When the new year dawned Jan. 1, 2009, a new era also began for the 129-year-old Wise County Messenger. Phil and Lesa Major purchased the Messenger from Roy and Jeannine Eaton, who had owned the newspaper since 1973. The Majors, former owners of the Clay County Leader in Henrietta, published their first Messenger on Jan. 8.

"When it came time for us to retire, Jeannine and I wanted to make sure the Messenger remained a newspaper committed to Wise County," said Eaton. "We picked Phil and Lesa because we knew of their love of journalism and their commitment to quality newspapers."

Phil Major served as sports editor and then editor of the Messenger for 10 years, from 1981 to 1991. During his tenure as sports editor, the Messenger won its first Texas Presss Association Sweepstakes award in 1984. He is a graduate of the University of Texas and began his professional newspaper career as a general assignments reporter at The Bowie News. He advanced to news editor and met Lesa while both worked at the newspaper. They were married in 1980. They have one son, Sam, who is a graphic artist.

Phil Major has served as managing editor of the Alice Echo-News, the Times Record in Saginaw/Lake Worth and Today Newspapers in Duncanville and DeSoto. The 30-year newspaper veteran is a past president of the Texas Press Association.

The Messenger is recognized as one of the best semi-weekly newspapers in Texas. It has earned the coveted Sweepstakes award from the Texas Press Association Better Newspaper Contest for the past seven years. It is also a consistent Sweepstakes winner in the West Texas and North and East Texas Press Associations contests. In addition, the newspaper has earned several National Newspaper Association awards for excellence.

Paid circulation of the Messenger on Thursday and Sunday averages 6,000 with All Around Wise, a Total Market Circulation section of an additional 21,845, bringing the total available paid and free mailed circulation on Thursdays to 27,824.

The Wise County Messenger Update is a free distribution news sheet published Monday through Friday with a county-wide circulation of 4,000. Update contains the latest capsulized local news and is also posted daily on the Messenger website, www.wcmessenger.com. It is the most popular area of the site, as evidenced by 111,549 hits during a recent month.

The Messenger has a subsidiary company, Messenger Office Supply, which supplies county-wide service for office products and furniture from its downtown Decatur location. Daily deliver of office products is provided throughout the county and for the convenience of customers, office supply orders may be placed online. Some of the most beautiful offices in Wise County have been designed and furnished by Messenger Office Supply.

The office supply store is the official headquarters for school supplies in Wise County. Pre-packaged supplies are offered for most school districts and custom packages are available on request.

The office supply catalog is available online, where it takes only a click to order supplies and in many cases, have them delivered the next day to local businesses.

Because news changes every day, change is a way of life at the Wise County Messenger. Perhaps the biggest change in the past five years is the Messenger's presence on the Internet. Under the guidance of Webmaster Todd Griffith, the Messenger website is forever a work in progress. It is constantly updated and expanded, changing as technology changes.

WCMessenger.com is a place not only for news and advertising but a place to order photos, watch videos, leave a comment for a friend who has lost a loved one, post family photos, order both printed and digital subscriptions to the newspaper, check the local weather or follow a blog.

When breaking news happens, you can be notified immediately, simply by registering online for the service. A simple click will also allow you to submit a news item or order reprints of a photo you saw in the paper. The Messenger website is also where you can submit a letter to the editor, check the hours and menu of your favorite restaurant, read about points of interest throughout the county or check the grocery specials.

During a recent month, the Messenger website received 102,352 hits. The most popular page is Update, where 111,549 logged on to read the latest news. Sports headlines drew 14,193 visitors in just one month while Classifieds registered 34,652 visitors.

The site is especially busy during football season, when scores are posted after games on Friday night, and during the election season, when vote totals are reported as they are being received by the voter registrar.