To our readers, clients and neighbors

First let us say thank you. Thank you to the nurses, doctors, hospitals and healthcare providers both locally and around the world who are tirelessly fighting the spread of COVID-19, putting their own health at risk to protect ours.

Thank you to the truckers, stockers, clerks, checkers and baggers that are hauling the loads, filling the shelves, ringing the registers and bagging our purchases, during what must feel like the rush of frantic last minute Christmas Eve shoppers every day in every grocery store and pharmacy in North America.

Thank you to the kitchen teams, servers, hosts, and dishwashers who are cooking, cleaning, serving and steaming while practicing social distancing with a warm smile and welcoming heart. And a special thanks to Johnny Boyle for keeping the liquor store open.

Small businesses are the soul of every community. Many of you own or work in a small business. Even more of you support your local community’s small businesses each day. And right now, our community is facing hardship.

Bandera is a unique community, full of the hardy and will accept any challenge. As publisher, I am still amazed by this town’s passion, resilience and ability to persevere through change. While these are testing times, we are in this together.

As the Coronavirus continues to impact all of us, I wanted to take a moment to reach out to you directly. We recognize the challenges ahead for small business owners, employees and their customers. Very humbly, we want you to know that we’re here for you.

As the town’s newspaper, we will not exploit this crisis for profit nor politicize it. It is and always has been my belief, that as we support our community, the community will in turn support its newspaper.

We are working closely with County Commissioner Jack Moseley and you will find a list of restaurants in our area that are remaining open, their hours and menus available for takeout, delivery or curbside service on the back page is this issue.

Finally, let me say I believe there are moments in life that should be defined by our vision, values, hopes and dreams, not by a virus.

And as for those worried about the National Guard in their neighborhood, relax. It’s not Seal Team Six. It’s just Kevin, the bartender from Chili’s, driving a Humvee at nine in the morning. And he isn’t coming for your 86 rolls of toilet paper.