Brian Sandford: Why am I here? Great staff, beauty and you

I'm Brian Sandford, your new editor at the Appeal. This is my first entry in a weekly column aimed at sharing what we're doing here and why, inviting you to share your thoughts and reflecting on national news and how it affects Carson.

I'm here for three main reasons: I love journalism and storytelling; I fell in love with this region while interviewing here in January; and the Appeal already had a strong news staff in place.

I come here from Tacoma, Wash., where I was an editor for that city's newspaper, The News Tribune, as well as the state capital's newspaper, The Olympian. I previously was an editor at the capital city newspaper in Salem, Ore., and that's where my love affair with state worker and legislative news began. My love of local news began two decades earlier, while I was growing up near a town of 700 residents in rural Ohio. I eagerly awaited the newspaper's arrival each day, and I was lucky enough to later work for that paper, the Medina County Gazette, as a proofreader in my first journalism job.

I worked and went to school in Florida's Tampa Bay area long before finding myself out West. Once I got here, I knew this part of the country was where I belonged. I had the same reaction when I came to Carson City for my interview.

The beauty I encountered as I drove through Carson City, Gardnerville, Minden, Genoa, South Lake Tahoe and Virginia City stunned me, and because Carsonites and their neighbors are so friendly, I felt at home almost immediately.

Those impressions fueled my desire to come here, but working with a knowledgeable, dedicated and forward-thinking staff was equally important. I'll re-introduce all of us to you in a future column.

This newspaper isn't mine or our staff's. It's yours. You might like nearly everything we do; you might not. With that in mind, I'm going to set aside two hours each week as reader time. My job requires a fair amount of time out of the office, but I'll promise to be at my desk during those two hours, ready to take your calls, chat online and otherwise interact.

I'll designate reader time once I've been on the job for a month or so and have a good idea of what my schedule will be like. In the meantime, if you see me at a grocery store, gym, restaurant, museum, high school basketball game or public function, please introduce yourself if I haven't already done so. And don't hesitate to contact me at the email address below. I look forward to meeting you.

• Editor Brian Sandford can be reached at bsandford@nevadaappeal.com.