It is also a time to look ahead to the coming year. A time to make New Year's resolutions.

Making resolutions presents an excellent opportunity to review where you stand and helps you set goals for the future.

One goal of ours for this past year was to update our website, which was completed, we think successfully, in September. We have received a number of letters and comments from people on the street saying they enjoy the website, and one of our resolutions for the upcoming year is to keep adding to the site while not losing sight of the fact that the printed version of the Crier is our first obligation.

Since its beginning in 1994, the Town Crier has grown steadily, earning a reputation as the paper to read for local news. News about local people, places and events which help shape the lives of those who live here.

Along the way, the Crier has also earned numerous state-wide awards for news and sports coverage, editorials, columns and photography - all the elements which contribute to making a great newspaper.

Our goal, as we enter the new year, is to continue our focus on the local news our readers want and can't find elsewhere. Sometimes those stories deserve banner headlines across the front page and sometimes they are as simple as what the school cafeteria will be serving tomorrow. Whatever local news our readers are after, we want them to know they can find it in the Crier.

And to help us meet that goal, we want our readers to know their opinions are important to us. We welcome comments and suggestions which can help us to maintain and improve our leading role while serving our readership throughout northern Otsego County.

We are particularly interested in expanding our readers' participation on the editorial page.

We believe a good community newspaper can provide a free and open forum for the discussion of ideas and opinions, whether it be in the form of letters to the editor or guest columns.

We also want to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.