Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Norwich Times! We hope you enjoy the mixture of news, columns and features we’ve included in this brand-new newspaper, but most of all we hope you will contribute to help make it even better as the weeks go by, because we know that your voice is what the Norwich Times needs the most.

So we’ve made it easy for you to contribute stories, columns, news and even poems and photos by emailing submissions to times@thenorwichtimesct.com. Because, as we say, “the best news we get comes from you!”

We also would like you to enjoy our new website, www.thenorwichtimesct.com, where you will find all of the stories you see here and more. Feel free to visit the website to send friends who don’t get the paper links to all our great stories. We know there are many people with Norwich roots who would enjoy reading about people they still care for.

We are planning several regular features, including Kindness in Real Life, in which we urge readers to send us stories about people doing good work in the community. Another regular feature of ours, Be An Angel, is intended for people reaching out for help from the community, whether it be the need for a medical device or a kidney.

Our Friends & Neighbors feature is where we count on you to send us stories about accomplishments and milestones, whether it be a promotion or a retirement. The immensely popular My Pet Pal feature offers us humans a chance to brag about our dogs, cats, iguanas or any other furry or feathered friend who feels like part of the family (we’re serving up a pet from Norwich for our inaugural issue). We hope you will also like occasional features such as In the Galleries highlighting local art shows and Out & About, where we ask readers and freelance writers to tell us about fun places to visit.

And, of course, we would love you to submit calendar or library listings by emailing neighbors@thenorwichtimesct.com. The Norwich Times will also be your place for honor rolls, dean’s lists and other local school information (this week, Norwich Free Academy sent us plenty of news).

In addition, we will be sharing with you some terrific writers, such as Hanover’s own Glenn Alan Cheney, who pens the column called What The ..., and the well-known local author Ruth Crocker, who shares her unique view of the world in her column Writing on Water. Other columnists weigh in on relationships, history, wildlife, food and more, so we hope you will read and enjoy!

It is a unique privilege to be premiering a new newspaper in the midst of a pandemic and a time of social change and political controversy, but we promise not to be downers. We won’t shy away from controversial subjects, but we will try to be upbeat and offer thoughtful commentary rather than blistering attacks at a time when most of us have become tired of the screeching and pandering on TV.

Most of all, we are looking forward to bringing you interesting stories about the people of Norwich, Sprague, Griswold and other towns and villages in the area. Do you have an idea for a story? Feel free to write to me at l.howard@thenorwichtimesct.com or call my cell at 860-964-0597. Also feel free to reach out to my assistant editor Amanda Hutchinson at a.hutchinson@thenorwichtimesct.com for advice on calendar items, photographs and briefs.

We are psyched about The Norwich Times, but we need your help to make it the best it can be!

Lee Howard is editor of The Norwich Times and eight other Times papers serving eastern Connecticut.