By Staff
I was not raised in a small town, but I've spent nearly a decade covering news in small towns, and I've found every one of those towns to be something special.
And when I drove around Brewton for the first time, I knew this was exactly one of those places, with quiet, tree-lined streets; residents who wave whether they know you or not; businesses with friendly faces to greet you. Combined with the fact it's in my husband's home state and where we both went to school, and you have the perfect new home.
Joining the staff at The Brewton Standard means filling big shoes, thanks to former publisher Michele Gerlach. It also means joining a team of people who are committed to publishing a quality newspaper for the residents of this community and committed to customer service for our readers and our advertisers.
My philosophy about community newspapers is simple: This is not my newspaper. It belongs to the community. My job is to take care of the newspaper and leave it better than I found it.
And in exchange for allowing me to be the steward for your newspaper - a job I love so much it hardly could be considered work - you ask us to be the record for this community, to publish news about the events and meetings and weddings and birthdays, and to be a marketplace for advertisers and consumers.
Our responsibility also is to be a cheerleader when the community needs to be picked up; to be a watchdog when government overreaches; to be a peacemaker when opposite sides can't agree; to be a leader when no others can be found.
I'll do my best to hold up our end of the bargain.
My husband Josh and I are glad to be moving to a community that takes pride in itself, one where residents love sports so much they fly flags for the high school teams and where residents love to read so much they support a downtown bookstore - not to mention a twice-weekly newspaper.
My door is always open, and I welcome the opportunity to meet all of you.
I want to hear what you think of your newspaper and what you would like to see in its pages. But I also want to get to know you - because this community's residents are the reason, I suspect, why Brewton is so special.
Kerry Whipple Bean is publisher of The Brewton Standard. She can be reached at 251-867-4876 or by e-mail at kerry.bean@brewtonstandard.com.