Editor’s Notebook: A partnership in news

When the Press-Banner arrives in your mailbox each week, you probably read it cover to cover. When you do, you might find that your neighbors’ son or daughter recently graduated from high school with a scholarship, or completed military basic training.
Or you might recognize the owner of your favorite salon, or that one of your child’s teachers recently won an award. You might read about a new housing development approved by elected officials or a fire you saw on your way to work.
Our mission is to be a “hyper-local” newspaper that reports exclusively on what is happening in the San Lorenzo Valley, Scotts Valley and Bonny Doon.
How do we do that?
With your help.
Many of you call, snail mail and e-mail us events and happenings for the Datebook calendar that lets you know what’s going on free of charge.
You let us know when someone earns his Eagle Scout rank or opens a new business.
You let us know when you see a mountain lion.
You send pictures of a crazy-looking car accident on your road.
You let us know when you are unhappy about something and when you are pleased with your local elected officials.
And we love it.
Thanks to Craigslist and the Internet, the days of large newsrooms are gone, because classified advertising revenues have decreased. So we rely on our dedicated staff of locals — new half-time reporters Joe Shreve and Nathan Beck, longtime photographer Lucjan Szewczyk, our advertising guru Jim Smith, office manager Barbara Burke, graphic designer Kira Ruvo and myself, Peter Burke, to make it happen each week.
We also have a group of wonderful columnists who share their interests with you — from gardening and fishing to financial happenings, health and more.
And, behind the scenes, we have two copy editors who design our pages before the newspaper is printed at the home pressroom in Tracy and delivered to the post office and your mailbox.
Our New Year’s resolution is simple:
It’s to improve on our coverage of local happenings and issues and to ramp up our online presence at www.pressbanner.com.
We understand how valuable it is to have a newspaper that covers what happens where you live, and we’ll continue to get better while becoming more effective and savvy with online tools.
Our staff is excited about the promise of 2011, and we’re happy to be serving you all year long.
Any time something noteworthy happens, give us a call or an e-mail, and we’ll do our best to follow up.
You can always call us at 438-2500, e-mail us at

pb******@pr*********.com











or stop by the office, 5215 Scotts Valley Drive. We’d love to hear from you!