EDITOR'S NOTE: Walton residents, visitors: Help me tell your story

You’re born in the newspaper in the birth announcements, and your death appears in its obits. In between, all of life’s landmarks are chronicled in ink. That has been the goal of every community newspaper since Johannes Gutenberg got the presses rolling centuries ago. And that is my one and only goal for The Walton Sun. I’ve lived in Northwest Florida for 10 years and have been editor of The Destin Log for two of them. Part of my own life story was written in Walton County, as my wife and I wed in beautiful Santa Rosa Beach almost seven years ago.

Still, it feels as if I’m in unfamiliar territory as I try to get fully up to speed here in Walton County. Although I have a lot to learn — though I’m trying as fast as I can — there is one thing I know: The Sun has always been a lean paper with a small staff.

But that has always been offset by a tremendous community outpouring that has led to countless column inches of submitted news from our readers and citizen journalists.

As I take on this new endeavor, I am counting on that to continue — literally, as I measure out stories to fit in the upcoming paper.

• I need your news. Whether it’s a happy birthday notice in longtime reporter Debbie Wheeler’s Party Line column or a new business opening, we want to know about it.

• I need your photos. When you see something interesting in your backyard, think of us and zap us a photo. Pass a bad wreck on the road, do the same. Did your kids do something adorable? Email it along. In the days of old, newspapers were confined by the space allotted for news. With the Web, we have a bottomless news hole and can showcase your photos on a national stage.

• I need your opinions. I am committed to making this page a discussion of the issues that affect your lives. Be it the good, the bad or the downright ugly, I want to give a voice to all of them. The discussion continues online, where all readers are invited to post their comments on any story that strikes their fancy or gets their goat. As things get going, I intend to publish the best of the lot.

• I also need your patience and feedback. This will be a work in progress for a long time. We’ve got a lot of balls in the air. But I don’t want that to ever eclipse our mission of keeping Walton residents informed about their community.

In short, the Sun is your newspaper. It should reflect your life.

And I can’t put it out without your help.

Send your news and pictures to sunnews@link.freedom.com.

William Hatfield is the new editor of The Walton Sun. He can be reached at 850-654-8448.