Staff Report

After months of planning, today marks the publication of Horizon's 2006, the biggest edition published each year by The Greenville Advocate.

This year’s edition includes approximately 68 pages of stories and photos about the people of Butler County.

&uot;Without a doubt, the annual Horizons edition is the single biggest project the staff of The Greenville Advocate accomplishes each year,&uot; said Advocate Publisher Dennis Palmer. &uot;We kicked off the project in September 2005, and I’m always amazed at the depth of reporting by our news staff and the quality of advertising our business partners contribute to make this truly special edition a reality. By far, this year’s edition of Horizons is the best yet and I’m very proud of our editorial and advertising staff for the hard work that went into creating what you hold in your hands today.&uot;

For the third year in a row, The Greenville Advocate has named a Citizen of the Year.

&#8220This is such a great way for us to recognize those people in Butler County who do a lot for their communities but receive little recognition,” said Kevin Pearcey, Group Managing Editor of Greenville Newspapers, LLC.

The Advocate’s 2006 Citizen of the Year is Betty Watts from Greenville, who has devoted a tremendous amount of her life to volunteer work, be it in Butler County, or abroad as a missionary.

A section new to this year's Horizons edition is Our Stories, which focuses on the legends and lore of Butler County, including the outlaws Hipp and Kelley and questions surrounding the origins of Greenville's name.

&#8220In October 2005, we received such a good response from our special Halloween edition of The Advocate (focusing on some of the ‘haunted' aspects of Butler County), that we decided to include a Horizons section looking at some of the legends unique to our area,” said Pearcey. &#8220It was really a fun section to put together.”

Returning to this year’s Horizons edition is the Greenville Police Department’s Annual Report.

This details the various crimes the city investigated in 2005 and it will also introduce you to all members of the force and the support staff.

Also in this year is a special Butler County Schools System tabloid, spotlighting all of the individual schools in the county and what makes each one unique. A special message from Superintendent Mike Looney is included.

Horizons is the most time-intensive project of the year for the staff of Greenville Newspapers and is always one that great pride is placed in.

This is the staff’s passion for community journalism that reflects our belief that the Greenville Advocate does indeed chronicle the lives of its readers better than any other media source.

It’s passion about this community, passion for showcasing the Advocate’s best work, but more than anything it’s a passion for showing, through photos and print, the good things that make this community what it is, the best place anywhere to live.