Arnold, CA…First and foremost I would like to say Thank You!!! Thank you for your visits to our news outlets! Thank you also for living here, visiting here, working here, running businesses here and caring about our area, your friends, neighbors, communities and country!! For over 12 years now it has been an honor to cover, promote & be a part of one of the greatest areas on the planet. We know that for many of you if you moved it would be possible to have higher incomes, better career paths and what most living in major metropolitan markets view as “success”. You choose to live here in many instances for the intangibles that become part of the life experiences that make living here worth more than the “benefits” of living elsewhere.

As our nation has become more divided the realization that all of you are the mirror to reflect the pathway of our nation having better working relationships between the left and right, haves and have nots, white collar and those who would wear blue collars if they could be forced to wear collars at all.

Here we have mountain people, cowboys, artists, craftsmen, business people, teachers, doctors, lawyers, wine makers, shopkeepers, geeks, restaurateurs, farmers & more. We know instinctively that it takes all of us to keep our fragile rural economy rolling along and we take pride in making this an area where those that live in the “real world” choose to vacation, spend their weekends, attend our community events and purchase second homes.

In living your lives here you provide an example that much of the rest of the country has lost. You still like, respect, work with and are even friends with those whom you disagree with on politics, religion & more. Here largely there are only two groups, those who contribute and help keep our communities patched together and functioning and those who don’t. We seek to find areas on which we can agree and work together on.

Here for the most part kids of the rich and poor still go to the same schools. We shop in the same stores and share many of the same life experiences regardless of our income level. Here we still make excuses for each other’s faults and help those that are down. Here illnesses, deaths and tragedies are personal as we either know those involved or know someone who does. The ups and downs of life don’t just happen to other people, they happen to our friends and neighbors.

In many areas you can live in a real or virtual bubble of those who vote, live, think, dress and act for the most part just like you do. Here, thankfully, we don’t have those options.

When I am out and about in our communities it renews my faith in America and in the knowledge that differences of opinion and beliefs make us better & not worse. Those who believe differently than I do are not enemies but my neighbors and my friends. At times if I allow myself it may even be evident that they may have been closer to the truth than I was.

The last 12 years of covering our area has convinced me that small towns and communities are the best lens to view life from. We still know that it takes all of us to succeed and not just those with which we agree. We still believe in the fundamental goodness of those around us because we see it in action everyday.