09/12/2024
Dear Sherman County!!
It is my great pleasure to share with you that after many conversations and much prayer, I have accepted the opportunity to become the owner of the Sherman County Gazette.
The future of the paper is important as it is a source of information on what is happening in the community and for keeping citizens informed and engaged. More importantly, the newspaper is the one tool we have to tell the stories of the community, which helps us remember who we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going. So much history is disappearing as we move into a mostly digital world, but old-fashioned newspapers are a way to preserve that history forever.
Let me first share a little information about me. I grew up in Hansford County, graduated from Spearman HS, attended the University of Texas. Following college, I worked for almost 20 years down in Austin in the State Capitol and Texas politics. I moved back home to Spearman in 2014 to raise my daughter here and to live closer to my family, who have been farming and ranching here since the early 1900s. My daughter Ally, recently graduated from Spearman HS, is a sophomore at UT, and attends the McCombs School of Business.
In 2022 I purchased the 100-plus-year-old Hansford County Reporter Statesman, and have spent the last two years learning the community newspaper business. I’m excited about the challenge of bringing the Sherman Gazette into our family. It is no secret that the newspaper business is changing and small community newspapers nationwide are shutting down. The 24-hour news cycle, social media news outlets, and online news sources make it difficult for a weekly publication to keep up. But I have researched successful weekly papers in our region and other parts of Texas and I have a winning strategy to ensure that the Sherman County Gazette can hold it’s place in this ever
changing world.
We will start where we are, build upon the foundation, and slowly make improvements to the layout, content, and focus of the paper. We will continue to be the paper of record for school and sports news, sympathy notices, classifieds, and public notices. We will be adding reporting features on the happenings at the State Capitol, in local government, and at community events, and we’re planning special features that will tell the stories of the people who make up this community past, present, and future.
I hope you will come along beside me and my team and support us on this exciting journey. In the coming weeks, I’ll introduce you to the folks who help make the paper happen.
We are making some transitions to a new website and subscription system that may take a few weeks. In the meantime you can purchase a subscription or about advertising opportunities or by contacting me at [email protected] or on my cell at 806-806-288-9522 or my cell 806-270-0210.
I am excited to join the Sherman County community and to work with each of you to keep the local newspaper tradition alive for generations to come! Thank you for trusting me with the stories of Sherman County!
Very Sincerely,
Suzanne Sanders Bellsnyder
PS -Thank you Ashley Dawn Vigil for trusting me with the future of the Sherman Gazette and I wish you all the very best!! It has been a wonderful experience getting to know you and work with you through this transition!
