As the facilitator for the Fountain Hills Men’s Discussion Group, I am taking this opportunity to tell the community that the past and present editors for The Fountain Hills Times have been a bright beacon for us.

My primary function for the group is to bring in speakers every Monday morning who will speak to us for about 90 minutes. My goal for our speakers is threefold: Educate us; provide some humor, but that is not essential; keep us awake.

My quest to find speakers is ongoing. I like to bring speakers in from the town who can help us understand how the town operates. Along this line of thinking, I thought of our newspaper and, of course, Alan Cruikshank’s name popped into my mind.

When I contacted him to ask him to speak to us, he was extremely hesitant. He said he wanted to, but could only speak for 15-20 minutes. My response was easy—whatever you tell us will be fully appreciated. Well, he spoke for over 65 minutes and did a terrific job. The guys loved it.

Nine months earlier, I had Mike Scharnow, Alan’s successor, speak to us. There was no hesitancy on his part and he did an outstanding job.

Today (actually, Monday, April 3) I coerced Ryan Winslett , our current editor, to come and speak to us. He was a bit hesitant, much like Alan’s earlier response. Well, you read Ryan’s article about his experience with us. He did an outstanding job!

My point in all of this is to tell everyone that we have been blessed with exceptional individuals leading our newspaper. When you see any of the three, be sure to thank them for keeping us all informed and on top of whatever is going on in our town.