I had planned to write a combo Thanksgiving/Birthday column since I have a smaller space to fill this edition, and it’s the first time in the history of The Business Times we have a deadline that falls in Thanksgiving week. More importantly, this deadline also falls on the anniversary of my 64th trip around the fireball in the sky as well.

So, I’ll open with I’m thankful for two things, another year of entertaining my “fans” in this column and the privilege of now doing it weekly for almost a year with the paper. To ferret that out a bit, I always planned publish dates to land the day before Thanksgiving, which allowed two editions in December published before Christmas, so my old editor Phil Castle and I could spend family time over the holidays, and more important, take a three-week break after Christmas.

And then Phil retired, and for some reason I decided I needed even more deadlines. I’m thankful I did, because of the opportunities that have come (and those to come) were too good to pass up. And while the business opportunities are many, there’s one we cherish the most. That’s the opportunity to communicate and interact with the great folks who make up our little slice of heaven in Western Colorado.

And I mean that sincerely. We love doing stories about as many of you as we can. So, doubling the publishing dates allows us to report even more. And we’ll make it a good story no matter where you come from, where you go to church, what news stations you watch, what radio station you listen to, or anything else “different” you think or do which aren’t germane to a story including, most importantly, who you voted for or what your politics are.

Because other than maybe where you came from as interesting background, none of that other stuff really matters.

But there’s another edge of the sword when we interact with the public, and here’s something that happened during this deadline. We received a Facebook comment from a local business which said, “For a newspaper that is about supporting businesses, you shouldn’t pick and choose which one ones (sic) you support based on politics.”

Considering we’ve done a few stories over the years about this family business, it was a little shocking. More shocking, this person indicated they had “a source” who told them that, and that the source was me.

Now I’m not going to mount a defense on something I never said. I even removed this person’s comments from our Facebook page, as a “supportive” gesture in not letting folks see their embarrassing statements. Fact is, I have thousands of stories online (which by and large could be considered “supportive” even though that’s not our main function) about folks who think differently than I do on a thousand things, including politics.

Even more, we have an upcoming story where this family business will be mentioned. But one might miss that while sounding off about how they think a newspaper works while proving they don’t know how a newspaper works.

Thankfully, as I sit and type while watching football in my recliner, that’s enough for me. I hope it is for all of you. Blessings to you all on this coming holiday season.

In Truth and Freedom.Craig Hall is owner and publisher of the Business Times. Reach him at (970) 424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com.