A Word [or Two] from the Editor-in-Chief
I have spent most of my professional life in communications, as a communicator. My earliest days as a cub reporter saw me writing obituaries, and covering fire, police, and the courthouse.
One day, I was covering a trial and a rodent disrupted the proceedings. I still remember my lead sentence: “Hickory, Dickory, Dock, the mouse ran up the cop.” And now, some 70 years later, from the era of hot type to that of digital printing, I am honored and excited to be engaged in another endeavor that enables communication with a constituency of paramount importance. That endeavor is The Eastford Communicator and that constituency is the people of Eastford. I am joined by a cadre of dedicated people, unpaid volunteers, who produce the paper, maintain the mailing list, handle ad sales, correspondence, accounting, banking and tax filing among other things. I am particularly grateful that we have a managing editor who works more out of love for our community than for money. We look forward to ever-increasing support and more folks joining us in producing a vital and central element of life here in Eastford.
The rebirth of The Eastford Communicator is, in part, an attempt to diminish the deterioration of our civic infrastructure, our sense of community. The word community derives from the Latin for “common understanding.” It implies becoming as one, striving toward mutually desired ends (my harking back to the Latin is where my children would put their hands to their ears and leave the room). It is coverage of meetings, small town activities, local businesses, calendar items, town government proceedings, vital statistics, and the like which are the fabric of our democracy, a fabric which should not be allowed to fray. In this way the public is told what government is doing on its behalf. It provides a foundation for citizens to be involved in whatever way they choose. And the stronger the foundation upon which a community is built the more robust, the more cohesive, the more enduring that community will be. So let it be with Eastford.
Sadly, nationally and regionally, “hometown” coverage has either died or is dying. Local news is in peril. What we are attempting to do with The Eastford Communicator is to inform and to enhance our sense of community, a sense of community which we contend is critical, particularly to Eastford, “a small town in a mass society,” in these volatile times. We hope that through our efforts we will enable those of us who call Eastford home to live in the light of knowing — not in the dark of not knowing.