Smyrna A.M., not for LaVergne

Since LaVergne-ites aren't privy to receiving the news from the newest paper in the area, here's what we're missing:

FROM FIRST SMYRNA A.M.

Article published Mar 7, 2007
From the Editor: Welcome to Smyrna A.M.
By JIMMY HART, hart@dnj.com

Welcome to the first edition of the Smyrna A.M.!

As we stated on today's cover, "We're growing with you!"

We're excited about this tremendous opportunity to produce a newspaper and Web site exclusively focused on one of Middle Tennessee's fastest growing towns.

But I certainly don't have to remind most of you how quickly your community is changing. The evidence surrounds you daily, from the constant dirt-moving and shaking along Sam Ridley Parkway to a YMCA that's already bursting at the seams to the recently announced plans to
build another Publix here as well as a Smyrna location of the legendary Murfreesboro eatery, Demos'.

Check out Page 3 to your right to get the skinny from reporter Mealand Ragland-Hudgins about the Publix and Demos' proposals, the latest offerings to an ever improving quality of life here.

We promise to keep you in the know about such developments in this very publication, which comes to you today after talking with a group of local residents over the past two months about what they would like to see in a weekly newspaper.

StoneCrest Medical Center was gracious enough to allow us to use its meeting space to conduct these focus groups, and after listening to the insights and viewpoints from long-time residents, returning residents and newcomers alike, we determined there were a list of key topics that
remain top of mind for many people here: growth and its impact; what's happening in local schools; local parks and recreation; and the continued influx of newcomers and their impact.

That's not to say these topics are the only ones to be covered. But they give us a framework to build upon in making our coverage decisions because we want to tell the stories that interest you. We think this first edition reflects that.

But we also want you to tell those stories!

That's right, we want this publication and accompanying Website to be filled with reader-submitted content and contributions. Local columnist Robin Garner is an example of that.

Send us information and photos from local events and youth leagues, send us your calendar listings, participate in our online discussions. Check out our Web site to find out how to contribute.

So today's edition is our first shot at telling your stories. Let me know how we did and what we can do to make it even better.

*Jimmy Hart is executive editor of The Daily News Journal. Reach him at 278-5150 or by e-mail at hart@dnj.com.*

We encourage residents of LaVergne to speak up about including our town in news coverage and DISTRIBUTING the paper to our residents (whose children attend LaVergne Primary, Waldron Elementary, LaVergne Middle, LaVergne High and the new LaVergne Lake)**. We may not have a lot of retail here, but we have solid industry, great neighbors, wonderful schools, and interesting stories of our own.

**It goes to the families with children attending Cedar Grove and Rock Springs elementary schools.