Langley gets its latest community newspaper on Friday

On Friday, Langley will become the latest Lower Mainland community to see two of its community newspapers become one.
The Langley Advance Times will begin publication that day, with the amalgamation of The Advance  (which began in 1931) and The Times (which started 50 years later, in 1981). Both have been owned by Black Press Media since 2015.
There is still another community newspaper in Langley - the Aldergrove Star, also published by Black Press Media. It is based in Aldergrove, and serves the eastern portion of Langley and western portion of Abbotsford.
The move to amalgamate makes sense, and will actually provide better news coverage. The news staff at the two newspapers have laboured heroically since each went to once-a-week publication, but there is no doubt they have been stretched on many occasions.
I have the highest regard for Roxanne Hooper, editor of the new publication. We worked together many years ago at the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News, and she is not only a hard worker and talented designer of news pages, she is a ferocious news junkie who is never satisfied unless her media outlet has done the best job possible. She has been editing both newspapers for the past four months, and The Advance since 2015. She is doing an excellent job. Roxanne is also a Langley native - her father Dick is a well-known volunteer with many causes.
I also have the greatest respect for reporters Dan Ferguson. Matthew Claxton, Heather Colpitts and Miranda Fatur. They will do a great job in covering Langley “like the dew” (a wonderful slogan used by a newspaper in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Publisher Lisa Farquharson, whom I worked with at The Times, is also a longtime Langley resident and a wonderful community advocate.
I have been associated with The Times for a great part of my professional life, from 1993 until the present. My 16 years as editor were a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I worked with great staff members and many incredible people in the community. We did a lot of journalism that mattered.
I am happy Langley readers are still able to read my columns in print once a month, and that will continue in The Advance Times. (They can read my thoughts more often on this blog, if they wish to).
Langley is a terrific community, with many great people, a lot of very strong community infrastructure and a great heart.
The Advance Times will ensure that a great community will continue to be served well by a robust community newspaper, both in print and online.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bad day at Black Press

Image
News today that Black Press has voluntarily entered creditor protection and could be sold to a three-way partnership is the latest in a long string of bad news stories for community newspapers. David Black, longtime owner and founder of Black Press, is out of the newspaper business after more than 50 years. It has been a sad day for me. I have spent the past 46 years involved with the community press, mostly as a reporter and editor. I was a Black Press editor for 16 years with The Langley Times, retiring from full-time work in 2015. I am particularly saddened when I think of the many great people I worked with at various newspapers, most of them now owned by Black Press. Some still work there, some have retired, some have left this world behind. Community newspapers have been struggling to find an arrangement that works for them, as businesses, and for their readers, for the better part of 20 years. This became a particular challenge when smart phones, notably the iPhone, made their a...
Read more

Na Tigie Jawara - she was a rock to many in Kabala, Sierra Leone

Image
Bonnie and I paused for a photo with Robert and Na Tigie Jawara when we visited their home in Kabala, Sierra Leone in December, 2013. Their granddaughter Tigos, who has just turned six, is with them. Students at Kabala Christian School enjoy the shade under a giant mango tree on their school grounds in Kabala, Sierra Leone. Update: The Jawara's three children who live outside Sierra Leone (two attend university in The Gambia, and one is working in South Korea) are now on their way back home for their mother's funeral, which will take place Sunday. Na Tigie's death has had a huge impact on many people there, as she was well-known in so many circles and well-loved by many. Just under three years ago, my wife Bonnie and I had the privilege of travelling to Sierra Leone and Ghana in West Africa. Our daughter Christina (Chrissy) first went to Sierra Leone in 2008, when she was in Grade 12 at Fraser Valley Christian high school in Surrey. She spent most of he...
Read more

Capital parcel tax biggest culprit in massive Surrey tax increase

Image
Property taxes in Surrey jumped by far more than the 2.9 per cent claimed by Mayor Doug McCallum. The biggest culprit is the capital parcel tax, which jumped by 200 per cent for every single property in the city. This is steep - and regressive. Many Surrey residents are upset about the boost in their property taxes. Some say they have gone up 15 to 20 per cent - a far cry from Mayor Doug McCallum’s claim that they were only boosted a modest 2.9 per cent. Property taxes are complex although Surrey, to its credit, breaks down the portion collected for its operations quite specifically. Not all municipalities do so. The Surrey property tax bill also includes a significant amount for schools, as well as small amounts for B.C. Assessment Authority, Metro Vancouver and TransLink. There is no doubt that McCallum’s claim was misleading, right from the moment council adopted its 2021 budget. A 200 per cent increase in the parcel tax, from $100 to $300, ensured that everyone’s taxes would rise f...
Read more