May I reminisce a bit and tell you about the beginning days of the Gazette, the first and only newspaper devoted exclusively to Victoria yet is read by thousands who live outside of Victoria?  Thank you, fellow lovers, of news and paper.
The Victoria Gazette first hit the streets in June of 1979 as a stapled flyer on 8 1/2" by 11" beige paper from an out-of-town entrepreneur and renovator of old buildings in downtown Victoria.  His name was Scott McClain.  Scott was good looking and mild mannered, always polite, more silent than conversational, a gentleman in his 40's.
The flyer, and subsequent editions in tabloid size, carried some news from around the town, and also long interviews with old-timers as taped and transcribed by Scott's assistant from out of town, Mary Burk.  I inhaled every word of the reality interviews.
But mainly the Gazette promoted and advertised the Victoriana Restaurant, Gift Shops, and Pirate's Cove Lounge in the old Creamery, the Victoria Dinner Theater and Los Molinos Mexican Restaurant in the old Feedmill, the Ice Cream Parlor and then Hair Encounters in the old Barber Shop, the Pit Stop at the old DX Gas Station, and Victoria Antiques in the old Bank Building.  In totality, they were called McClain Properties.  None of the businesses survived two years ... except the Gazette.
I wasn't a stranger to newspapers, but I never thought being co-editor of my high school paper, or news editor or copy editor of my college paper, would lead me anywhere in particular.  I was a chemistry and math major.  But I immediately began writing and submitting unsolicited news articles to Scott and Mary -- about the Polka Fest at the St. Victoria Catholic Church, for example.
My first front page feature story appeared in "Issue Number Five" in 1979.  It was a history of the Lake Auburn Moravian Church.  I had wanted to learn more about the religion of our Victoria friends and neighbors as well as the beautiful little church on Lake Auburn.
In 1980, after a personal call from Scott, I assumed the position of editor of the Victoria Gazette.  My heart beat fast, and my outward confidence did not quell the butterflies.  But I set deadlines, wrote headlines, made calls, collected news, and always did the feature story myself.  I worked well with Beth Leuthner, the layout person, and Shirley Hanson, the typist.
My responsibilities grew exponen-tially and in a few months I was doing all facets of the paper.  I increased the news content while continuing promotion of Scott's businesses.  I called on leaders in the community to submit columns in their best interest, solicited advertising from area businesses and set standard rates.  I came to do the typesetting, layout, design, photography, billing, and bookkeeping.
At the end of each month I brought my completed layouts to the printer and hauled 700 finished Gazettes, in my personal car, to the Victoria Post Office.  The springs on the Oldsmobile I drove at that time never recovered. 
Keeping the Gazette alive seemed like something I had to do, and wanted to do.  And then, in 1982, Scott McClain left town.  His stalwart efforts, innovative investments, and creative energies were about 25 years too early, as it turns out.  By assuming the debt, I became the owner and publisher of the Victoria Gazette and acquired formal responsibility for its future as well as its present. 
When I advertised in the Gazette for someone to sell ads for me, Bernie Work-man answered the call.  It was the fall of 1982.  I was devastated when she died in 1987.  We had become fast friends.  I am privileged that her daughter Kathy Kraemer continues in her mother's place.
Allan helped me convert the kids' playroom at home into my office.  There is still nothing like sitting at my comput-ers each morning in my jammies with a cup of coffee and funny hair, and switch-ing channels on television to get a fair and balanced view of the world.
My daughter Jenny has been drawing "cartoons" for the Gazette since the early days when she was just a little girl.  Now Jenny is a wife and mother, but she remains at heart the little girl who draws for her mama's Gazette.
Letters to the editor remain numerous and rather complimentary all these years. I put many of them in the paper anyway.
Thank you, readers who keep reading and writing and subscribing.  Thank you, columnists who keep furnishing information, entertainment, and inspiration.  Thank you, advertisers who keep providing a commercial base for the Gazette and its readers.  Thank you, people at Crow River Press who keep running the show at Hutchinson.
Thank you, Kathy Kraemer, for being dependable, honest, and loyal.
Thank you, Allan and Jenny and Nick, for making it easier for me during deadline days.  Thank you also, Nick, for the Gazette Drop Box that you built and painted, for Christmas, for me.  Thank you also, Jenny, for your cartoon drawings each month, for me, and for being my sounding board.  Thank you also, Allan, for your help with the billing, and for responding to technical difficulties, for me.
And thank God for miracles.

                                                                ~Sue