A Hearty Hello And A Promise To Readers

Hello, readers. I wanted to take this space to introduce myself and set my intentions for the work ahead. My name is John Peyton Boan, and I am your new writer and editor at the Dade County Sentinel. It’s an honor to join such a longtime Trenton institution, and I take seriously the responsibility of delivering the news to you on a weekly basis.

Here’s what I know. Since I started my career nearly two decades ago, I’ve seen trust in the news wane. Gone are the days of reliable stalwarts like Cronkite and Murrow. Replacing them are a myriad of online sources and social media voices that are as plentiful as they are diverse. With so many people saying so many different things, deciding who and what to believe has become a tall task for even the most astute reader. We’ve all had the experience of seeing something online and thinking to ourselves “surely this can’t be true.” And seemingly more and more often, we’re right.

It’s been said, be it attributed to John Kennedy or Thomas Jefferson, that an educated and informed populace is a free populace, and I believe this to be true. Without a shared and objective understanding of the world we live in, we are all wandering in the dark, unsure if those we entrust to meet our needs as a society are holding up their end of the bargain and unsure if the decisions we make today for ourselves and our families are the right ones.

This speaks to the responsibility I feel towards all of you. I see it as my duty to bring you the truth about your community, your elected officials and the people and places that make up Dade County. Not to just give you something to talk about at the dinner table but to give you a clear lens to see your world. 

This doesn’t mean I won’t make mistakes. I am human after all. I’m simply telling you what I will strive for every day. Objective truth and understanding. Making the complex clear. Real news. Because this is where you call home, and what happens here impacts you and your family in countless ways. 

This brings me to a request, readers. I’d like to hear from you. You all are what makes Dade County special and unique. I want to hear about what’s important to you and what’s impacting your lives for good and for bad. Whether it’s local sports or government projects or a neighbor with a big heart that deserves recognition, I want to hear about it. Because if it’s important to you, it’s important to me. 

Before I sign off for this article, let me share a little bit about myself. I started my career in journalism in Carrollton, GA following my 2008 graduation from Belmont University in Nashville. At The Times-Georgian, I covered local government and was recognized by the Georgia Press Association for best feature writing and investigative journalism in the state on multiple occasions. Since then, I’ve done communications and public relations work, first for the Carroll County government, then for the state’s Vocational Rehabilitation Agency serving individuals with disabilities and most recently for a small healthcare-focused nonprofit. My wife and I currently live in Chattanooga with our miniature dachshund Lula. 

You can always reach me by email at editordadesentinel@gmail.com or stop by the Sentinel office on the Trenton public square. I very much look forward to getting out into the community and meeting you, and I very much look forward to sharing the news with all of you each and every week.