If you’ve been reading my articles covering Big Lake, you might know that the Patriot Newspaper was passed over as the official newspaper by both Big Lake City and School Board, who both opted to go with Star News in Elk River. Both the city and the school board used Star News as their legal newspaper previously, and Star News is cheaper (in regards to running legals) in comparison to the Patriot.

However, the Patriot reaches more Big Lake homes than Star News, and at no cost to residents (which is why our prices are a bit higher.) I know most Big Lake residents do not receive the Star News or the Monticello Times (both owned by parent company Adams Publishing) but all residents of Big Lake City, Big Lake Township, and Orrock Township receive the Patriot Newspaper in the mail every week.

I can’t imagine having all the responsibility of working in the best interest of an entire city or school district. I understand that many of these leaders in our community ran on a platform of cutting costs and lowering taxes. It’s hard to justify spending more money on publishing legal notices when you’ve just won an election or reelection campaign by promising to cut unnecessary costs.

On the other hand, these same leaders made promises of transparency to their citizens. And in that regard, the Patriot has much more to offer to the Big Lake community. Star News is an Elk River paper, not a Big Lake paper. Monticello Times is a Monticello paper, not a Big Lake paper.

The Patriot is proud to be a Big Lake newspaper.

So, I wanted to let all of our readers know that Big Lake is still a priority for me, and all of us at the Patriot. I will still be in your community, covering all the awesome things the citizens are doing, from the entrepreneurs who are tough enough to start new businesses in the middle of a pandemic, to groups like the Lions/Lionesses Club and the Food Shelf who continue to make life better for Big Lake residents. And I sincerely hope through my efforts, and the efforts of the other reporters on our team, we can prove that our superior coverage is worth paying a little extra in 2022.

Happy New Year, to all our readers! I’m so happy to be here, in your community. And if you have any stories you think I should cover this year, please email me at Reporter.Katie@PatriotNewsMN.com.