There’s so much going on in this office that by the time you read these lines I will have sneaked off to New Orleans for some rest.

This edition includes our special Back-to-School section bursting with content about the schools of Panola County. Our staff has compiled interviews from principals, supply lists for many of the schools, bus routes and more of the information that students and parents want to know.

Let’s face it, school is less than two weeks away and the whole pulse of the county is about to shift to a faster pace with it. Nothing so profoundly alters the schedule of so many people in this county as the beginning of the new school year.

Then, our Tuesday, July 29 edition will include the long-awaited “Best of the Best” tabloid special section. Publication was originally scheduled for July 18 but your overwhelming response forced us to push the publication date back 11 days and still our production staff is straining to get it ready in time.

(Which might make you question why I would be sneaking off to New Orleans with so much work to be done. Believe me, even though Margaret Buntin and Madison Kilgore might wish they could also be absent from their computers, they had rather me be absent from mine than trying to help.)

Then there’s the Batesville Magazine. Madison has very capably headed up that project this summer. She’s adding finishing touches now, and soon it will be back from the printer. The finished product will be a quality, glossy and colorful magazine with feature articles about our life here.

Readers — even lifelong residents — will learn some things they don’t know and learn more about some things they already knew.

It’s a fun publication that you will enjoy and which should set a precedent for subsequent editions.

The Batesville Magazine won’t be included in the newspaper but it will be free where you find it — either at the newspaper office on Highway 51 North or in dozens of locations throughout the city. Watch for subsequent announcements.

Back-to-School, Best of Batesville and the Batesville Magazine are headed for our readers in rapid succession, thanks to a lot of hard work by our staff and much cooperation from our advertisers.