Record News website upgraded
The online presence of the Record-News is getting a new facelift as of this week.
The redesigned website, available at mtayrnews.com, will continue to provide access to the online edition of each week’s paper as well as highlights from the print edition.
Obituaries and top local sports stories will also now appear on the home page.
“Our on-line readership continues to grow quickly,” said Tom Hawley, Record News publisher. “We have well over 200 subscribers to our on-line only subscription and many more than that who take both the printed newspaper and also access the online version.”
Hawley said these options provide readers with more ways to get their news and advertisers additional exposure to potential customers.
As in the past, the Record-News website will continue to provide the most comprehensive list of advertisements for employment, goods and services of any outlet in Ringgold County.
The homepage will also feature a global search box that will scan for key words from any past issue as a well as access to electronic copies of all Record-News issues dating back to 2007.
The new website also provides several new features we hope our subscribers will find useful.
These features include:
• the presentation of all photos taken by Record-News photographers at sporting events, community celebrations and many others.
• access to all public notices both in Ringgold County and across the state.
• a calendar of community events.
• a direct link to the Record-News Facebook page.
• a section devoted to regional news from other media that include articles about Mount Ayr high school sports and activities, Iowa news and Des Moines news.
• an online poll where readers can weigh in on different weekly questions.
• an interactive online crossword puzzle.
Best of all, all features of the new website are offered absolutely free of charge to subscribers to the Record-News print edition. Or readers may subscribe only to the online edition without a print subscription. Subscription details are available on the website.
The website is available on any computer or smart phone with Internet access.
One final benefit – the online edition is often available even before the print edition reaches Mount Ayr so viewers of the online edition will be first to read each week’s newspaper.
We invite you to check out mtyarnews.com today!
Two years ago my wife and I visited Van Buren County, attracted by their award-winning website, promoting “no traffic lights or fast food franches in the entire county”. This is appealing to us, living as we do in an area of Maryland with sprawl, sprawl, and more sprawl.
While in Van Buren County we were told that other similar counties, and their county seats, exist along route 2 to the west. So, last year we visited Sidney, Bedford, Mt. Ayr, Leon, and Corydon. Our assessment: Mt. Ayr is best. With Ringgold County’s population of only 10 people per square mile, there’s no sprawl, and no traffic. And yet Mt. Ayr has a two grocery stores, a hardware store, a lumber yard, a bowling ally, a movie theater, a library, a hospital, a golf course, a pool, and a Shopko.
We see Shopko as a mini Walmart, with Walmart a comfortable 32 miles away, farther away than Walmart is to the other towns we visited. We suspect it’s this distance that helps Mt. Ayr thrive economically compared to the other towns.
This month, we returned to Mt. Ayr, stayed two nights at the Mt. Ayr Inn, ate at Rumors, Jamie’s, and Greggo’s, walked along Madison Street from Shellway to Grant Streets, with it’s sidewalks all the way, and hiked on your Ringgold Trailway and on your Maple Leaf Path.
So, you have a lot to like, both for the things you don’t have and for the things you do have. For you who live in Mt Ayr and Ringgold County, “There’s No Place Like Home”.
Note to editor: You’re welcome to publish this as a Letter to the Editor if your readers would be interested, and I welcome any correspondence about Mt. Ayr from any of your readers.
John Ziegler 56 E. Irvin Ave. Hagerstown, Maryland 21742 mjzig@myactv.net