About this column:
The Editor's Desk is a weekly column from St. Peters Patch editor Joe Barker. The Editor's Desk will give you a behind-the-scenes look at how this site works. For questions and comments, feel free to contact Joe at joe.barker@patch.com or call him at 636-575-9390.
According to Time, some 4 million Americans expected to propose or be proposed to on Valentine’s Day. Were you one of them? If so, announce it to the world on Patch! Patch announcements are free and easy to post. And on top of the great news you're about to share, you can also post photos, videos and relevant links to augment your news. To post an announcement, follow these easy steps (or watch the how to video attached to this article): Log in to Patch with your user name and password Under the "News" tab, click on "Announcements" Once on the announcement page, locate the "Add An …
We're St. Peters Patch, and we just want to say, "good morning!" That's what the daily Patch email newsletter is all about. Every morning, as you're rising to start your day, we send you the latest local headlines, events, blogs, photos and community tidbits — right to your inbox, free of charge. All you have to do is sign up. You won't believe how easy it is. Here's why we think you'll like it. 1) It's quick. Hey, we know you get a lot of email. That's why we made it easy to read. 2) We're all about your community. With a quick scan, you'll find stories about your schools, the local police, …
Christmas of 1992 will never be topped in my book. I was in the 7 years old and in the first grade and was obsessed with dogs. The year before I had seen the Disney classic “One Hundred and One Dalmatians.” I begged my parents to get me a dog for a year straight to no avail. I woke up on Christmas morning super early and excited to see what Santa had brought. I walked down the hall and into the kitchen and saw dog bowls and a leash, but no dog. I was confused. My parents told me, and I guess my sisters since this was going to be a family gift, that we would go down to the shelter and get a …
Every morning, bright and early, my cell-phone alarm goes off. Every morning I grab the wrong phone. Without fail, I roll over in bed and fumble around on my nightstand to turn off the alarm. In my sleepy haze, I try to stop the noise—or more accurately set the snooze. Somehow I keep grabbing the wrong phone. Because of nature of this job—working without an office—the powers-that-be decided that I need a cell phone. In case people wanted to call me, or if I wanted to make a call, my bosses armed with a call phone. That way, I didn’t have to give up my personal cell phone. So now, instead of …
As I much as I'm trying to fight it—and believe me I'm fighting it—I'm getting sick. I woke up this Sunday morning and just felt blah. It's not a full-blown cold, yet, but I know it's coming. Despite downing glass after glass of orange juice I know that sooner or later, the cold is going come. It all started Wednesday night. During the day I had started coughing. I went to take some cough medicine and realized that I had nothing in the old medicine cabinet. The snow had just begun its rapid descent, but Walgreens is right down the street from my apartment. I figured the roads wouldn't be too…
Three months ago I was sitting in my old apartment in Hannibal. With the help of my mom and one of my sisters, I began packing up my life into boxes to prepare for my move to St. Peters. The day before was my last day at my old job at the Hannibal Courier-Post. We spent all day packing and the next day, my dad and other sister joined us to begin the move. We loaded up a truck and hit the road. Eventually, I arrived to my new home. Living in St. Peters these past three months has been, to say the least, interesting. Slowly but surely it has really begun to feel like home. When I moved here, …
I’m writing this column from my couch. With my laptop on my lap, I have a TV in front of me showing the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints playoff game. The sound is off because I’d rather listen to some music. Through the speakers of my computer plays the soundtrack designed to drown out my fingers pounding on the keyboard. The music is usually something upbeat—something you’d hear before a sporting event to fire up a team. Right now, a steady diet of hip-hop is filling my otherwise quiet apartment. Simply put, this is the ideal. If I could write every article like this, way ahead of …
One week down, many more to go. In case you missed it, this here site came into the world at 6 a.m. on Dec. 29, 2010. After weeks of preparation by myself and the rest of the staff here, St. Peters Patch came to life. In the first week—OK, fine, first four days, we've already had a wide variety of stories here. We've dipped into the sports world, talked about food and health and tackled some government issues. It's been a fun first week, but we're not slowing down and we're not stopping. What you're reading right now is The Editor's Desk, my weekly column to talk to you, dear reader, about …
Welcome to St. Peters Patch, a home for news, views and information about our community. I'm Joe Barker, the local editor of this site, which is part of a national network of local news sites with one goal in mind: To bring people coverage of their neighborhoods, their communities and the events and issues making news. Ever since I was a little kid, I've had a thirst for information. At age 3, I was reading the newspaper. You know the person who, whenever something happens, tries to find out everything? That's me. My brain is filled with minutiae. My interest in information led me to …
