If  I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times – and here I go one more time – I cannot believe that it is already the beginning of a new year, 2008 is here and Christmas has come and gone. I’m keeping up the decorations just one more week though since they went up a week later than usual and using the excuse of the “Feast of the Kings.” It works for me!

With 2008 on the horizon, we have to wonder what the new year will bring our communities and to our lives.

This week though, we have given you a look back at what 2007 was all about and some of the highlights of the year - both story wise and in photographs. This will give you the opportunity to reminisce just a little.

Speaking of reminiscing, Ernie Prien was in town this week and he shared some wonderful memories of this community with me. My visits with him are always a learning experience as he will share fond stories of when he owned Pioneer Drug Store. We were talking about holiday shopping and what stores are in our communities and he remembered one year that he bought his wife June a diamond ring for $35 and made a deal to pay it off at the rate of $2.50 per week. Another great holiday story was that during the war toiletries were sold as single items only and there weren’t any gift boxes available, so in order to create a multiple sale, Ernie convinced his cigar/cigarette distributor to give him empty cigar boxes. Ernie’s wife June would then cover the boxes with decorative wallpaper, line the inside with cotton covered by ornate taffeta and – voila – the gift boxes were created and according to Ernie they were a huge hit. In addition, June and Madeline Avila (a longtime West Side resident and former employee) would hit the bars down main street on Christmas Eve to see if there were any men who forgot to get their wives or girlfriends a gift, if so, they would take the order and go back get the gift and deliver it back to the bar. Now that’s what I call customer service!!

Every time he comes to town there seems to be another customer from the drug store that manages to meet up with him again. It is always a delight to hear the stories and share in the memories. Just ask “Pinky” – who is none other than Carol Martens of Gustine. She walked into the St. George Hotel on Saturday evening that’s who Ernie remembered her as. Pinky, I said – Yes, he said, it was the red hair when she was a little girl – well there you have it, she still has red hair so “Pinky” it is!!

Speaking of the St. George Hotel, it is so wonderful to have the restaurant open and see the members of the Delgado family helping out to make it a successful venture. With all of Willy and Lynette’s experience from Pea Soup Andersen’s it is sure to nothing but that.

We are looking forward to 2008 being an eventful year for our communities as many important issues that will forever shape our West Side will come before our governing bodies. If you are interested in the future of Newman, Gustine, Crows Landing, Santa Nella or any other surrounding area, we urge you to become involved in the process. Don’t just sit back and complain, voice your opinion to our city councils, school boards and legislatures – let them know about the things that are important to you – write letters to this newspaper as well. Maybe that could be a new year’s resolution for you – get involved – the future of our communities deserves your attention.

In 2008 you will see some changes in our newspapers as well as we try to provide you with the best possible local news product. Beginning this week, our website has been remodeled to give it a fresh look and we have contracted with a company to handle online photo orders. Many photos that are taken by our photographers are not able to be published and we wanted to give you the opportunity to view them from our website and be able to place photo orders without having to visit our office. Soon, you will be able to place classified word advertising online as well.

We hope to provide you with more convenient services as well as the most comprehensive local news coverage. If you should have any suggestions as to additional services that you may be interested in or changes you believe that we should make, please feel free to contact me at anytime by calling our office at 209-862-2222 or via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it – we welcome any comments!

As 2007 closes, we thank you our loyal readers, advertisers and customers – without you we could not continue to provide you with the level of personalized service, quality printing and community journalism and advertising that you have come to expect from our company. Thank you one and all and Happy New Year!

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