Dave Bohrer

With frost on window panes, icicles hanging from the gutters and snow falling to the ground, on cold winter nights in Troy, New York, I fell asleep listening to the skip of a New York City, AM radio station as sportscaster Marv Albert called Knicks’ and Rangers’ games 160 miles away.

I couldn’t play sports as well as I enjoyed them, but those winter nights provided a direction for my future. I would be a sports journalist and share that enjoyment with others.

My classmates were more likely to be inspired by “All The Presidents Men,” Bob Woodward’s and Carl Bernstein’s telling of the downfall of the Nixon administration.

My sense of purpose as a community journalist became acquired over 47 years in newspaper newsrooms if you count the campus paper. At news meetings, I listened closely to editors discuss corruption, pollution, politics, local economy and on.

As I transitioned to news staffs in Ithaca and Elmira and worked with teams reporting on poverty, failing pension systems, devastating floods, 9/11 and myriad personal tragedies, my sense of purpose and my appreciation of the role of my community newspapers deepened.

That sense of purpose became more heightened in my close to four years at The Meridian Star.

I’ve worked with some incredible teams of journalists over those 47 years, but I couldn’t be more proud of watching our current team at The Star in its dedication and coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on East Mississippi.

Our journalists have worked frantically by the minute to keep you informed.

You’ve read reports from Bianca Moorman, Erin Kelly and Thomas King on the daily numbers of cases, the steps being taken by the city, county and state, the necessary precautions we need to take, the impact on our education systems, our first responders and our workplaces.

You’ve read reports by Cheryl Owens about acts of kindness in the community, religious faith and the daily impact list that she updates many times per day. You’ve read reports from Drew Kerekes and Matt Case on COVID-19’s effect on local athletes and teams.

You’ve seen Paula Merritt’s photos and videos documenting a new visual landscape around us.

Behind the scenes, Bill Graham and Ida Brown help identify and edit our reports for our website, newspaper and magazines and Helen Reynolds, Robbie Robertson and Thomas design and package our reports for you in print.

It has been inspiring to watch all of them at work over the last couple of weeks, tirelessly, at all hours of the day, on sixth and seventh work days when they deserve to be recovering.

This past weekend, you would have found Erin on a day off covering a health department news conference and live streaming it on our Facebook page. You would have found Thomas updating the impact list, handling reporting duties and finishing up the Sunday newspaper production. You would have found Bill, on his days off, updating meridianstar.com at various times of the day Saturday and Sunday and Bill joining Paula Sunday evening to report on outdoor prayer services at two of our hospitals.

All of this comes with the sense of purpose of serving you and our community.

That is why it was so difficult for us yesterday when Publisher Bill Atkinson finalized the decision to eliminate two days of newspaper delivery, yet another set of victims of COVID-19, to strengthen our chance of survival.

We can’t take a moment to mourn the loss of those two days.

Our mission continues, day and night, seven days a week, doing our best to keep you informed at meridianstar.com, and we’ll double our efforts to produce vital, community-focused reporting in The Meridian Star print editions on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and our magazines, Meridian Home & Style and Timeless Meridian.

We ask our readers and advertisers for support to continue that mission. We appreciate you greatly.

These days are a far cry from those winter nights when the crackling play-by-play of the Knicks and Rangers carried my imagination away to big city arenas, but right now I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

My wife, Martha, says I take my work too personally. I’d say the same could be said for everyone in this newsroom.

Bohrer is editor of The Meridian Star. Email dbohrer@themeridianstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @DA_Bohrer.