John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
It is true— change is the only true constant. This is not just another old cliché. This notion dates to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus.
And when change occurs, it behooves us to roll with the punches.
The summer of 2026 has been a season of great change for us here at the News-Record. As you have read, we recently absorbed the operations of the Whitewright Sun into your readership.
Folks in Western Grayson County have seen some subtle changes in their regular weekly paper.
Folks in Eastern Grayson County have seen far more dramatic changes hit their mailbox every week.
This is all an effort to better serve a larger part in our growing county.
We see a real opportunity to make impactful change and help communities along the way.
In my day job at the university, we talk much about “news deserts”— communities that are not being served well by news coverage.
I would argue there are news deserts right here in Grayson County.
Even though we have a semi-weekly paper in the county seat, and an active television market, there are still important stories not being told.
Sometimes the corporate-owned daily paper misses the beat.
You are seeing family-owned weeklies across the state fill this void.
And that is what we strive to do here.
The family-owned weekly Dublin Citizen is a newspaper of record for both Erath County and the City of Stephenville.
The family-owned Iowa Park Journal— a weekly— is the newspaper of record for Wichita County and much of Wichita Falls.
The Eagle Press, in the tiny town of Fritch, Texas, is the newspaper of record for Borger and Hutchinson County.
Sometimes, the smaller weeklies do a better job.
I like to think that is the mold that we fit here, and that is the path that we are taking.
While we have heard a lot of positive about this merger, there has been some negative, too.
Some folks don’t like change and we appreciate all feedback— negative and otherwise.
To any criticism, I would just say: there has been no less coverage in Whitesboro and other communities in Western Grayson County through our transition.
Our local business partners/advertisers are thrilled to, all of a sudden, be able to expand their marketing to exponentially more potential customers at no additional cost.
And our neighbors in the county deserve quality community journalism too. They aren’t getting that anywhere else. We are thrilled to provide it for them.
We will persist. We will continue to do the best job we can at bridging community stories throughout our county.
We will grow organically and we will surely rely upon y’all for feedback.
Something else is sure. We will make mistakes.
As we did two weeks ago, when we ran the wrong photo with the story.
When we make those mistakes, we will correct them. We will own them— as we did the following week.
We are human. And when humans produce your local news, mistakes will happen.
Albeit we do try to curtail them, it’s just part of the human experience, and not the AI bot.
But merging the two newspapers is not the only change we have right now in our office. After 40 years of the newspaper being located at 130 East Main Street in Whitesboro, we are moving.
But we’re not moving far. We are moving to 128 East Main Street— right next door.
When we bought the newspaper, we could not acquire it without buying the 3,000 square foot building.
Three years of taxes, utilities, insurance, upkeep and other expenses have shown us that we just don’t need this much space.
Financially, it makes sense.
Jennifer and I have three kids getting ready for college.
Things change.
So, we have found a wonderful buyer for the building, and they promise wonderful things for it.
We are moving about 30 feet east, and we’ll still be here in-person five days a week.
The newspaper has not always been in its current location.
The News-Record is 150 years old, and only about 40 of those years have been in this building.
A sizable fraction for sure, but not the entirety.
It has been in other places over the years, but always in downtown Whitesboro. And that is something we intend to maintain.
Newspaper mergers are not entirely foreign to the News-Record, either.
In cleaning out our office, I have found boxes of an old dead newspaper called the Collinsville Times.
Yes, Collinsville had its own paper at one time.
Sometime after World War II, the News-Record absorbed the Times, much like we just absorbed the Sun.
We also have old copies here of the Gunter Star. It makes me wonder if the same thing did not happen for that publication.
So, we have been busy.
They tell you when you start teaching school that you may have some downtime in the summer.
I have yet to see that. And I sure haven’t seen it this summer.
But we persist with our business expansion and growing news coverage area.
And we are moving forward with downsizing in space.
Quite honestly, the former is helping to facilitate the latter.
I came to work at the News-Record— the first time— shortly after our son was born.
He turned 18 in October. We moved around in those years, but all roads led back here.
I think I worked here three different times before I bought it.
It has been the privilege of my professional life to shepherd my hometown newspaper.
It is a privilege we are carrying into the newest era and appreciate you for coming along with us.
