WESTSIDE — This issue marks the beginning of a second year for the Westside Eagle Observer, which began publishing a combined edition of the Decatur Herald, Gentry Courier-Journal and Gravette News Herald on Aug. 4, 2010. The past year was a challenging but successful year for the new publication, and the new year of publication promises even more improvements in community news coverage.

Without the merger of the three community newspapers, Gravette, Gentry and Decatur would have lost their hometown papers. But with the new combined publication, local news coverage continues for the three west-side cities and nearby communities. We’ve heard a few complaints about nothaving a unique paper for each community, but most have said they enjoy the new format of the Eagle Observer.

The clear focus of the Eagle Observer has been local news, local sports and local events. Some of the stories making headlines over the past year included the coming of Walmart to Gentry and Gravette, the struggles faced by Decatur Schools, plans for a new nature area in Gentry, and Gravette’s ongoing efforts to meet state requirements for wastewater treatment without spending millions and placing an unaffordable burden on Gravette residents.

Each week, the Eagle Observer contained local news from the west side of Benton County, new public meeting reports and numerous events and announcements.

Sports victories and losses filled pages, in both photographs and stories, with the stars being local students at our own local high schools.

Providing a balance of coverage to all three communities has been challenging. It was hard choosing which news stories and photos were published each week. I always tried to include stories from each community on the front page and provideequal coverage throughout the paper. On some weeks that was difficult, especially when there was much news in one community and not as much in another.

In the upcoming year, the goal of the Eagle Observer is to continue its focus on local news but improve the quality of the newspaper’s coverage and content.

We intend to continue covering what is local - those news stories and events important to area residents but which just aren’t adequately covered by larger media sources with larger coverage areas - but we also hope toimprove the quality of that coverage with better reporting, better writing and better photography.

There’s always room for improvement and we are going to focus on doing what we have been doing - covering local news - but we’re going to try to do it even better.

We thank you, our readers, for standing by us in this new venture. We will continue to do our best to serve your needs in the future.

Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 6 on 08/03/2011