OPINION: Time to say goodbye

Nov. 23—Last September, I left the Junction City Union to take over the editorship of the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle.

I regret to say my time in Abilene has come to a close.

I have taken a job in the children's section of the North Platte Public Library in Nebraska where I hope to remain for the foreseeable future. I leave for Nebraska at the end of this week.

Your new editor, Ed Boice, will do a fine job, I'm sure.

He has grown quite a lot since he started last year and I believe he will continue to grow during the remainder of his time with the Reflector-Chronicle — which I hope is a long time. He has been a good reporter and I hope he will be an even better editor.

I'll still be around in a sense.

For the last year, I have been responsible for the majority of the Reflector-Chronicle's design. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, that will not change. I'm going to keep laying out the paper every day. I'll probably still write for the paper from time to time to help Ed out as much as possible. While I'll be several hours away and unable to meet or talk to people in person, I will be available by email and by phone when I'm not working at the library.

I have enjoyed my time in Abilene. For the most part, the people are friendly and it seems as though there's always something going on during the weekends. Most of all, the community supports its newspaper which is increasingly uncommon in small towns such as Abilene.

Please continue to support your local newspaper — you have no idea what a great resource it is for a community until that resource is gone — or severely diminished.

Hopefully, that will never happen here.

In any case, please feel free to keep in touch. I may not be here physically but I'll be here in spirit and occasionally in print.

Lydia Kautz is the outgoing Editor of the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle