A notable transition

It may seem as if we’ve been here before: welcoming a new Lakeville Journal editor, thanking another. And we have, but the last one was a short term kind of thing. This time it seems to have taken.

John Coston has been transitioning into the editor role for the past couple of weeks. He takes on part of the role from which our former Executive Editor Cynthia Hochswender has moved on. Hochswender’s title was executive editor, and her duties have now been split between our managing editor, Patrick Sullivan, and Coston. She will remain as Compass editor, for which we are all grateful.

Thanks to Hochswender for sticking with us as editor longer than she expected. Imagine giving a month’s notice, but then that doesn’t quite work out. Would you remain at your old position to keep the company afloat and functioning effectively? She did.

So only profound gratitude for that, and for all the work she has put in for more than 20 years to make The Lakeville Journal Company newspapers far better than they would have been. Her dedication, talent and skill cannot be overstated or more appreciated.

Thanks to Sullivan as well for keeping us all on the straight and narrow during this transition. His knowledge of our area — dare I say, institutional knowledge? — and managing, writing and editing abilities have been defining for this moment in the life of this small community weekly newspaper.

Welcome to Coston, and thanks to him for taking the plunge into small-town journalism at this stage of his career. After having worked in multiple capacities at The Wall Street Journal over 30 years, practicing journalism in your hometown can be tougher than one might think. He has proven he is more than up to the challenge, and is looking forward to not only serving the Northwest Corner communities with the best publication possible, but also having some fun doing it. Those two things can happen at the same time.

And that is the goal of all of us at The Lakeville Journal: to do the best we can to keep all facets of our communities well informed of what is happening around them, while also enjoying the ride. In this new nonprofit iteration of our publications, and the new editing staff taking over with enthusiasm and inspiration, now is the time for our readers to connect with us all and let us know what you would like to see us do to keep you on top of things in the region. We welcome your input, as always.

Email us at johnc@lakevillejournal.com and patricks@lakevillejournal.com for Lakeville Journal news; Janet Manko at publisher@lakevillejournal.com for Lakeville Journal opinion and letters; and cynthiah@lakevillejournal.com for Compass arts. And thank you for reading The Lakeville Journal, online or in print. Without our readers, there would be no reason for us to keep at this work we all value and are grateful to be able to continue here in the Northwest Corner.

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