The county's newest publication launches.

 

Hello.

This salutation is from the staff of the Lake County News. Likely as not you'll get to know us better as lakeconews.com, because we're strictly an online newspaper, which will be posted here every day, seven days a week. We believe that you'll also get to know us as your No. 1 source for what's happening in Lake County.

We're not the first exclusively online newspaper, but we're the first such publication to serve Lake County, keeping readers informed on what's happening in Lakeport, Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Lucerne, Glenhaven, Middletown, Nice, Upper Lake, Lower Lake, Cobb, Kelseyville, Finley and all points in between by Elizabeth Larson and her staff.

The effort is headed by Elizabeth Larson, who until recently was the brains-and-heart dynamic of another Lake County publication engaged in the business of keeping Lake Countians informed. So, you can trust her to ensure that the county's government, courts, schools and what have you will all be more than adequately covered in her aggressive yet sensitive style, which is well suited to Lake County.

To us, bringing you this first edition is exciting. Something we've been working toward for varying lengths of time. Since I'm a sports writer at heart, I'm inclined to equate it to a baseball season opener. Not just an opener, a special opener -- like Bob Feller's opening-game no-hitter and the great Walter Johnson's seven season-opener shutouts.

... Or, like the opening round of a fight involving heavyweight champions Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis or Rocky Marciano, who combined to flatten 38 opponents in round one. We think we're going to flatten some people in the early going, too. What's more ,we think that after you see the way we cover Lake County you'll think so, too.

We're hoping that now that you've logged onto lakeconews.com you have a feeling akin to Edison or whoever it was turning on the first electric light bulb. Discovery.

We believe that's possible because while we're new we're also experienced. Not just with what's news, but what's news in Lake County, because, you see, most of us teamed with Larson in covering the county before and followed her out the door of the last place she worked. You may recognize the bylines of Penny Dahl, Sophie Jensen, Terre Logsdon John Jensen (OK, he's Elizabeth's husband). And mine.

Some others you'll be seeing for the first time, covering topics that haven't been viewed in depth before. Like veterans' issue s by George Dorner.

No less important, you'll see the names of your friends and neighbors, maybe even yours, because we intend to give full attention to the developments, activities and events that matter to the people of Lake County. It will be your publication and we will reflect that on our pages.

A strictly online newspaper may seem to be a bit of an out of the ordinary concept to some who have traditionally read the "local sheet" over their morning coffee. Truth is, it’s kind of a culture shock to me, personally. Through the largest segment of my media life I wrote on a typewriter and if I was on the road I'd file my stories with Western Union for transmission back to the paper.

"Online" wasn't even in the vocabulary then. I remember like yesterday a conversation with San Francisco Chronicle sports editor Art Rosenbaum, a cohort of long ago, about a futuristic time when we would dispense with newspaper deliveries. If you wanted to read your local paper, you'd just call it up on the computer screen. If you wanted to read a specific page in that paper, you'd just call it up and print it out.

Now, comparatively speaking, I realize we were living in the horse and buggy days.

You may be surprised to know, as I was, that in Lake County as elsewhere more people use their computer to read the news than those who read the "hard copy." The world of print journalism is changing and we're changing with it.

Brenna Bolger, a name in Silicon Valley public relations and a former employer of mine, thinks that an exclusive online paper as Larson and her husband, John Jensen, are launching is such a great breakthrough that they should take it national. That way it could provide jobs for out-of-work big city reporters -- victims of these changing times -- like the 40 recently laid off by the San Jose Mercury News.

It may be that good of an idea, but the thinking right now is "today Lake County, tomorrow the world."

All that aside, enough of us who until recently toiled for that other Lake County publication, believe strongly enough in the potential of the exclusively online concept to make a dent.

So welcome to lakeconews.com. We're glad you've stopped in, and hope you'll keep coming back.