HiH Website Update


Due to mounting health concerns, I am unable to continue as the editor and publisher of Home in Henderson.

I’ve known this day would come since I had my heart attack in 2008. It is only sheer cussedness that has allowed me to continue as long as I have since then.

And I’ve paid the price.

Three hospitalizations later, with the last hospital stay just a few months ago, I’ve been told that I can either reduce the stress in my life or leave a fairly young (albeit bloated and sickly white) corpse behind. Even Captain Obvious would say that the handwriting on the wall is pretty clear, and even a man as stubborn as I am eventually figures out when to quit. Of course, the most important reasons to give it up are my wife and children. Maintaining Home in Henderson day-to-day is not worth the price of leaving them behind.

The predominant thing that kept me from shutting the site down in 2008 was the same thing that compelled me to take the site over in 2006: my desire that the Home in Henderson project continue. Although the blog has been an occasional lightning rod of controversy, I think that it provides a valuable platform for individual expression and that it can be a catalyst for positive change in our community. Because of this belief, I felt that simply shutting it down was not a viable option. I needed to find someone who has the capacity to harness this beast and make it do the things I know it can do.

I believe that Phil Hart of Dataforge is that person. He understands the issues involved in news blogging, he has the technical expertise to maintain and improve the site in ways that I never could, he is invested in our community, and he has the business acumen to run Home in Henderson in a way that I believe will make the site a universally acknowledged boon to Henderson and Vance County — a place where we can meet and exchange viewpoints in a way that benefits us all.

The matter of who runs the blog is not nearly as important as the blogging itself. I encourage you to blog on, to put your ideas out there for the world to read and debate. Let Home in Henderson continue to be your personal forum for ideas, critiques, and commentary about everything and anything. Nature abhors a vacuum, and a community without discussion, debate, and even dissent is abhorrent to any culture that fancies itself a democracy.

As for me, I welcome my return to private life. I may cover an occasional story as a favor to Phil, but by and large I’ll be working towards the goal that brought me to Henderson in the first place: making the lives of our young people better by giving them the tools they need to become productive members of our society.

I give thanks to everyone who supported me during my tenure as editor, and I hope that you will continue to support Home in Henderson and the principles upon which it was founded.

Shalom.