This edition represents The Johnson City News & Neighbor’s 1,000th edition. For a weekly newspaper that is a huge milestone. When we started publishing we decided to focus on the good news happening in our area and the people who make that happen. We spent countless hours attending non-profit fundraisers that had never had publicity before. We covered people and areas that received little or no news coverage in the past. We left the crime, and hard news for other media to cover. Thousands of photos and local faces have been published.
The Johnson City News & Neighbor has been blessed with creative and experienced professionals over the years to help publish this multi-award winning newspaper that belongs to our readers, advertisers and communities. We thank them for their readership and confidence in us and we thank our advertisers who have invested in reaching their prime customer base. Except for a couple of radio stations, The Johnson City News & Neighbor is the only locally owned major media in the Tri-Cities region. We are Veteran Owned also and our dollars stay local.
As an example, see inside this issue for our annual family and locally owned special edition. We re-named it this year, “Brick & Mortar Shop Local” edition to focus on shopping locally and supporting local business, a ‘Shop Local’ promotion we will continue to publish. Keep you retail dollars local to support employment, community infrastructure and the future for your children and grandchildren.
We have had exciting opportunities to publish a number of unique feature stories along with a few stories that have taken readers around the world or hiking along the full length of the Appalachian Trail. Readers traveled with the Lewis & Clark Expedition in 2004 to celebrate the 200-year anniversary. See the inside pages of this edition to remember those exciting series.
Thanks again for your support. We appreciate you!
– Publishers, Bill, Judy and Jeff Derby and our great staff
