As the publisher of the Northland Journal, I might be the public face of the magazine, but in many ways I am only a tiny part of what makes the Journal great. Instead, I surround myself with amazing people, a team that not only believes in the mission of the Journal, but people who also love the Northeast Kingdom—its beauty, its history, its people, and its future.

Of course there is my wife and co-publisher, Penny. She does a tremendous amount of valuable behind-the-scenes work on the Journal, in addition to working full-time as a pharmacy clinical analyst at North Country Hospital. She is great at juggling her life. Our daughter, Emily Brugman, is our office manager. Like her mother, she is super organized and pays close attention to detail. We are blessed she decided to join the business after college.

Here are some of the other people involved with the Journal:

Jeannine B. Young, our editor and owner of The Little House Desktop Publishing, has been with us for almost the entire history of the Journal. We first met when we worked together at the Chronicle in Barton. Not only do we value her editing skills, but her wisdom and guidance is second to none.

Bill Alexander has been associated with the Journal for more than a decade. As the owner of Alpine Web Media, he maintains our website and provides a wealth of guidance when it comes to the ever-evolving world of social media.

Thomas Lichtenberger, owner of Lichtenberger Design, designs the covers of the Journal, and he makes many of the ads. He also jumps to the rescue in multiple other ways when needed.

Ellen Howell, who helps us out with selling ads, has decades of experience selling ads for numerous publications. Her work is so important to the Journal because we rely on our advertisers to help keep our mission alive.

Natalie Hormilla is the newest member of the team. She is our layout and design professional. Joining us in the fall of 2016, she brought with her a high degree of professionalism and a keen eye for detail. She has already begun giving the layout a more professional feel. Natalie is just what we were looking for as we moved into an exciting transitional year at the Journal.

We also have a number of regular contributors.

Amy Ash Nixon of Kirby is no stranger to the Vermont writing world. In addition to contributing to the Northland Journal, she is a reporter for The Caledonian-Record in St. Johnsbury.

Daniel A. Métraux is Professor of Asian Studies at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia. He has been a frequent visitor to his old family home in Greensboro since the late 1960s. He was the 1974 founding editor of the Hazen Road Dispatch, the journal of Greensboro Historical Society. Daniel is a frequent contributor to Vermont History.

Sylvia Dodge of St. Johnsbury has worked as an editor at the Journal Opinion, a weekly newspaper in Bradford, and at The Caledonian-Record. She currently is employed as Director of Career and College Counseling at Lyndon Institute.

We also have several other accomplished writers who periodically submit articles, including Beth Kanell of Waterford; Tanya Sousa of Coventry, Bethany Dunbar of Glover, and Barton native Dan Taylor of St. Paul, Minnesota. As important, are the ordinary people who submit personal memory articles of growing up in the Northeast Kingdom during an earlier time.

Thank you also to our readers, advertisers, sponsors, and the stores who sell the Journal. And a shout-out to our print shop for almost the entire history of the Journal—Blanchard Litho in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank all the people who shared their stories and/or photo collections with us. Many wonderful folks in historical societies, museums, libraries, and town clerks around the region and beyond, along with other individual resources, have been so helpful to our mission.

Although not directly connected to the Journal, I can’t say enough positive things about my friends John Rice and Tod Pronto. John is the producer of my radio show, Vermont Voice, and Tod is the producer of my television show, Northeast Kingdom Voice.

Thank you, everybody, for supporting the mission of Vermont’s Northland Journal!

Scott Wheeler/Publisher

For many years, Darcie McCann has been the public face of the Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce. As the executive director of the organization, she helps promote the Northeast Kingdom and its businesses to the rest of the world. She has been a true friend to the Kingdom and to those of us who live here, including business owners such as myself. Her biggest supporter was her husband of almost 30 years, Doug Steward.

Today Darcie is in mourning. Last night Doug passed away from cancer. Darcie and Doug’s marriage was one based on loyalty and honoring their vows – “Until Death Do Us Part”. I cannot begin to fathom the pain she must feel in losing her soulmate. The following are Darcie’s words:

Valentine’s Day brought drug raids throughout the greater Newport/Derby area, netting opiates and more than 20 arrests.

Orleans County State’s Attorney Jennifer Barrett was a recent guest on the Northeast Kingdom Voice television show. She talked about the recent raids, and about the ongoing opiate epidemic.

You can now watch the show by clicking HERE

Stephen Henesy is the new Patrol Agent in Charge of the Border Patrol station in Derby, VT.  He was a recent guest on the Northeast Kingdom Voice television show.  Stephen provided a glimpse into what it is like to patrol the Vermont/Quebec border. Click on this link to watch the show:  HERE