Thanks and Goodbye: A Letter From the Editor of Wentzville Patch

Neighbors,

I wanted to use this space to say goodbye.

It’s been almost three years to the day since I was offered a position as the local editor for Lake Saint Louis Patch. 

That offer came along at a time in my life when I was ready for a challenge, ready to meet new people and learn new skills. Patch was a wonderful concept—solid, responsible, community reporting on a platform that encouraged conversation and interaction, and I was excited to be part of this grand experiment in online journalism. 

A year later, we rolled Lake Saint Louis Patch into Wentzville Patch and I became editor here. A few months ago, I also took on editor duties at O’Fallon Patch.

It’s meant a lot of long hours. Dropping everything to cover breaking news. Being at city hall until almost midnight (and after midnight a couple of times). Covering local events on my weekends off.  Answering the question “So what IS the Patch?” more times than I can count.

But looking back, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

Over the years, I met some AMAZING people and I'm proud of what I accomplished. We told stories that would never have been told without Patch and gave the community a voice so that people could not only share information, but also their experience, their knowledge and their opinions. 

Patch is restructuring and will no longer be staffing the St. Louis-area sites. As of Oct. 15, all the local editors will be laid off.

The Patch websites will stay live for now. Newsletters will still go out, and you’ll still see new content posted from Patch headquarters. You can still post your blogs, announcements and events.

I'll miss my colleagues at Patch more than I can say. You couldn't find a better group of hard-working, dedicated journalists. It's sad to see such a great team scattered to the wind, but I know they'll all grow and bloom wherever that wind takes them.

I won't be looking as far afield as some of them—this is my home, and I have deep roots here. So “goodbye” doesn’t feel like the right thing to say after all.

How about “See you around?”

Tammy