The newspaper in this little town comes out once a week. Of course, by the time Thursday rolls around and the paper is available, most of the news is not news but history. If anything noteworthy happens in this town, it is promptly broadcast on the  Bowling Green news, aired on the local AM station and even more quickly posted and tweeted.  So why does anyone bother with the newspaper?

It still has a big role. It maintains the human interest in a colder, more technological world. The pages are filled with county meetings, church functions, weddings, anniversaries, births, deaths, beauty pageant results, local police reports, local baseball, softball, soccer, and high school sports, hunting pictures, deed records, some recipes, a look back at 50 years ago and of course the classifieds. Home of the upcoming yard sales-very important. Yup, its true.  As the song says, "Everybody dies famous in a small town".

For well over a month now, ours has been advertising for a new editor. Must have a Bachelor's degree, and at least 5 years experience as an editor in chief.  I'm thinking anyone with those credentials would surely eye a larger town with more circulation and well, more than once a week.  But I'm glad they are keeping their standards high, however, I think the bigger requirement is a love of the small town, and an understanding of the newspaper's role.

So to whomever the new editor will be, Welcome to Franklin.  We may be small, but don't worry.  We have  our share of scandals, crime, tragedy and dirt.  Those are unavoidable anywhere.  Please don't forget the things that are really important and unique to us.  The county fair happenings. My neighbor's 50th wedding anniversary. My co-worker's grand-daughter's soccer team win. Yes, we heard all about it, but seeing it in the paper validates.  A little validity to the good things in our community and lives is a huge role in a small town. Please carry on with that.