Bond's Broadcast

There is an old Chinese proverb that basically goes something like: “Whenever one door closes, another one opens.”

That is the case for me.

This will be the last regular Bond’s Broadcast in The Carlisle Mercury. After the Aug. 27 edition of the newspaper I will be leaving The Mercury to walk through another door.

I first must report the plant in my front yard is a pumpkin not a watermelon, plus a second with gourds is growing.

As I have said, Marilyn and I are quite happy to be in Carlisle. We like the people, we like the community, and we have hopes for the future.

Several weeks ago the Nicholas County Board of Education established a communications and information position for the Nicholas County School District. When I heard that the position had been established I decided to apply.

I firmly believe things happen for the best in one’s life, and this is no different.

I can say Marilyn and I enjoyed coming back to Carlisle and opening the Nicholas News.

It was a great reward to be welcomed back by so many people.

We feel a debt to the people of Nicholas County who subscribed to the paper as we were ultimately able to earn a periodicals permit from the post office, which by law, allowed the Nicholas News to become the legal newspaper of Nicholas County.

When we sold our newspaper and it was ultimately joined together with the paper Billy Dale Crawford owned to create the newly revived Carlisle Mercury we decided to stay on with the newspaper.

Over the next year and a half the company purchased the Bath County News Outlook, opened the Robertson County News and began publication plus just a few short months ago opened the Menifee County News.

The company added a fifth, much larger newspaper in the Big Sandy News and I have stayed pretty busy the last six months.

If you go back to my first column in the Nicholas News one of the driving forces in my life is the desire to do things, which make a difference.

I have tried to do that. I am sure there are some who are confident I have failed miserably. But some have encouraged us to continue editing and publishing the paper just as we have through this edition.

There is an immensely long list of people I would like to thank. I’d like to say thank you for so many things in so many ways. I have decided to simply try and say that we have appreciated all of those who have supported the paper, who have helped us along the way, and even those who forced us to work harder to keep going.

I’d like to thank those who stood there and offered a helping hand when times got the worst.

My new job, as I retire from the fulltime newspaper business, will continue to allow me to try and make Carlisle and Nicholas County better.

I enjoy the challenges life has presented and I am eternally grateful to all of those who have joined us in our quests.

I’d especially like to thank five of the most important people in the world to me. Not only for their hard work and dedication but for their loyalty and support: Marilyn, Carol, Beth, Amy Jo, and Michael (Mike).

This will be the second time I will be leaving The Mercury. While I can always say looking back I would have done “this or that” I can never be sorry for the many opportunities being in the newspaper business in Carlisle have afforded not only me but all of my family.

I wish the staff of the newspaper good luck. It is a real challenge to try and balance all that goes on here in Nicholas County.

As this newspaper comes off the press it will be my last as editor and publisher.

On Friday, I’ll close one door and walk through another never looking back.

So for now at this time in this place, thanks and thirty.