Springtime will soon be upon us.
I know this is a fact hard to digest since we haven’t even made it to Valentine’s Day, but we are reminded constantly of the changing of the seasons.
Softball and baseball players have taken to the field and FFA students are busy with stock show season.
This time of year is inspirational.
We spent Saturday evening at the Tioga FFA Booster Club dinner auction.
The amount of support that our local kids get thrown their way is incredible.
S&S and Collinsville FFA Booster Club auctions are set for this weekend.
Whitesboro generally does their fundraiser at the end of the show season.
I encourage you to attend one of these events.
FFA and FCCLA programs are among the most important extracurriculars available in our public schools.
Kids gain real life experience and learn responsibility from these endeavors.
In my day job at Tarleton State University, I encounter former FFA students every day. We are an agriculturally based university.
I can tell you, without a doubt, FFA and FCCLA students are the most prepared and hardest working group I see come through the university.
These programs are worthy of your support.
***
I am constantly reminded that our industry is changing.
You don’t have to look very far these days to see headlines about doom and gloom in the newspaper business.
Sure, the industry has changed.
It is certainly not as it was when I started 20 years ago, but what industry is?
Nonetheless, the future is bright for those who are willing to embrace the changes.
I was reminded of the industry shift when I read a story from another community newspaper late last week.
This publication has, as so many have done, opted to change its print schedule.
In doing so it, also (as so many have done) printed a front-page story justifying these changes.
The lead of that story cited erroneous facts about the number of newspapers that have closed.
It said (erroneously) that 2,000 newspapers have closed in the past year.
This is simply not true.
The country has seen 2,000 closings or mergers in the past 20 years, not the past year.
I don’t know where they got their figures, but they are blatantly wrong. Exaggerations like this do not do any good.
They are irresponsible and I take exception to them.
In my role as the director of the Texas Center for Community Journalism, I see examples of innovation in community journalism every day.
I spent a good part of last week traveling the state celebrating new newspaper startups.
The future is not what it used to be, but it is bright.
I encourage you, no matter your industry, to write your own success story, not your own obituary.
That is what we have chosen to do at the Whitesboro News-Record and we appreciate you being a part of that success story.
***
There’s been much commentary online over the past week about the UIL realignment of football districts.
It seems like the UIL, in its infinite wisdom, sometimes goes completely crazy when it comes to alignment.
Whitesboro Bearcat fans tend to agree that is the case this year.
While Whitesboro and Pottsboro are back in the same district as they should be, Whitesboro has also picked up two inner-city Dallas schools.
While the old sportswriter in me knows not to worry much about the Dallas competition, the commute required for away games in Dallas is questionable.
Not near as questionable, though, as the commute to new district foe Palmer. At 113 miles, the drive to Palmer will be equally as taxing as the recent trips to Brock.
That was something I hoped we’d get away from.
I have long said that the UIL could align a pretty good 3A football district without leaving Grayson or Cooke Counties.
I guess that makes too much sense for the doctorates who run that organization. Nonetheless, it is what it is, and the Bearcats will do well wherever they are.
I look forward to the competition.
I also look forward to seeing if this is Whitesboro’s last year as a 3A DI school.
Enrollment numbers allude to a possible move to 4A DII in 2026.
If that is the case, we should prepare for longer drives and bigger competition, so this district might be a good testing ground.
***
We were reminded of our own mortality this week.
The passing of movie star Carl Weathers reminds us that no matter how Godlike our young physique may be, our bodies are mortal and frail.
And then Tuesday morning we learned of the passing of Toby Keith.
At 62 years old, cancer does not discriminate.
Keith defined a generation of country music and, love him or hate him, there is no denying his staying power.
I played many a Toby Keith song in my younger days as a honky tonk musician.
His anthem “I Love This Bar” is a song I can remember playing three different times in one night.
Over the course of a night, different crowds come in and out of dancehalls.
As a band, quite often couples who end the night with you didn’t start the night with you.
Song requests would come in throughout the evening.
I remember “I Love This Bar” being requested early in the night, in the middle of the night and again towards the end of the night.
I only ever remember playing one other song three times in a night and that was “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones.
Not bad company, if you ask me.