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‘Sincerest flattery' in yo-yo year

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2008 is drawing to a close - a tough year economically, and heck, even our area high school football teams had sub-par years.

We can all be thankful however; we live in one of the best places possible. Homes are still being built and businesses are opening at a much faster rate than they are closing.

As an example of openings and closings, the Austin newspaper decided to shut down its Williamson County edition just a few weeks after starting a couple of new papers. They stated in their closing announcement since they have a Leander, Round Rock and Cedar Park paper the Williamson County edition really didn't have a purpose anymore. The two new papers apparently are based on copying, as closely as possible, everything the Hill Country News is doing. This makes me wonder: if they don't need a Williamson edition because they have Cedar Park and Leander papers which seem to be copying the Hill Country News that has been here 40 years, then why did they decide to start the Williamson County edition in the first place? Give the Austin paper credit - they will write articles about most of the bad things that happen to them. You don't hear KVET morning show hosts Bucky and Bob telling everyone how bad the radio business is every day.

Major metro newspapers have had a tough year. The Chicago Tribune is bankrupt. The Austin paper is for sale and little has been said about who might buy it. Normally a bigger chain will gobble up a newspaper like Austin's, but these are not normal times.

In case you forgot, the Hill Country News is the oldest business in the Hill Country. We had a 40th birthday party in 2007, but we were a bit wrong on the date. We now have a copy of our first edition, so we know our paper, originally called Lake Travis News, started in December 1968. All 40 years haven't been great for the News, but there have been many more good years than bad.

This is Christmas and everyone should be thinking positive thoughts. The Cedar Park Center is looking good and this community has unlimited potential. We have great schools, low unemployment and plenty of young people moving into the area to raise their families.

So Merry Christmas to all!

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