Help us make our newspapers better

Our newspapers, the Fort Frances Times and Rainy River Record, pride themselves on telling the stories of their communities and the people who live and play right across Rainy River District.
We have one lone editor in Rainy River who tries to cover the happenings in that community. But on weekends such as this past one, trying to cover all the activities in Rainy River and Morson is impossible for a single person.
Ken Johnston’s list of stories to follow up on this past week included figure skating, junior curling, defibrillator installation, removing pelicans from the endangered species list, and Baudette high school hockey.
Similarly in Fort Frances, we find our newspaper with a smaller reporting staff. With a winter carnival in Nestor Falls, hockey tournaments and games in Fort Frances, and the annual “Community Chest” dinner, our reporters were stretched to the limit.
We are fortunate in having contributors like Dave Ogilvie in Emo and Rick Nielson in Barwick, as well as Melanie Mathieson, Kim-Jo Bliss, Jeff Gustafson, and Jack Elliott writing columns regularly in the paper.
Dave and Rick cover a great deal of district news and are enjoyed by people across the region.
We would like to be everywhere, but it becomes physically impossible. A great deal of what takes place in the district occurs in the evening and on weekends—and our reporters and contributors enjoy time with their families and friends in the evenings and weekends as much as anyone.
The core of our newspaper is community and as much as we would like to be everywhere, unfortunately we can’t. As such, we have to rely on our readers to help us cover the community better.
We welcome stories about activities of clubs and organizations across the district.
Just because we can’t attend, the stories remain valuable and a report written by someone in the organization or a picture taken at an activity is welcomed. Photos and stories can be submitted by e-mail to either mbehan@fortfrances.com or editorial@rainyriverrecord.com
We just ask that you to do it in a timely fashion. On Monday morning, for instance, several parents dropped in before 9 a.m. with stories of travelling hockey teams. It is appreciated, and allows time for revisions and editing.
Across the district, municipalities meet on common evenings and we can’t always be there. We try to have someone in attendance but as meeting pile up, we often find ourselves having to make choices about which meeting might make the best news story.
In those cases, we look to hear from reeves, councillors, and township clerks about the activities that took place at the meetings.
We ask you to help us make our publications better.