Since 2017 is up and running, we figured now would be a good time to briefly go over some inside baseball when it comes to deadlines, guidelines, letters to the editor and the like. We get asked questions about these aspects of the paper on a weekly basis and, though you can usually find all of those details at the bottom of this very page, there’s nothing wrong with a little refresher every now and then.

For starters, let’s talk deadlines. Our editorial and advertising deadline is 12 noon every Friday. If you’ve got an advertisement or story that needs to run in the next issue, that’s the time you’re shooting for. Not all emails go through instantly, either, so you might not want to cut it too close to the wire. Also, if you’ve got a “big” story that needs to run and we don’t hear about it until midday Friday, that’s a more difficult order to fill before we have to ship everything off to the printers. Finally, if you know an event is coming up, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with letting us know well in advance so we can get it in our calendars for coverage and run it in the paper when the appropriate time comes.

If you want to send in a letter to the editor, your deadline is noon on Monday. And speaking of letters, please remember to keep them to 300 words and include all of your pertinent information (name, phone, address). Again, a reminder of those details is always listed in the box at the bottom of the Opinion page and it needs to be included every time you send a letter.

As for the content, we ask that everyone remembers this is a community newspaper. Keep the language clean and be respectful of others. We encourage responses to other letters, but please keep the focus on the content of those letters and not the person who wrote it. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with someone’s opinion, but this is no place for personal attacks.

In the event of a Monday holiday (we just had two of those in a row!), simply move the deadline back by one day. In other words, editorial/advertising becomes noon Thursday while letters are due noon Friday.

And with that, we’re ready to head into 2017. We look forward to reporting on all of the news, events and activities that will take place around Fountain Hills over the next 12 months, as well as giving our readers a place to share their thoughts.

If you ever have any questions or concerns, give us a call at 480-837-1925 or email the editor directly at ryan@fhtimes.com.