By Staff
Chuck Bodiford
Long before the radio, television and the internet, the newspaper was there on your doorstep giving you up-to-date information about your community and the world around you. While hurricane Ivan approached and eventually ripped through our town, many of us were glued to the television or radio hoping that everything was going to be okay in the end.
Before hand and after it was our turn, as the local community newspaper it is our job to document, inform you and in some cases suggest the best course of action to take to you our readers depending on the situations at hand. With Friday and Saturday available the Advance was hard at work putting together Sunday's issue. This is where our challenge began.
Just like everyone else our normal way of doing things was out of the question, due to the loss of electricity. Normally we have five computers running at a minimum and three cameras available to assist with the production of the paper, however, by Friday we were down to only one digital camera and two computers. With a concentrated team effort we were able schedule our workloads covering what we felt the most crucial, wrapping up the paper Friday night about midnight.
While driving through town on that Friday I heard a radio DJ talking about how great it was to receive his Mobile Press at home on Friday and how it made him feel that things were already getting back to normal. Saturday, I was at my house trying to clean up the limbs when I was asked by a neighbor when she could expect to receive her Atmore Advance. With a smile I was able to say Sunday. Maybe it's silly, but I hope that her receiving her paper on Sunday somehow soothed her feelings about what was happening and let her know that things were already getting back to normal.
It's going to take awhile, but things are getting back to normal. A couple of restaurants are back open on South Main, and going home last night I noticed a couple of red lights working. Again, it's going to take time, but with patience everything will be all right.
Before ending I would like to take this opportunity to thank Atmore Community Hospital. Its administrator, Bob Gowing and everyone on the hospital staff that made the employees of the Atmore Advance feel at home while there at the hospital. The hospital has been crucial in the production of the newspaper by allowing us to use their facility during the electrical outage. Today's paper is the second edition that we have published out of their facility. Again, to the hospital and all of it's employees thank you.
Chuck Bodiford is the Publisher of the Atmore Advance and an Atmore native.