Everyone has enjoyed receiving The Suffield Observer for 20 years, bringing us all important community facts, good news and current happenings.
I believe The Suffield Observer grew out of a problem that needed to be solved. In the late 1990s, there was a lack of information of Suffield events and news from the print media. Because there was no local news coverage on the work and decisions of Town Boards and civic organizations, “The Facts” were only known in small circles and coffee klatches. This was a time before the internet and social media bringing constant breaking news.
At that time, a Charter Revision Commission was ready to schedule meetings to make their recommendations public, as required by statues. Commission leaders Sam Fuller and Betsy Heddon were planning to publicize their findings through the Sam Fuller’s family newsletter and to distribute flyers. The Suffield League of Women Voters collaborated, and it was determined that the Town needed its own paper. The model was the Granby Drummer.
After many months of meetings at the home of Sam and Jane Fuller, The Suffield Observer was born. Sam filled his home office with enough office supplies to be referred to as “Staples-West”. A small committee of people all chipped in $20 each to cover much of the other expenses, and Molly Fuller, the dog, was the paper’s original mascot. The publication soon moved out of the Fullers’ home and into Kent Memorial Library’s Gallery, and finally into a much-appreciated office at Suffield Village.
Just as today, many people were willing to volunteer time and resources to create the great watchful messenger of news and events in Suffield. This paper’s birth is an example of local people, solving a local problem.