Twenty-five years now. Where'd they go? Twenty-five years. We don't know. We sit and we wonder sometimes where they've gone . . . .
Imagine, it was a quarter-century ago. There were giants in the land then. And in the newsroom. As we look around the offices at this paper, we note that many are still around. Call them veterans--just don't call them old-timers.
There were giants-to-be, too. At the time, Bill Clinton was just that guy who blew it at the Dukakis convention. What state is he from again? And did somebody say he's thinking of running for president? Of the United States?
Most of the congressmen and U.S. senators that represent Arkansas in Washington these days were just getting started in their careers back in 1991--or were still in school. That is, middle school.
Twenty-five years ago, editors and reporters in the newsroom weren't emailing back and forth. It was all we could do to type on a computer without covering the screen with Wite-Out. And just imagine the struggle it was to get up, walk across the room, and open a book to double-check a fact. Oh, the effort!
And there were two papers fighting it out for readers in this Natural State. On this day, in that year, the two became one.
After years and years of competition, the newspaper's managers and columnists scrambled like crazy to marry the two papers in less than 24 hours. It was surreal that the staff was combining regular features of the Gazette and the Democrat into one paper, and getting that paper to all subscribers the next morning.
But it worked. And here we are. All these years later.
How can we say thank you to Gentle Reader? For this is an anniversary to celebrate you. Without you, there is no Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Without subscribers, we'd all have to go home.
Year after year, you read our reports, keep up with our columnists, giggle at our funnies section, cheer the sports page, and even put up with editorials. You write letters, call us on errors, take our ads to the grocery store and cut out wedding photos to send to relatives around the world.
We are thankful for our subscribers, for whom we write and report, and for the Providence that has sustained us both, paper and reader, and has allowed us to get this far together. Through war and scandal, through deaths and recession, through disaster and decline. But also through holidays and birth announcements, football games and cool Arkansas autumns. You can read all about it. Right here.
Here's to another 25 years together! Cheers, y'all!
Editorial on 10/19/2016