One of the

pitfalls of getting older, I have learned, is that time seems to pass

quicker. When you're young, you can't wait to grow up and become an adult.

When you get old, you wish the darned ol' clock would just slow down.

But here we are, ready to usher in a new year ... 2003. The last thing

I remember was turning the century over in 2000. What happened to the

years in between?

Anyway, I thought

I would use the bit of extra space this week to let you know how much

I appreciate your sending all those church bulletins, newsletters, news

releases and photos over the past year. You certainly make my job a lot

easier.

But I still

get e-mails and notes asking how to get religion news into the paper,

so I thought I'd list a few guidelines and help you avoid boo-boos that

might keep your news from being printed.

First and foremost,

the news must be local. That is, it must concern church activities in

our area (Coweta, Fayette and South Fulton). We will leave the national

news to the papers which cover national events. Besides, this is your

own, personal, county paper. We want to hear about our churches, not those

in Timbuktu. This is the place to announce your special activities, Bible

study groups, Vacation Bible School, revivals, special speakers, carnivals

and fall festivals, seminars, special choir performances, new pastors

and staff members I think you get the idea. If the community would be

interested in attending or participating, we want to put it in the religion

news.

I would love

to see more baptisms announced, focusing on the child, the parents and

the date. These are wonderful family history records.

And, as much

as I would like to include them, I just don't have to room to announce

everybody's sermon topics. You can imagine what would happen if every

church on the south side sent me their sermon topics every week. I probably

wouldn't have room for anything else.

The best way

to let us know what's happening in your church is to include The Citizen

on your mailing list for bulletins and newsletters. Many are doing this.

But, sometimes I will pick out a newsy item, rewrite it, include it in

the religion news ... then get a news release from you on the same topic

two weeks later. Could it be you're not reading the paper? Shame on you!

Photos are

always welcome, too. But, please, let the photo depict the event it's

supposed to show. Also, everyone in the photo must be identified. This

is the main reason some of your photos have not been printed. Now, I mean

identify persons within reason. If you send a picture of 50 people on

the Capitol steps taken when your choir went to Washington, obviously,

you don't have to identify everybody. Since space is limited, the number

of photos is limited too. Local photos take priority, though. If I have

to choose between a photo of some kids at a local church and a photo of

a special speaker from out of town guess which one gets the nod?

When you send

your news, please give a name and phone number of a contact person in

case there is a question. And please, please, observe our deadlines Monday

at noon for stories with photos; Monday afternoon for other items (please

try to get them here before 4:30 p.m.). These are for the religion section

in Wednesday's paper. I am only here in the office on Mondays and Tuesdays,

but you can reach me by e-mail at home anytime [email protected]

or [email protected]. All jkilgore letters are forwarded to jodiek. (Ain't

technology grand?) And I check my e-mail several times daily.

I hope this

will help those of you who have not been sending your news because you

didn't know how. And I hope this has answered some questions for those

whose news didn't make it for whatever reason. Everything is free and

runs on a space-available basis. I'm looking, forward to seeing some new

and innovative items in the 2003 papers.

Have a great

New Year! And ... keep the faith.

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