I cannot, in good conscience, let the print edition of The North Shore Sun pass from the scene without comment. And that’s because, as an owner of Times/Review Newspapers, I was around at the Sun’s beginning and, in fact, long before the beginning, as chronicled in the following editorial from the newspaper’s inaugural edition on Sept. 6, 2002. And although I share the staff’s and management’s excitement and anticipation over the expansion of the Sun’s presence on the web, those feelings are tempered by profound regret that the printing presses will be silenced.

And to the editors — Greg Zeller, Drew Crouthamel, Grant Parpan and Mike White — and staff members who have nurtured the Sun over the past eight years: Thank you for all the blood, sweat and tears.

Herewith that 2002 editorial, entitled, “The history of us.”

Just what northeastern Brookhaven Town needs: another community newspaper! Four papers already cover the community, so why do we need another?

Glad you asked.

About 12 years ago, Times/Review Newspapers of Mattituck was approached by a group of educators and residents in the Shoreham-Wading River School District about starting a new weekly newspaper in the community. They chose us, we were told, because The News-Review had been professional and fair in its coverage of their schools and their community. To make a long story short, we eventually declined the invitation because the early ’90s was not a good time to be starting a business on Long Island. The educators/residents went on to launch The Sound Observer.

Then, about five years ago, the volunteers who had been putting out The Observer approached us again about carrying on what they had started. They did so, in part, they said, because as volunteers they were running out of energy due to the demands of their every-other-week production schedule. Again, they told us, they had confidence in our ability to be both professional and objective, and again we declined — this time because they wanted The Observer to remain “pro-education” under our ownership. No Times/Review newspaper had ever been accused of being anti-education, we assured them, but we would not enter into such a venture with any hidden agenda, no matter how noble. OK, they responded, start your own newspaper in Shoreham and Wading River, and we’ll continue to publish The Observer from time to time. Sorry, we said, there are already enough newspapers covering this community.

So what’s changed in the last five years to cause Times/Review to launch The North Shore Sun? Nothing, really. There still are two small papers (The Sound Observer and The Community Journal) doing their best to cover the communities from inside, while two larger community newspaper companies (Times-Beacon-Record of Setauket and Times/Review of Mattituck) do their best to cover it from outside, via, respectively, The Village Beacon and The News-Review.

But has anyone really been covering the community the way it deserves to be covered, the way Times/Review’s three other paid circulation weeklies cover their communities — comprehensively, exclusively and professionally, with staff members who live and work in the community they serve? We believe the answer is “no,” and we say that with the knowledge that our own News-Review has fallen short of delivering that promise insofar as Shoreham, Wading River, Rocky Point and neighboring communities are concerned.

Enter The North Shore Sun. It may be a crowded field, but we believe The Sun will be different than the others (including our own News-Review) and that the community we serve will soon recognize the difference.

First, unlike The Village Beacon and The News-Review, it will be locally based, with offices in the Dogwood Professional Center on Route 25A in Wading River. [2010 note: Since moved to the McCarrick professional complex on Route 25A in Rocky Point.] Second, it will be produced by full-time professional journalists, many of whom live in the community they serve. (Editor Gregory Zeller and art director Matt Bodkin both have homes in Rocky Point, for example.) What’s more, the editorial content will be intensely local in nature, with no “filler” news from communities outside your circulation area. (Note: Because the Sun also covers Wading River, portions of which lie in Riverhead Town and the Riverhead School District, it will share certain editorial coverage with The News-Review of Riverhead.)

If Times/Review Newspapers has had any success over the past 25 years, it is due to its unwavering commitment to publishing the kind of quality local newspapers the communities deserve and demand. And this we do now pledge to do for the people of Shoreham, Wading River, Rocky Point, Ridge, the Leisure Communities and Brookhaven National Lab.
The North Shore Sun is your new community newspaper. We hope you like it and that you will decide to invite us into your home every Friday morning.