I remember very clearly the first story I ever wrote for a newspaper.

I was in high school, and I covered a Packers game. Not the Vince Lombardi-Bart Starr-Brett Favre Packers in Green Bay, mind you. This was the 8-, 9-, and 10-year-old Blakely Packers, a team on which my brother, Marvin, was a player.

The game was played on a Saturday night. My story wasn't due to my hometown weekly newspaper until Tuesday.

News traveled a lot slower back in those days.

Working for a weekly paper, I didn't have that sense of urgency that I'd later feel when I worked at a daily paper. Back then, all I had to do was meet one deadline a week and I was good.

Yet even when I worked for a daily newspaper, the speed of news wasn't much faster. Newspapers didn't offer the immediacy that television offered. If I covered a 9 a.m. meeting, it would be nearly 24 hours before anyone could read about what happened.

But no more.

With today's launch of a revamped gainesvilletimes.com, The Times begins an exciting new chapter in our history. No longer are we restrained by our single print deadline. Now, when news happens, we can bring it to you immediately, in a variety of forms: text, audio, video and photographs.

This is an incredibly exciting day for everyone at The Times. Especially among our newsroom staff, there's a sense that our new Web site gives us the opportunity to do so many more things to help keep you informed.

I can't tell you how proud I am of the men and women in our newsroom. They not only have accepted that we'd be making improvements to our Web site, they've embraced the idea.

They've learned to shoot and edit video. They're learning to blog. They're learning that the old one-deadline-a-day mantra that used to sustain newspapers is as antiquated as a Royal manual typewriter.

But those of you reading this in print shouldn't worry. We know we have a loyal audience that just loves to hold a newspaper. It's not going anywhere. And, in fact, it's going to keep getting better.

I love newspapers. I have all my life. I've never really wanted to do anything else. Yes, I did go over to the dark side and work in public relations for a brief time. But I missed newspapers and came back.
I believe a good newspaper, one that is dedicated to strong community journalism, is essential. Our enhancements to our Web product won't diminish what we do in print.

Over the last several months, we made a number of improvements in The Times, including expanding our high school sports coverage and adding color comics.

Today, you'll notice we've given the paper a slight face-lift. We've given it a cleaner, easier-to-read look. And we're going to do a better job of helping you find out what's in the paper and online.

What hasn't changed is our commitment to bringing you the best, most complete, most accurate coverage of what's going on in our community. With both The Times and gainesvilletimes.com, we'll be able to provide unprecedented coverage of the things that are important to Northeast Georgians.

We hope the improvements to our Web site will allow us to bring you more news in more ways. No longer will our Web site simply be a replication of our print product. Each now will stand alone with its own unique content. It's our hope that you'll come to rely on both as your ways to stay informed.

I encourage you all to explore our new site. Read the latest news, and view photographs and video clips of what's happening in Northeast Georgia.

And take full advantage of the site's interactivity. Check out the blogs, or even sign up and write one yourself. Submit your favorite photographs. Comment on stories and columns. Sign up for daily headlines or breaking news alerts delivered right to your e-mail account.

I'm confident you'll find our new site, along with the continued excellence of the printed newspaper, to be an invaluable source of news and information. And feel free to share your comments; e-mail at mclarke@gainesvilletimes.com.

As our slogan says, it's "Your news, your Times."