42 years and counting! That’s what we’re doing this week at The Times.

We aren’t making a big deal out of it because it’s one of those in-between type anniversaries.

Our first edition appeared on the newsstands on June 27, 1974. It was a tabloid format that was delivered by mail and distributed on newsstands on Thursdays. That first issue had 16 pages. Many of those editions in the early years had eight to 12 pages.

The Times cost 15 cents for those early editions. Through the years, we eventually raised the per copy cost to one dollar.

I was one of the original partners in the business including Bob Lightfoot and Arthur Hewitt. Lightfoot, who also owned the Lake Havasu City Herald, later sold his shares to Hewitt. I acquired all of the remaining shares from Hewitt’s widow after he died in 1989.

We formed Western States Publishers, Inc. in February 1974. That entity functions as our main company and publishes a variety of publications. They include The Fountain Hills Times, the Fountain Hills/Verde Communities Telephone Directory, Fountain Hills Community Guide, HOME in the Northeast Valley and the Northeast Valley Dining Guide.

All of our publications are being reviewed at the present time including the addition of at least one more publication.

We actually considered dropping The Times back in 1981. After losing money for seven years, we were facing the economic reality that we couldn’t continue unless we made some changes.

We cut our expenses and I started calling on firms “over the hill” in Scottsdale and Mesa to advertise.

The plan worked as The Times showed its first profit in 1982. Revenues increased every year until 2009 when the recession really took hold and we had a drop in residents and businesses in town.

We will take another hit this January when a new bill goes into effect. The legislature passed a bill (HB 2247) whereby the Corporation Commission will set up a searchable database and charge a fee for listing incorporation and LLC filings by firms. The Corporation Commission will charge a fee to post the filings to the business. The newspapers will have to be competitive in price to compete against the State for any publishing of such filings.

What this bill does is to take away the public’s right to know. The public has very little, if any, chance of seeing it on the state‘s database looking for it.

I’ve been fortunate to have a devoted staff. Mike Scharnow joined us in 1983 and became editor in 1994. However, he left our company at the end of 2015 to work for an investment and insurance company. His departure caught me completely by surprise.

I promoted reporter Ryan Winslett as the new editor and he is doing a tremendous job.

General Manager Kip Kirkendoll has been with me for 32 years. Reporter Bob Burns joined The Times in 1988. Ryan and reporter Barb Charzuk both joined The Times in 2005.

Advertising sales are handled by my son, Brent, and John Gibson. Brent went to work at The Times in 1994 after being a member of Fountain Hills High School’s first graduating class. John joined The Times staff in 2007.

Duke Kirkendoll, son of Kip, is a technology specialist, a production artist and sells advertising. He has been with The Times for 19 years. Tangie Prieskorn is a graphic artist. She worked for us from 1999 to 2007 and came back to the staff in 2014.

Tammie Ott is our legal, classified and circulation manager.

Linda McThrall worked for us as a reporter from 1976 to 1982. She moved back to her native stat of ‘’’’’’’d is editor of our specialty publications.

We have two part-time production artists.

They are Maria Circle and Dave Jepson. David is actually our IT person. He built our company computer system and wrote several of the programs we use.

Home delivery people are Julaine and Arden Kolstad, John Barcz, Ray Giaquinto, and Jim Nelson. The Rio Verde route is handled each week by John Gibson.

Looking back over the 42 years, I am most proud of our fair coverage. We still take editorial stances on issues. Both sides of important issues are given in our stories. We make our conclusions for the editorials based on what we feel is best for the community as a whole.

We cover anything that happens in the community from club and organization news, entertainment, sports, religion and our Fountain Spouts cover personal items.

Our newspaper has been very business friendly. We run stories on new and existing businesses, we cover activities of the Chamber of Commerce and we create advertising that brings businesses new customers.

The company’s policies on letters to the editor have drawn many comments over the years. Some of you feel we run too many negative letters from the same people. We feel the letters section is an open forum that demonstrates people’s interest in town issues and this newspaper.

If the letter is not libelous or some personal complaint about a business, neighbor or relative, it most likely will run.

Many people ask me, “How is The Times doing?”

They hear how poorly the large dailies are doing and they think all newspapers are doing poorly. According to the National Newspaper Association, community newspapers remain strong with good readership.

We are current with our bills and we should break even at the end of our fiscal year on June 30.

We are conducting a subscription drive that is scheduled to end tomorrow. We are celebrating Customer Appreciation Month. If you are in Maricopa County, you can subscribe or renew for $10 off the annual subscription rate, which is normally $42.

One more thought. I am going to extend the subscription offer for one more month.

Well, that’s it for this week. Happy 42 to the staff and our family of readers.