| The
Observers March On |
| An old business adage reminds us that "If it seems like
we're standing still, we're probably going backwards." |
| The Observer Newspapers have come along way since 1976,
the year that Peggy Vetter published the first edition of
the Herndon Observer. Since that time we have added a Sterling
Observer edition, which was later called the Eastern Loudoun
Observer. Later, we added The Reston Observer to our family
of newspapers. |
| As Eastern Loudoun has grown over the years, (some say the
third fastest growing county in the country) we realized we
needed to more fully address the readers and advertisers there.
So beginning this week, The Observer Newspaper family is adding
another member: The weekly Loudoun Observer XPress. It will
be delivered on Mondays. |
| The XPress will replace the Eastern Loudoun Observer and
will have a mailed circulation of 38,629 households plus about
1,500 hand-delivered copies to businesses. That's every home
east of Leesburg and includes Zip codes 20147, 20148, 20165,
20164 and 20166. That amounts to about 112,000 readers. The
XPress has been published monthly since August, 2001. |
| That puts the total circulation of the three Observers at
more than 80,000. The Herndon Observer has a circulation of
19,576 and The Reston Observer's circulation is 20,632. All
copies are mailed except for about 3,000 which go to businesses
and other single-copy pickup points. |
| That amounts to nearly 100 percent of all homes in Eastern
Loudoun, Herndon and Reston, more than any other local or
regional newspaper. |
| One of the benefits of having three individual newspapers
is that each can concentrate on the community it serves. We
also realize that although each of the three communities--Herndon,
Reston and Eastern Loudoun--has its own characteristics, the
residents who live there are also interested in other nearby
places. We hope to reflect that. |
| The XPress will be filled with a calendar of events, community
briefs and news, school updates, features on Loudoun County
neighbors, and photos and information from throughout the
Eastern Loudoun area. |
| The XPress will expand its coverage April 22 to report on
sports events from Stone Bridge, Park View, Broad Run and
Potomac Falls high schools each week. |
| To contact us at the Observer, call 703-437-5886. The fax
number is 703-834-3142 and the e-mail address is news@observernews.com. |
| |
| Song
and Dance |
| From the department of "We've all heard that before" comes
the announcement that the plan to build the 24-mile rail extension
to Dulles Airport has hit a money snag. |
| We've been hearing that song and dance for more than a decade
now, and it comes as no surprise, or hardly worthy of a news
story, when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) reported this
week that if the state can't find financing for the rail line
"the reality is that it's probably 2016, 2017 for rail to
Dulles." |
| The rail was scheduled to open in 2010. |
| That time schedule is so far out in the future that most
people reading this column really won't care: They'll either
have quit commuting, moved to another state, or--plainly put--died. |
| In the meantime, don't hold your breath, get ready to pay
$2.50 for a gallon of gas, and keep on truckin'. |
| And that's Our Town this week. |
