As this issue reaches the news stands and mailboxes on Wednesday, the Gentry news office of the Courier-Journal and Decatur Herald will be moving to its new location in the office of the Gravette News Herald. After Wednesday, the Gentry office will be closed and phone calls to the two papers will be automatically forwarded to the new location by Thursday or Friday.

How will the closing of the Gentry newspaper office affect local coverage? Will it mean less coverage of local events or more?

A few people have voiced concerns that moving the newspaper office to Gravette will mean less coverage for Decatur and especially so for Gentry, but I don’t see it that way. Instead, I see the possibility for improved local coverage of news and events.

How could that be? While no one wants to see the Gentry office close, it will free up a little more time for me and for Janelle to cover local news and events, and that was hard to do while also trying to maintain daily office hours.

With no one else to keep the office open during posted office hours, I tried to spend most mornings there and leave only when I had a photo to take or an event to cover. It kept me from being able to stop in and visit with people and seek out news items.

I’m hoping that the change will give me more time to spend in Gentry, covering news and attending events. It’s true that I will need to spend time inGravette - especially on Mondays and Tuesdays - to edit and build newspapers, but on the other days, I am hoping to be able to spend more time talking to local residents and writing and photographing stories of interest to our local readers. To put it plainly, I’m hoping the office move will make it possible for me to do what I enjoy doing - taking photographs and reporting the news.

The change will have little impact on the Decatur community. Janelle plans to continue to spend the bulk of her time covering news and events there.

Even when the two papers merge with the News Herald in August to form the Westside EagleObserver, the local news coverage will still be there for all three communities and the westside area.

The biggest disadvantage to the closing of the Gentry office will be for those in Gentry who wish to stop in to drop off a news item, place an advertisement or take out a subscription. But patrons may still stop in at the Gravette office - located on Main Street in the first block east of Arkansas 59 - or at the Siloam Springs office - located downtown on Mt. Olive across from the park and fire station. And items may still be submitted by telephone, fax or e-mail.

Again, I pledge to do all I can to keep up the local coverage of Gentry newsand events. I know Janelle plans to do the same for Decatur.

Though the local office is moving away from Gentry, your local newspaper isn’t going away. We’re here to do our job of covering local news, events and stories like no one else can. We hope you, our readers, will continue to support us by letting us know of news and events important to you, submitting news items and photos, and by continuing to subscribe and read your local, hometown newspaper.

Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Decatur Herald and the Gentry Courier-Journal. He may be reached by e-mail at rmoll @ nwaonline .com

Opinion, Pages 5 on 06/23/2010