
By: Forrest R. Church, Publisher
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Welcome to the first week of December. How is this possible? I do not even recall Easter 2023 or little of the warmer Summer Season. They say time slows down for no one, a very true statement. Here are this week’s random thoughts, observations, and ramblings.
THANKSGIVING – It has been rare in recent years for our family to have much downtime during the holidays. This year was nice as we enjoyed two Thanksgiving gatherings over in the Hoosier State with family on two separate days. I had a ton to do at the office and am still battling network issues, but decided I may be better off in these battles refreshed, so we made some down time happen.
I hope you were able to reflect on just how blessed we are as Americans during the holiday, no matter your circumstances. As I watch/read news 24 hours a way from around the world, I truly believe the average American loses the understanding just how blessed we are.
COMMUNITY FESTIVALS – Have you thanked the volunteers in your community for the time they spend away from their families to pull off local community festivals? I used to sit on several chamber boards, and I cannot stress enough how demanding it is to pull off even the smallest community gathering. I am not actively involved anymore beyond being members of more local pro-business organizations than I can count, but I remember the days of trying to pull off festivals. I applaud those locally making a positive difference in our small towns.
While many are appreciative, it sickens me to often see on social media community group pages (some) people who are not involved complaining about something that they disliked, even mocking our local small gatherings. If you do not like how something is running in your community, get involved and be the difference.
My wife will edit this column before it goes to print if I typed the words that come to mind when I see people do this pointless yacking online, so I won’t even try to slide in that paragraph of thought here now.
On that note, who can you thank this week in your local community for volunteering their time, energies, and often money?
It is mind blowing to see how many holiday festivals are taking place in the greater Williams County – Fulton County areas of Northwest Ohio, none of this is possible without community minded people. THANK THEM!
WATCH FOR DEER – I need something else to in my life, I mean all those free hours a week I can count on one hand are simply just too much. That was the thought I had on Thanksgiving as our family was traveling home in the dark from a family gathering in Northeast Indiana and my “to do” list instantly increased 25%.
It was a good day, we were barely 10 minutes down the road returning to the Buckeye State and BOOM. A buck ran across two lanes on US 30, across the divider and right into the side of our Suburban at full speed.
Keep in mind, I had a detailed discussion with the family on the way to the gathering on how important it was to take care of our family vehicle, it needed to last us for a very long time. I’m cheap and have almost always driven old beaters, our Suburban has been a rare nice vehicle.
That is why I had body work literally just done on the now 8-year-old vehicle just a few weeks prior. She was shiny, the body work looked great, then the deer took out the front panel, frame to the windshield, both passenger doors and the back panel (and mirror). More or less the entire side of my vehicle I just put way too much money into looks like it was t-boned or rolled onto its side.
But in the spirit of being thankful and trying to practice a little of what I preach, I also read a press release and was discussing earlier in the week on how many fatalities are caused by car/vehicle accidents. If we had my wife’s van (she was driving when Rudolph decided to go WWE on us) that sits much lower, we believe the deer would have went through the windshield. So while frustrated in the latest addition of headaches in our lives (body repair shops are months behind on jobs), we know this incident could have been a lot worse.
Fortunately, the children were spending the night with family so it was just Casey and I. When reviewing the dash cam footage, there was nothing anybody could have done to avoid the deer, it was a direct side impact. However, please note I’m unlikely ever to let my wife live down the fact she was driving when my “baby” was assaulted by a rogue drunk Indiana deer. As the phrase goes, “can’t have nice things!”
SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON – Okay, here is the hidden advertisement promo in my column. While I hope these words draw the attention to the possibility of purchasing a newspaper gift subscription, if this does not work out for your gift giving ideas, then consider other local great small business options, a few of which are advertised on inside pages.
Inside this week’s edition and also recently mailed to all area two county addresses via an oversized postcard, is the option to purchase a newspaper gift holiday subscription. In my humble opinion, this is a perfect/unique gift that simply cannot be found on Amazon or a local box store selling communist goods.
When buying a gift subscription:
-Every day when new news stories are posted on our website and available to subscribers, those receiving your gift will remember you.
-Every week when the E-Edition arrives in email, those receiving your gift will remember you.
-Every week when the physical newspaper arrives in the mail, they will remember you.
Whether giving a gift to someone that lives here in Northwest Ohio or maybe to someone with local connections but have since moved to a distant state, doesn’t this sound like a great gift option?
Here is the mindset community partner. We truly have a partnership with our readers and advertisers. If we were sitting in a board meeting, this is where I would point blank state we can only build this newspaper and expand our coverage based on how many subscribers and placed business ads we receive. Unlike the government, we cannot print money. So it is a hand in hand, supporting one another type relationship. Generally our readers would love to see additional coverage, a thicker newspaper and that is our desire too, but that can and only will happen if we receive heavy support.
Heavy Forrest, really? Yes, heavy. We do not live in a high density area. With lots of one stoplight farm village in our coverage area population is scarce. Unlike some newspapers that can survive with a low percentage of reader support (due to high population) that math doesn’t work when many of our towns are very small. Don’t get mad at the messenger, I didn’t event math, I just try to live by it.
This column does not have the room to share just how far we can take The Village Reporter if the support arrives or if we could focus on coverage and not weekly battling to cover base 101 business expenses. We are all chips in and believe in the future of providing local news to you for decades to come (Lord willing).
Will you consider supporting local small family owned business this year and purchase gift newspaper subscription(s)? Friends? Family? Those out of state wanting to keep updated on local news? Elderly in nursing homes who wait for visitors and daily mail arrival? Students away at college?
You can easily do so via the forms printing inside the printed paper and/or on our website at www.thevillagereporter.com.
I’VE GOT QUESTIONS / YOU’VE GOT ANSWERS – I’m a nerd. I love numbers. I also love polls. While they get a bad rap and I agree they certainly can be twisted depended on the audience asked, they are historically spot on when taking the average. Even big surprise political years (2016) they were within the margin of error.
Anyway, I ask questions on a social media account. Answers can vary from a few dozen to a few hundred. Those numbers are not overly impressive, but next time you look at a major news outlet on your television screen zoom in on how many people they ask then share with their millions of viewers. You might be shocked to find often under a few thousand, I believe the last I saw was 1800. I do not believe the results of my questions reflect average nationwide but they do give a sense of how local people feel on various topics.
“With accused election fraud claims made by both parties, do you support 100% in person voting with ballots counted physically?”
92.9% Yes / 7.1% No
“Do you believe the House of Representatives should have released the January 6th footage earlier?”
97.6% Yes / 0% No /
2.4% Not Sure
“Do you use Artificial Intelligence”
36.4% Yes / 63.6% No
“Thanksgiving Preference?”
30.8% Ham / 69.2% Turkey
“Do you utilize Fox News on a regular basis?”
18.8% Yes / 81.3% No
“The White House says American families are saving money (less inflation) this Thanksgiving. Your thoughts?
91.7% Higher Expenses Than Last Year /
8.3% Same As Last Year /
0% Lower Than Last Year
“Do you celebrate Christmas in any form? 86% Yes / 14% No
“Who won the Red State vs Blue State debate between Governor DeSantis of Florida and Governor Newsom of California?”
DeSantis 45.8% /
Newsom 54.2%
That is it for this week. I’d love to hear from you. As always, feel free to reach out to me at publisher@thevillagereporter.com or via mail at 115 Broad Street, Montpelier, Ohio 43543.