
We firmly believe that every community deserves a local newspaper. That is our founding principal.
Our readers that have been with us since the first few issues have seen The Record grow in many ways.
At first, we published only twice a month as we ramped up our production capability. That’s why we are only at 252 issues this week—volume one only has 43 issues.
We began publishing on tabloid size newspaper sheets, before switching to the larger “broadsheet” format in early 2017.
Our website was built in 2016 and now has evolved to contain a full-digital replica of the printed newspaper for subscribers to enjoy online.
The Record has also received top awards and honors from the Michigan Press Association in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
As a supplement to our newspaper, we added specialty publications and revived traditional special sections to help celebrate local events, such as graduations, festivals and fairs.
To say that the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on this year’s traditional events and celebrations across our land would be an understatement. The economic, emotional and spiritual effects have been life-altering and will be felt by our fellow Americans for many years to come.
Throughout this ongoing health crisis, The Record has remained steadfast in bringing accurate and unbiased news and information to our readers. While other newspapers suspended publication or stopped publishing altogether, we never stopped delivering the best local news coverage available, each and every week.
Due to competitive newspapers suspending their publications, The Record subsequently expanded distribution and is now serving even more readers in northern Oakland county.
We owe this accomplishment to our loyal subscribers, to our advertisers and to our staff of talented local journalists and newspaper professionals, to whom we are most grateful.
Unfortunately, we are certain that each and every one of us will feel the effects of this virus on our family, our friends and our neighbors well into 2021.
Here’s the good news… a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus is just weeks away. Should everyone be inoculated? That answer is unknown and will likely be a personal choice, but historically, it beats the alternative.
Here’s the better news… the coronavirus pandemic has brought an awareness to every country on Earth as to how unprepared we have been for what was predicted in 2005 as an “inevitable” pandemic event.
This revelation reinforces on how necessary it is for citizens to participate in all levels of government. If we do not remain vigilant in our efforts to remind our legislators to prepare for a future health crisis, our elected representatives may just as well forget 2020 and move on to business as usual.
It is up to the citizens to make sure that our legislators don’t drop the ball. Call your representatives, email them, write to them. Demand to know what they are doing to prepare. If you don’t get a satisfactory response, let us know… and vote them out.
To do our part, we promise that The Record will continue to be a trusted source to keep you informed and entertained about everything happening in our community.
Now, here’s what you can do to help keep this newspaper strong. Take out a subscription to the newspaper if you don’t already have one.
Purchase a gift subscription for a friend or relative. We will extend their subscription by your gift amount if they already subscribe to The Record.
Tell local businesses that their ad in The Record brought you into their establishment. Take out an ad if you are a local business owner.
As 2020 draws to a close, we look to a new and bright future for our community, our state and our country.
We wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a prosperous, blessed and healthy New Year!
