I have been with the "Tri-City Tribune" for about a year and a half now but let me properly introduce myself. My name is Marissa Holiman. I am from Lepanto and a 2005 graduate of East Poinsett County High School. My parents are Mark and Kaye Holiman. I have two sisters, Lindsay and Kirsten, and one niece, Rylan, who is great! My grandparents are Reva and the late G.E."Buck" Guin and the late Mary Helen and Johnny Holiman. I am attending college seeking a journalism degree.

In the this column I plan to write on today's interest or topics, some human interests about people in our community; sometimes reviews of the happenings in the area (movies, concerts, special events in the area, etc.) and articles of opinion. I love history so I will occasionally "go into the time capsule."

I want to begin my first column by telling you a little secret that you may not be aware of in the journalism field. Journalists and newspapers do not have a magic genie that tells us "who, what, when or where." There is no blue face Addalin to yell "Meeka-lekka-hi-mekka- hiney- ho...send a reporter to the next school awards ceremony at 10 o'clock in the school cafeteria." Although, that would be great.

For the most part we get stories from various groups submitting and tips from readers, occasional press releases and emails from government agencies. The most important source we have that keeps us on top of what's happening is you, our readers and the businesses in the tri city area. Now we use the words "tri-city area" a lot, but what we really cover is the entire area of Marked Tree, Lepanto, Tyronza, Black Oak, Dyess, Bondsville, Oak Acres, Red Oak, Payneway, Rivervale and Etowah. We sometimes cover news from Trumann, Harrisburg, Jonesboro and all points in between. We have four employees at this particular office that do the actual reporting, photography, advertising and lay-outs. We try to cover sports; club activities; board meetings for the cities and schools; school and church news; college news; government, county and state news; human interest stories; obituaries; police news; senior citizen news; business news and just about everything else you can think of.

It is hard to cover events after they are over (unless you have pictures and information). We have to know before, so please - if there is something happening in the area that is important to you or you feel is news worthy, please, please email or call ahead of time and make us aware of the event. We will be more than happy to do our best to cover what you feel is important but remember we are a small, hardworking staff. You have to also allow us time to work on the story once you have submitted it in order for us to have it ready for the next week's paper. Not to mention the fact that we are a weekly paper, meaning once a week.

As in any job, and as all of you are well aware of, regardless of what you do, how little or how much, someone, somewhere is not going to be completely satisfied with your end results. It is not our intention to offend or inconvenience anyone. We do try to please everyone, but sometimes there are circumstances that are beyond our control. We are journalists that are just trying to "spread the word" and do our jobs to the best of our abilities. The power of words sometimes can be unintentionally misunderstood. However, it is our top priority to try to be accurate and fair when reporting a story.

I am sure that you are already aware of the following information but I am going to supply you with it just in case you missed it in the past. The Tri-City Tribune deadlines are 5 pm Monday for news articles and late classifieds, 10 am Tuesdays for display ads, and 5 pm Friday for marketplace classifieds. The paper is distributed each Wednesday afternoon. Our news staff consists of Ron & Nancy Kemp, publishers; Samantha Martin, Editor/General; Dan Brawner, Sports/Photographer; Marissa Holiman, Reporter/Photographer/Columnist , Josh Martin Advertising. You may contact us at 15 Elm Street , P.O. Box 490, Marked Tree AR 72365; telephone 870-358-2993; fax 870-358-4538; email tcteditor@eritter.net .

We welcome letters from our readers, ideas, feedback and suggestions. Letters must be signed by hand and include the writer's full home address, plus daytime and evening telephone numbers for verification (we will not publish this personal information). We can not publish personal attacks, libelous material, falsehoods, unsubstantiated claims against businesses or evidentiary matter in lawsuits.

We only ask that you keep it civil. We reserve the right to not publish anything that we feel does not meet this criteria.

By the way, if anyone knows where I can find a "genie in a box," please forward me the information at marissa_layne_22@yahoo.com.

I look forward to hearing from you.