The news never stops, even on holiday weekends. It’s one of the first things a person learns in a life of journalism.

In fact, at least here on the south Washington coast where most weekends bring a tide of visitors surging toward the beach — and some proportion of locals get liquored up — Friday and Saturday nights often include a significant amount of mayhem.

The Chinook Observer endeavors to keep up with what’s happening, even when most everyone else is taking the day off. For example, our current top online story is about someone’s remarkably stupid behavior when her mother was pulled over this Saturday night for driving while intoxicated.

A refined version of that story (tinyurl.com/Naselle-arrest) and much else — including our unique coverage of state post-season high school sports — will be in our print edition of May 31. (Where the heck did May go?!)

Working weekends and holidays is a rewarding part of professional life for any true news person. We always like being the first to learn of noteworthy events and the first to curate that knowledge for our readers.

I remember Oct. 27, 1989, being one of the last people left in my daily paper’s newsroom when the World Series pregame on the radio was interrupted by a 6.9 earthquake. I called over to the night editor something like, “Hmm, Tom, I think you might need to replate page 1…” In those pre-internet days, it wasn’t possible as a newspaper to get the news out instantly. The best we could do was make a new printing plate and get it on the press before the final edition went out.

The internet has scrambled nearly every industry, and few more so than the news business. We continue relying on our readers and advertisers to help us pay for the news in this time when people have come to appreciate nearly instant and reliable information. More than ever, we at the Observer and our affiliated publications work to live up to your expectations. We, and the information we provide, literally depend on you.

Thank you!