Won’t you please be our Valentine?

February 14, 2010

Here it is Valentine’s Day and we at CalCoastNews are hoping you remember the reporting you love.

It has been more than three months since we first unveiled our newly updated CalCoastNews Web site and the response has been tremendous. Thank you! You seem to enjoy the additional coverage now offered with our guest Opinion pieces, features and reviews, Daily Briefs, and the Screening Room videos. We are especially proud of our Event Calendar – our goal is to make the CCN listings second to none in the county. If you know someone with an event to promote, please send them our way.

Speaking of our Event Calendar, check out the expanded movie section we’ve just added. Now you can find where that must-see flick is playing locally, or watch a movie trailer if you’re undecided.

Meanwhile, two recent stories underscore the impact that CalCoastNews is having in the community. Last Thursday night, Dean Smith, the superintendent of the San Miguel Joint Unified School District, was placed on suspension due directly to allegations first reported on this site – a story ignored thus far by our colleagues in the media.

Just today, we reported that the controversial concert scheduled Wednesday night at Downtown Brew by anti-gay singer Capleton is being cancelled – in part due to the uproar that followed our reporting on this story. Again, no one else in the local media covered the controversy.

There is certainly a litany of other stories recently reported by Karen Velie and George Ramos, ranging from health care to police misconduct, all showing our commitment to investigative reporting and your right to know.

However, as we must from time to time, we remind you that though CalCoastNews is a labor of love, love is not always enough to see us through. We have bills to pay and expenses to meet, just like any other business. Our goal is to expand our advertising base in the months to come, but we still survive largely on private donations.

So here we are, on this special day, asking you to please be our Valentine. Here’s how you can help the cause:

First, we need another Tell Ten People campaign. The last one was very successful. Tell ten friends. Put us on Facebook. Shout it from the nearest mountain top. Whatever gets the message out – tell ten people about CalCoastNews and get them to visit us online and see what they think.

Second, we always take donations. Check out our Donations page and consider either sending us a check, or making a contribution directly through Paypal. Every $25, $50, $75, or $100 helps the cause.

Thank you for all your support and encouragement over these last two years. CalCoastNews looks forward to many more years of being the investigative reporting site for the Central Coast.

Won’t you please be our Valentine?