Dear Readers,

What a run it’s been for me here in Glenwood Springs. Today is my last day at the managing editor for the Post Independent, and I have so many great memories from my 20 years as a working journalist in this community.

I spent most of those years as a news reporter for The Daily Sentinel, The Glenwood Independent and the Post Independent, jobs that I truly loved. But for the past two and a half years, I’ve had the privilege of serving as editor of this newspaper.

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It’s an intense and demanding position, one that’s subject to a strong mix of accolades and criticism. And rightly so. The community newspaper is an institution that readers should be able to rely on for accurate, balanced information on the news pages, well-founded opinion on the commentary pages, and a pleasurable mix of entertaining reading in sections like Community, Options and the comics.

The leaders of Swift Newspapers, the owners of the Post Independent, contend that a newspaper is only as good as the community it serves. So a community should demand much of its newspaper, to keep it thorough, fair and lively.

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As editor, I learned quickly that phone calls from readers with a gripe often led to improvements that we would never have thought of otherwise.

Now it’s time to pass on the position to someone new, and for me to move on to something new.

My replacement is Tom Martinez, who is coming back to Glenwood Springs. He worked at the old Glenwood Post in 1997 and 1998 as a night editor. Since then, he has been working as an assistant city editor at a sister paper to the Post Independent, the Greeley Tribune.

He will bring fresh ideas and new ways of doing things that should keep readers on their toes.

Tom starts May 24. In the meantime, former Aspen Times editor and publisher Andy Stone will be filling in as acting editor.

Meanwhile, my husband, Steve Smith, and I plan to take our professional skills to Denver for a few years. He is working as the assistant Four Corners regional director for The Wilderness Society.

I plan to take the summer off to play, travel and set up another household in a small place we’re buying in the Baker Historic District. Later in the year, I hope to land a big-city newspaper job. So you may see my byline once again.

But we’ll be back in Glenwood Springs a lot to visit, relax and soak in the pool.

I can’t go, even if it’s a partial departure, without first thanking all the people who have made this position so rich and interesting.

The Post Independent staff are quirky and intelligent people attracted to this odd profession, and I’ve had a blast working with all of them.

Friends, acquaintances and total strangers in the communities we cover have been so supportive. They pass along story ideas, write lively letters to the editor and call me just to say, “Good job.”

Thank you all for trusting me to write and edit your newspaper.

– Heather McGregor will walk out the door at 6 p.m. today with her violin and head straight for a dress rehearsal with Symphony in the Valley. The concert is at 2 p.m. Sunday at Glenwood Springs High School.