Dear Reader,

This week's issue of The Community Journal is being delivered to every household in Townsend at no charge, because we are proud to show off our paper to those of you who don't yet subscribe.

We are sharing a copy of the paper as a friendly reminder of what we offer 52weeks a year, with the hopes you'll consider subscribing or extending your current subscription at today's low rate.

As most of you know, The Community Journal was born 10 years ago and began publishing weekly in spring 2003.

Our commitment to community journalism and your wonderful response to our increased frequency have resulted in a doubling of readers in the past year.

Our business philosophy revolves around a virtuous circle of growing our number of readers, which in turn, makes the paper more beneficial to our valued advertisers, which in turn allows us to fund more improvements in the paper and our coverage.

The Community Journal's mission is simple: all local, all the time.

Fifty-two weekly issues packed with local news and events, local editorials and opinions, police and fire logs, local sports news and photographs, education reporting, community classifieds and much more ... you just can't get that anywhere else.

Our sincere thanks to the many businesses that support The Community Journal and to our Post Offices that deliver for us each week. A salute as well to the dozens, who contribute letters, notices, announcements and other forms of vital local news.

And thank you for reading and caring about the need for a community newspaper. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any feedback you'd like to share. Kevin J. MacLean, Editor (978) 827-3386 cjeditor@aol.com