OpinionÂ
I went home Wednesday night and finished working on the fence in our backyard.
We installed a new gate to a side yard. Our two goats will enjoy this new large space, and I’ll enjoy the fact that they will eat all the unwanted foliage there.
It was simply just another evening at home I shared with my wife and our pets after another long day at work.
These evenings are ones we may sometimes take for granted.
That morning journalists Alison Parker, 24, and Adam Ward, 27, were shot and killed on live TV while interviewing a local chamber of commerce president, who was also shot and survived. The story they were covering was not one of violent crime, or digging up secrets of a mob boss, or to uncover political wrongdoing.
A celebration was underway for a dam built 60 years ago that created Virginia’s Smith Mountain Lake. Parker and Ward went to learn about all of the fun events and activities planned for the anniversary, and went to bring home that community news story to their audience.
It’s a story that us reporters, and a service that we as readers may take for granted.
We journalists cover our communities with pride every day. Our business, the way we do our jobs, and the rules of traditional news writing as we knew them 20 years ago have all changed. They will continue to change as new digital storytelling tools emerge and, most importantly, readers continue to shift how they get their news and how much news content they demand.
As journalists, we are involved in this community in ways many people are not, or simply can’t be due to work and family commitments. We are here during the day reporting on our community while the majority of our readers leave the area for work in Washington, D.C.
We are the ones that are asked why police were “on my street last night.” or “what’s going on in my child’s school,” or “what am I really getting in exchange for the taxes I’m paying?”
In turn, we are privileged to go out and and bring home the answers to these and other questions. We get to explain to our readers what’s going on in their communities and why it matters to them.
Anymore, there are few others in our community that do what we do. But we’re glad there’s still a handful of us. Every community needs more reporters.
If our readers didn’t have to work and had more free time, maybe they would go out and do what we do.Â
The job is not easy. It’s time-consuming. It’s not cheap. It doesn’t require the highest degree awarded by the most prestigious journalism school in the nation.
It does require dedication, commitment, and a true understanding of the community that we serve. It is work that should not be taken for granted.
It’s taken me a few days to write these words, and to try to wrap my head around the tragic events of this week. I tried to let my emotions subside and time pass before I took to my bully pulpit.
Newspapers, local news websites, and local TV stations are not the sole source for community information any longer. Social media is now an indispensable method of spreading news and photos, and for telling stories.
Not a day goes by that we, the reporters, don’t look to social media to find out what conversations are being had in the communities we cover. And you’ll be hard-pressed to find a TV news show that isn’t showing an image of a Facebook page or Twitter comment to help tell the story.
Not all information posted to social media is accurate. We saw that Wednesday when incorrect reports surfaced of Virginia State Police pursuing Parker and Ward’s killer on Interstate 64 near Charlottesville.
As long as we’re around — as long as our readers find value in our reporting and local businesses and organizations find value in marketing to our readers — we’ll do our best to report the news timely fairly, accurately, and with a focus on how it impacts our community.
It’s the same thing Parker, and Ward would be doing today had they not been gunned down.
Ahead, the debate over how to best help those with mental illness, and what to do about the increasing number of high-profile shootings will rage on. After Virginia Tech, the state is no stranger to these conversations.
For now let’s remember two young, much-loved journalists who had their whole lives ahead of them. Whom, for a brief time, were given the honor and privilege of covering their hometowns — the same privilege that I have been given.
And let us take nothing for granted.
-Uriah Kiser is the founder and publisher of PotomacLocal.com.
Some candidates rise and fall with their party affiliation. For others, it simply doesn’t matter.
For example, take candidates running for school board in Virginia. A provision in the state code mandates all candidates for school board run without the affiliation of a political party and seek offices as independent.
In the 2015 race for Prince William County School Board Chairman, candidate Ryan Sawyers is endorsed by the Prince William Democratic Committee and Tim Singstock won an endorsement by the Prince William County Republican Committee. Tracy Conroy is running as an independent.
When voters go to the polls, they won’t see a letter on the ballot denoting any party affiliation.
“Parties can endorse anyone they want to, but party endorsement is different from party declaration on a ballot,” said Diana Dutton, with the Prince William County Office of Elections.
State law requires ballots only show political affiliation for offices such as Governor, Lt. Governer, Attorney General, House of Delegates, Virginia Senate, and congressional offices.
Also on the list of no required political affiliation — candidates for boards of supervisors, and those seeking office on a town or city council with a charter that doesn’t require naming political affiliation.
At Potomac Local, we do note party affiliation for candidates even if Virginia law states candidates don’t have to.
We work hard to cover local elections in Prince William and Stafford counties, and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. It is our job to tell our readers that parties endorse candidates.
After all, a political party that lends its endorsement to a candidate must believe that person is the best person who would best represent that party’s views while serving in office. These candidates are also more likely to receive donations from like-minded voters of these respective parties.
You can get a full list of candidates — and information about their affiliation or endorsements — at projectelection.com.
If it bleeds, it leads.
That’s an old saying about local news; taking shots at news directors who put stories like car crashes, shootings, and other general mayhem at the top of their newscasts.
However, news about crime and public safety is some of the most read, most shared, and consistently highest-ranking content on PotomacLocal.com.
Information about new arrests, scam artists trying to rip off residents, and details about why the police were on your street last night always does well on our local news site.
More than 50,000 unique readers in Prince William, Manassas, and Stafford consume this content on a daily basis. After seeing their friends and family member’s arrest photo on our site, finding a good lawyer becomes one of the first things on their to-do list.
It’s something for you to think about when trying to build awareness about your services in our community.
We also cover more than crime news – topics like schools, traffic and transit, and community events. We’re a trusted daily online news source read daily — with more than 150,000 page views and social interactions per month.
Take a look and you’ll see, from our list of most-read stories in 2014, PotomacLocal.com readers are captivated by stories about crime in their community.
See for yourself by visiting our site. We post at least one crime story a day on PotomacLocal.com. Our posts are based off trusted information obtained from local police and sheriff’s departments.
When it comes to marketing your services, we have online display ads, as well as ways to reach our audience through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
We also offer a promoted post option that allows you to reach our audience by posting answers to commonly asked legal questions directly to our site. It’s brands you as the local legal expert in your field.Â
If you have questions about how all of this works, please send me an email and I’d be happy to chat with you.
Every photo has a story.
As a reporter for many years, I’ve worked a lot of crash scenes, house fires, and homicide investigations. Never once was I stopped by a police officer and asked for my license and registration.
There’s a first time for everything, they say. Who knew it would be the assignment where I’m taking a photo of a Ferris Wheel?
It was just before 1 p.m. Friday when I was driving along Route 1 and saw a carnival rides erected in a parking lot across from Our Lady Angels church. I pulled into the parking lot to take a photo of the wheel with my camera phone. A police car was sitting in the parking lot.
After pulling in, I stopped my car, rolled down my driver’s side window, stuck my cell phone out the window, and took this photo: Read More
When I travel to a new city, the first thing I do is listen to the radio stations. I’ve probably heard nearly every song before, but the commercials are all new to me.
When I check in to my hotel, after marveling at the view (if I’m lucky enough to have a view), I turn on the local TV station. If I can find one, I grab a local newspaper.
These have always been tried and true sources of local information. I scan their local news and read the ads.
The local ads, just like the news, tell me what’s going on in a community. They serve as informative content that, at a glance, tells me about fun things happening in the area.
Most times I’ll see or hear an ad for an event, and then pack up friends and family in the car and drive over to that event feeling as if I’ve got some kind of insider information just because I saw the ad or read a promoted post on a blog.
I don’t know why I’m this way. Maybe it’s because I’m a media guy. Maybe it’s because I like to explore the community and try new things.
I do the same in my own community. I’m always scanning and searching for things to do right here in Prince William and Stafford counties. That’s why I’ll never understand when people say “I never read the ads.”
I get that some, if not most advertising is disruptive. TV ads that interrupt your favorite show, or pop-ups on your computer screen that try to sell you online poker chips. Read More
When it comes to parking in the city, a Seinfeld episode comes to mind.
You know the one where George Costanza gets into an argument with another driver over a parking space on the street.
I’ve always remembered this particular exchange between the characters:
Elaine: Oh, you’re never gonna find a space on Jerry’s block, just put it in a garage.
George: Look, I have my system. First I look for the dream spot right in front of the door, then I slowly expand out in concentric circles.
Elaine: Oh come on, George, please put it in a garage. I don’t want to spend an hour looking for a space.
George: I can’t park in a garage.
Elaine: Why?
George: I don’t know, I just can’t. Nobody in my family can pay for parking, it’s a sickness. My father never paid for parking; my mother, my brother, nobody. We can’t do it.
Last week, however, I did want to pay for parking. My wife and I had tickets to see “Bobs Burgers Live” at the Warner theater in Washington, D.C. It was a Wednesday night, I drove us both into the city after work, and we wanted the easiest, most uneventful evening leading up to our show.
Earlier, I went to Google and typed in “Warner theaterParking” and saw a host of results appear on the page. I clicked on one of them, and I saw the “Bobs Burgers Live” logo.
“Hey, that’s the show we’re going to tonight,” I said.
It was like the website knew exactly what I was looking for — parking for the Bobs Burgers show. I was intrigued, and I clicked on.
The site’s name was Parking Panda. It showed me several garages within a three to four block radius of the Warner Theater, and it also showed how much it would cost to park there – between $11 and $23. Some garages offered valet though my wife and I are not fans of valet. Read More
We have a pickle hanging on our Christmas Tree at home.
My wife hangs the green glass ornament on our tree each year. It’s made of the same material a traditional ball ornament is made of.Â
It’s an ornament we didn’t have on our tree when I was a child. My family opted for glass ornaments, apples, or tiny mailboxes for letters to Santa with the current year printed on the side of them.
Our pickle is always hung on the inside of the tree or on its back side. It’s never the first ornament you see on our tree, at that appears to be for good reason.
It appears pickles on trees are becoming more commonplace at the holidays. A myth states the person who finds the Christmas pickle will have good luck the following year. In Germany, many hid the pickle and gave the first child who found it an extra present on Christmas morning.
I wanted to find out just how popular hanging a pickled cucumber on a Christmas Tree really is, even if it is made of glass. Is the tradition as as popular in the U.S. as it is in Germany?
A search on Quora turned up some interesting results. Some have heard of the tradition while others, like Josh Stein who said he had a pickle on his family’s Christmas Tree when he was a child.
One of the questions I am most frequently asked is “how much does it cost to subscribe to your online newspaper?”
Most of those who ask this question are residents of our community, and business owners who are learning about Potomac Local for the first time. My reply is always the same.
“Absolutely nothing,” I say.
And it’s usually followed with this comment:
“More than a newspaper, we like to consider ourselves an online community news resource published daily.”
For the past four and a half years, I, along with so many others, have worked to grow Potomac Local into what it is today – a widely read, community-focused news and features publication that has laid the groundwork for independent local news in our community.
We couldn’t have done it without you, and this time of year we like to say thanks. Thanks for coming to us daily to find out what is happening in your neighborhood. Thanks for trusting us to bring you stories about your local government, your children’s schools, and what is being done to fix your traffic-clogged commute.
And, thank you for supporting the advertisers who support Potomac Local. Those advertisers help put food on my family’s dinner table and ensure the lights, and our website, stay on.
Potomac Local will continue to be free for the foreseeable future. All of us in the news business are looking for ways to sustain and grow our business models, but few have found success in charging readers for access to news content.
As we enter the bustling holiday season, we’ll continue to work to provide you relevant news and information about where we live. This area has been my home nearly all of my life, and it will always be a privilege to work for you and cover my hometown.
Happy Thanksgiving!
QUANTICO, Va. — A live band playing the music in an open park is one of the definite sounds of summertime.
Country Singer Tyler Toliver kicked off the Cowles Auto 2014 Salute to Our Troops Music Series in Raftelis Potomac River Park located at 408 River Road in Quantico on Saturday. More than 150 people  packed the park with blankets and chairs to hear Toliver and his band.
In the park, there were barbecue and ice cream vendors, and a beer garden was set up for all ages around the live music stage.
The music stopped just before 9 p.m. and Quantico Mayor Kevin Brown took the stage and welcomed everyone. With the Quantico Honor Guard behind him,he thanked everyone for coming to the park for the music and what appears to be a new Memorial Day tradition in the town — a spectacular fire works show made possible by Quantico Tactical.
For at least 20 minutes, fireworks were lunched over Hospital Point and they illuminated the sky. Some of them exploded bright white with embers that trickled back down to earth to resemble a weeping willow tree, while others were bursting with color.
As I sat on the ground with my wife next to the Potomac River, our heads tilted toward the sky, the sound of small children oohing and ahhing over the light show was made our experience worth the trip. And, let’s face it, what could be more patriotic than our community coming together to honor our military with a fireworks show at the crossroads of the Marine Corps?
I’ve have never seen so many visitors in the Town of Quantico as I did Saturday night. Many families were strolling Potomac Avenue with their children out enjoying an evening of warm spring weather, puffy clouds, and a light river breeze. Stores were open and people were sitting at sidewalk tables eating and drinking.
In the newly improved Reftelis park, new paved walking paths invite people to come play near the river shore. It was a great place to hold an event like this.
For so many in our area, for so long, the tradition has been to get out of town on Memorial Day weekend. In recent years, the Rolling Thunder rally that attracts thousands of bikers to the region has become a local tradition.
Now, thanks to the work of those who put on this community celebration in Quantico, we can now add fireworks on the Potomac River to that growing list of local Memorial Day weekend traditions.
