When the idea was floated for the writers and editors of The Augusta Press to collect their favorite stories of the year, I discovered by scrolling through the past 11 months just how busy this first year of The Augusta Press was. We all covered a lot of ground.
The powers that be at the Press placed a lot of trust in a 26-year-old kid to run the business section of their newspaper, and I’ll say this: I don’t think I was ready.
But that’s not to say that I was totally unprepared — I don’t think anyone on our staff had an idea how quickly the paper would grow. More needs developed, more readers showed up, and the paper still has to come out every day. It’s a huge challenge having to conceptualize, research, write and edit several stories every day of the year. At times, it can feel like the hamster wheel is about to run off the track.
But people need their news, and our public service is to help provide it.
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For being a college-educated, lifetime resident of Augusta, I learned quickly that I really had no idea how the city works — or any city, for that matter. I knew there was a mayor and committees that approve or deny things.
Buddy, there’s a lot more to it than that.
I had guidance from Debbie van Tuyll and Charmain Brackett and business leads galore from Joe Edge and David Peltier of Sherman & Hemstreet. They all helped to carry me for the first few weeks (okay, maybe months) while I figured out what I was supposed to be doing.
Lo and behold, the pieces started to click together after a few months of attending Chamber of Commerce events and Planning Commission meetings.
Jim Cox was a great resource in helping me understand how a business plan goes from a proposal to a fully realized brick-and-mortar building.
Tederell “Chris” Johnson, chief deputy tax commissioner, spent hours on the phone with me explaining tax law until I had a working understanding enough to write my story for the day.
Cal Wray always made himself available to me when it came to information on economic developments in the area both small and large.
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They didn’t have to. But they did. These are all stand-up people, first of all, but I also believe they see the value in The Augusta Press, a publication made up of local people just trying to spread news that matters to our neighbors.
It was likely June or July before I really started to “get it.” I recognized more and more faces and names at events held at Augusta University or the Georgia Cyber Center. I saw signs on the side of the road advertising developments I had followed in Planning Commission meetings for weeks.
Somehow, I had become the person at the dinner table who knew what was going on and could help fill in some contextual gaps and, equally as important, stamp out misinformation.
By the end of the year, I would call up a business or organization, and they recognized what The Augusta Press was. That was an amazing thing.
I wrote a non-profit update every other week for the last few months. The Community Foundation for the CSRA noticed and honored me by asking if I’d participate on their community volunteer board next year. That was my proudest day of the last year.
To me, it signified that all the nights and weekends were worth it. People and organizations dedicated to helping others in our community had started to notice what we were trying to do, and it was an extremely validating occasion.
For readers who haven’t subscribed to the paper all year, some of my favorite stories will be re-issued this week. I encourage anyone to read them or re-visit them to learn more about what we do here and the stories we try to tell.
And if there is a business story you believe you needs to be told, my email address can be found below.
Thank you for reading this. Thank you for reading me. And thank you for reading us.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
