Published On: Mon, Feb 4th, 2013

"Leave me alone, I know what to do!"

By: Douglas Heizer

“Leave me alone, I know what to do!”  – Mika Hakkinen

Over the last couple of weeks some very interesting things have happened. However, life needs to move on, as does the business.

After almost four years, Dale King is no longer the editor of the paper. After many rumors, and speculation from people as to what really happened, I have decided to make a statement to clear the air once and for all.

This is what happened: Nothing.

Dale is a terrific journalist and a very well-known person in our city. However, the time came for him to move on.

I didn’t think it was fair to keep Dale here if it hurt his chances of getting a better and more profitable job elsewhere. Dale and I are still friends, in fact even more now than when I began the paper.

This was not the only change we made to the paper; we have also changed our distribution. We are now delivering our newspaper across Hillsboro Boulevard, between Hillsboro Beach and Parkland. Not only are we distributing in more places, we have also changed the methodology. We will no longer deliver free paper to homes. Readers who want the paper deliver at their home will need to buy one of our mail subscription plans. However, we have added a couple of innovative ways to have our newspaper in the hands of the people, and we also have kept our newspaper racks all around the city.

Building a community newspaper is a lot like having a blog supported by groups with personal interests. We don’t have easy money. Our only commitment is keep the citizens informed and let them make their own decisions. “Money can’t buy love”. Money can’t buy people’s choices, just try to remember what happened in the last local elections.

It was clear that our newspaper had a relevant influence in people’s choices. One candidate prioritized and placed ads in our local newspaper and he won. This showed where people are looking to get their news.

We need to make money to print and we need make the decision based on what we have. As you can notice, we have less than 50 percent  of our pages advertisements. We decided not be a shopper or penny saver type of newspaper, we also did not decide to be a blog with an agenda and receive money from supporters to write what they want us to write. We decided to be your news provider and this has a price.

This is why I made the title of this week’s column a quote from one of the most experienced Formula one drivers in the world, and a two-time world champion. While Mika Hakkinen was in the lead and wining a grand prix, his team manager, who was seated back at the garage, kept telling him what to do though the radio. Hakkinen simply told him: “Leave me Alone, I know what to do! “

The message is simple:  Sit in my place, and drive the car!

Love you Boca, keep tuning in and God Bless you all.

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