EATON: Where we’ve been and where we’re going

The night before my family and I moved to Idaho, my wife, Erica, and I were lying in bed talking about our future.

I was making a major career change and she was sacrificing family and friends to move across the country (with two kids under two) to a place that — well, wasn’t exactly at the top of our “dream destination” list.

I had received other job offers, many in big cities, but coming back to east Idaho felt like it was the right thing to do.

Still, I was concerned.

“What if we go out there, launch EastIdahoNews.com, and nobody visits the website?” I hesitantly confided in her. “What if it fails? What if no one likes it? What if it doesn’t work?”

She told me not to worry and assured me the site would be a success.

Well, she was right (as she always is) and I have you to thank.

You have come, clicked, shared, commented, told your friends, emailed, called, viewed, read, liked, sent letters and continue to visit EastIdahoNews.com over and over again.

Thank you.

We have had more people on EastIdahoNews.com during the past two weeks than ever before. You’re clicking from here in east Idaho and we have been surprised to see folks from around the world reading our stories and watching our videos.

In fact, as you may have noticed, our “Marijuana dealers call 911 on themselves” story recently went viral and, at last count, has been viewed 30 million times!

Here’s the cool thing: We are just scratching the surface of what EastIdahoNews.com will become.

While other media organizations may be pulling back and facing uncertainty, we are very confident in our future and our path moving forward.

We commit to continue covering stories in ways no one else will. We promise not to put our news content behind a paywall and will work to reach as many of you as possible.

Right now we’re putting the finishing touches on our free mobile app that will launch very soon.

We’re in the process of designing a set so we can bring you live breaking news as it happens and deliver powerful interviews, compelling stories and daily newscasts that will be unlike others you’ve seen.

We’re working on in-depth pieces and investigations that will shed some light on important issues impacting you and your family.

And we’re planning some really fun contests, events and partnerships that you’ll definitely want to be a part of.

It’s an exciting time for EastIdahoNews.com and I’m proud of our hard working staff.

We are one of the smallest newsrooms in the state, but it feels so much larger because we get so much help from you! The tips you send, the photos you post, the messages you write and the comments you make, help us deliver news that matters to you. That’s the reason we’re here.

Just last night, as my wife and I were lying in bed, the conversation was drastically different than a few months ago.

We talked about how exciting it is to see EastIdahoNews.com grow, how receptive you’ve been in receiving our news product and how glad we are to be living in east Idaho.