Finally, The Henderson Press Gets It

Now that we're moving in September, I'm working to finish reading all the issues of The Henderson Press up to the latest one. I'm on Volume 3, No. 11, and I've got 23 more in order to get to Volume 3, No. 34. I'm sure it's a combination of editor Carla J. Zvosec and reporter Guy Dawson that shows that The Henderson Press finally gets it: In profiles of businesses, you can't just skim the surface and report on what a business offers. You have to dig deep into a story, get the origins of the business, what inspired it, what the businesspeople set out to do, and how it's grown and changed. That's what reporters did in Zvosec's early days.

In this issue, dated March 15-March 21, 2012, there's an article on page 7 about the local Skyline Casino. At the beginning, reporter Dawson writes that the Skyline is undergoing renovations, takes in a quote by Mike Young, the general manager, goes into the remodeling details, and then delves into its history, who owned it first and who owns it now. The current owner, Jim Marsh, owns antique slot machines and has them on display throughout the casino. I've read a few of Dawson's articles in previous issues and I've found that he has an instinct for interesting details, no matter if he's writing about the Skyline Casino or a family taxidermy business that he reported on in the previous issue. Editor Zvosec is smart in letting Dawson pick out those pieces of Henderson not often thought about by the public at large. The Henderson Press was a zig-zag publication in its early days, unsure of what it wanted to be, and going through many different reporters and editorial oversight at the time, but now, with reporters like Dawson, and Buford Davis, who makes City Council issues even more interesting than they were before in this newspaper, it has matured into a strong community force that looks to make sure its citizens are well-informed about what's going on around them, no matter that it comes out once a week. But where the Las Vegas Review-Journal is published every day and has to cover the news very quickly, The Henderson Press gets time to digest the news that affects the city and report on it in a calm, even-handed manner. I have to get settled in Las Vegas first, but once my life's back in a straight line, I would have no problem going into Henderson every week to get a copy of The Henderson Press somewhere. I like what it has become, and plan to support it for as long as Zvosec and her reporters keep it going as it is.