Be it resolved

Scott Loftis

It’s time once again for my annual New Year’s resolutions. The past year has been hectic, to say the least, but I was able to cross a few things off my list. Here’s hoping I can make a few of these things happen in 2024.

• Continue to publish the Carroll County News and do everything in my power to make sure that it remains a vibrant reflection of this wonderful community we call home.

• Ditto for the Eureka Springs Times-Echo, which we brought back to life in April 2023. The goal is to keep growing and improving.

• Continue to do everything I can to have a work/life balance and spend quality time with my family and especially my wife, Lisa. Our weekend adventures sometimes make for long days when Monday rolls around, but they’re worth it.

• Speaking of Miss Lisa, one resolution I kept last year was going fishing at least 20 times with my lovely bride. I won most of our bream battles last spring and summer, but I can’t keep up when we go chasing trout.

• Make at least one road trip to see the Chicago Cubs. They open the season against the Rangers in Texas, so I’m hoping to be there. Of course, it’s been too long since I’ve been to Wrigley Field. Maybe we’ll make it in 2024.

• This is a big one: After losing 140 pounds from November 2022 to November 2023, keep it off. I’m confident I can do it, but I’ll have to be diligent.

• Along those same lines, take advantage more often of the Berryville Community Center. What a wonderful asset for the city of Berryville, even moreso under the management of Jamie Hussey. And here’s a shout-out, too, to Anna Smedley and the folks at the Eureka Springs Community Center. They truly took a dream and made it come true.

• To help with the previous two resolutions, finally get these aching knees replaced. The first one is scheduled for April and the plan is to get the other one done later in the year.

• Walk another 5K in 2024. Between my knees and my weight, my mobility was limited for many years. But I did it once in ’23, and I can do it again.

• Keep the oil changed. It’s amazing how much easier that resolution has been to keep as I’ve grown older and (maybe) wiser.

• Not climb Mount Everest. This is always on the list, and it’s a resolution I always manage to keep, despite a close call back in 2003.

• Continue to advocate for open government and the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. No matter what our political views are, we all ought to be able to agree on the basic premise that public business should not be done in private.

• See AC/DC in concert one last time. It’s been more than seven years now since the band has toured, but I haven’t given up hope.

• Not spend a single minute cheering for the St. Louis Cardinals. The easiest resolution on this list.

• Vote! I hope everyone will make the same resolution. Far too many of us don’t exercise the greatest liberty we have, the right to participate in our own government.

• This one is a greedy one, but it’s definitely on the list: Win first place for general excellence in our division again this year in the Arkansas Press Association’s annual editorial contest. We’re going for our seventh win in eight years and our fifth in a row. I’m still ticked off about 2019. It’s going to be tough in 2024. There are some really good weekly newspapers in Arkansas and wearing multiple hats in 2023 sometimes made it tough to focus on writing and reporting.

• Figure out a way to completely unplug for a full week in November so Miss Lisa and I can finally go on a cruise, and still get the paper(s) out. I’m not quite sure how that’s going to work, but I have 11 months to figure it out.

Thanks to each and every one of you for reading this newspaper, and this column. I appreciate you all and I wish you all the happiest of New Years.

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Scott Loftis is editor and publisher of the Carroll County News. His email address is SLoftis@CarrollCoNews. com