The dawn of a new year is filled with bright, shiny promise, bouyed by the potential for prosperity and world peace.

Then Jan. 2 rolls around, reality sinks in and we’re left none the wiser and certainly none the richer.

But that doesn’t prevent us, here in the cozy confines of The Courier-Herald, from peeking down the road a bit and hoping for better things in the months to come.

For Enumclaw, our hopes are tied to the bigger picture of the national economy. Whatever “stimulus” we’re in for will hopefully work its magic and we’ll begin slogging out of the financial doldrums. Our fondest wish is for far fewer empty storefronts along Cole Street and for cash registers to be ringing where merchants have endured the tough times.

In Bonney Lake, our New Year’s wish is for a sense of peace and tranquility – but, with citizens facing a February ballot measure asking if they would like to change their form of government, that’s unlikely to happen soon.

On the world stage, peace in Bonney Lake is less likely than a Middle East accord.

Here in the newspaper office, the new year brings new opportunities and challenges, items that will be noticed by even casual readers. Rapid changes in the industry don’t impact just the big guys – they’ve evident in community papers, too.

One thing that hasn’t hit the weekly newspaper industry is the widespread job losses reported by papers in Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle and Spokane. Everyone is realizing the key to newspaper success is to focus on local events. Local, local, local. That’s the mantra. And that’s what we’ve been doing all along.

The Courier-Herald publications will have a greater Web presence, something readers should enjoy, and we’re quickly heading into the world of posting video on our Web site. Watch for these changes and additions early in the year.

We’re all in this together and, hopefully for the better, 2009 guarantees to provide an interesting ride.