Kids are truly amazing.

Their creativity is endless and their excitement is contagious.

And I have proof — just take a quick walk over to the Decatur Art Studio, where you will find a herd of children working away under the direction of Barbara Pinkerton.

I was privileged enough to visit on Monday. Upon walking through the front door, I was struck at the sight — 30 kids, from 7 to 20, working alongside each other, the room buzzing with activity like a bee hive. A small group of children followed Barbara around the room as she gave her students one on one time, suggesting something here, praising something there. Her sweet laugh floated through the room every now and then.

The kids were all working on the same project — art for a book to be published by the Decatur Public Library titled “The Pets Who Built the Reading Garden.” Each student had a photograph of a dog, cat or other animal next to their sketch pad.

May I add that each piece of artwork was breathtaking.

Butterflies and flowers in vibrant colors contrasted with the animal fur. Even on paper, the puppy-dog eyes made me sigh and smile. One cat peered curiously from a paper bag, while another looked at me carelessly. I half expected her to roll over so she wouldn’t have to look at me anymore.

The students were excited and proud of their work, and even lined up next to me with Barbara announced that I would be interviewing for an article – “Anyone who wants to talk to the reporter needs to line up over there!”

Boy, did they line up. Each told me special things about their work — why they picked their animal, where their idea came from. I was amazed, and quite jealous of their talent.

I wanted to share some of the quotes that I wasn’t able to use in the article:

“I thought the cat was cute, and the dog looked nice. With the cat, I did more than I thought I would. I like cats — they’re fun to draw.”

Jayden Houck, 10, Greenwood

“I have her staring at a group of flowers and leaves on this branch. I thought it looked pretty cool. It was an easy position to use.”

Mitchell Jowell, 15, Alvord painted Little Fox

“I thought the scarf was cool. He’s sitting in a field of flowers.”

Grace Wooten, 10, of Decatur painted dog Barkley Stewart

“I think it’s a good chance for kids to draw and make a book.”

Elizabeth Culpepper, 10, Carson

“This is my cat, and I like this dog. She’s sitting down and playing outside.”

Gracie Bagwell, 10, Decatur

“I picked the picture because he’s looking straight and I wanted him to look at the turtle.”

Wyatt Smither, 10, of Decatur painted Shadow, a German Shepherd

“I wanted to make it look like it was exercising.”

Randi Reynolds, 14, Bowie about a cat stretching on its side

“I really feel like I want to meet her. I’ve probably drawn more pictures of her with different backgrounds.”

Addy Ford, 8, Paradise about Shanna, a Boston terrier

“I thought he was really cute and he looked fun to draw. He’s looking up at the wisteria.”

Michaela Watts, 11

As a community newspaper, we welcome submitted news. These items are often in the form of news briefs. We get lots of submissions, and we do our best to get those in the newspaper.

The unfortunate reality is that we often have to cut items due to available space - it happens quite a bit, even with reporter-written stories. We’ve tried different methods over the years to try to make it as fair as possible to get news briefs in the paper. We started by trying to keep news briefs on the same page every issue. Then, we started arranging them by date so that the activities coming up the soonest are at the top of the list, and if we have to cut items, at least there will be time to run them in an upcoming issue of the paper. We also publish the complete, uncut version of news briefs on our Web site. Also, I’ve started putting “new” news briefs in Thursday’s paper, meaning those news briefs that appear in Thursday’s paper have not been previously published. Then they are added into our “master list” of briefs, again sorted by date, that appear in the Sunday paper.

Despite these efforts, there are times when items still don’t get into the printed newspaper before an event. And we usually get calls or visits from the submitter wanting to know why we left their information out. We explain that, despite our best efforts to get every submission in, the only way to guarantee that something will run in the paper is to purchase an advertisement. Without that, there would be no pages for us to put news briefs on.

But here’s some tips to increase your chances of getting your information in the paper:

1. Send it to us well in advance. This is probably the most important tip. A news item sent on Tuesday afternoon for an event happening Friday won’t make it in the paper before the event. News items should be sent two to three weeks before an event - that way it has a better chance of making it into at least one of the four or five issues before your event.

2. Include a phone number where you can be reached. Often items that are sent to us contain incomplete information. We will often need to call the submitter to have those questions answered before we can run the brief.

3. If you are e-mailing, please put the word “news” in the subject line. I get an unbelievable amount of press releases, junk mail and other assorted “news” items daily and often have to skim the subject lines to pick out the locally submitted items.

4. Keep the information short. Give us the who, what, when (including time) and where. A three page news release will not be published - and if it does get published, it will likely be reduced to three sentences or less.

5. Keep it local. We only publish news items that happen locally or have a strong local connection.

If you’ve got a news item, e-mail news@wcmessenger.com with “news” in the subject line. As always, your feedback is most welcome.

You’ve probably noticed a different-looking All Around Wise in your mailbox or Thursday newspapers this month. We’re ending our first month of our newly redesigned product, and we want to know what you think.

If you are not familiar with the redesign, we’ve made the section a true lifestyle section. We’ve put a renewed emphasis on locally-written copy and features on local people. We also gladly accept reader-submitted items and photos. Our goal was to make the section, well, more interesting than it had been in years. The content had gotten stale, and we hope our changes have freshened things up a bit.

Please let us know if you like the changes or want us to change even more.

Wise County folks will want to tune in to American Idol tonight. Although you might not know the contestants, you might know one of their moms.

Contestant Casey James is one of the top 12 male performers, and his mom, Debra James, works in the Behavioral Health Department at Wise Regional Health System in Decatur.

Tonight at 7 p.m. on FOX four performers, two boys and two girls, will be voted off. Let’s tune in to see if James makes the cut!

In a couple of weeks, you will be seeing a whole new All Around Wise. We’ve got some big changes in store, and I don’t want to spoil too much of the surprise, but there is one idea for a column that I’d like to share.

Last year a reader suggested we publish something similar to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s “Come and Get It” column that is published in the Saturday Lifestyles section of the paper. The short column lists items submitted by readers that are being given away for free. The entry lists a description of the item being given away, initials of the person giving away the item and a contact number. Nonprofit organizations are also allowed to ask for certain items as long as they provide proof of non-profit status.

We are going to try a similar column. I haven’t quite decided on a name - I’m leaning toward “Neighbor 2 Neighbor” at this point – but I’d like to see what kind of response this will have. If you have something you would like to give away, send me an e-mail at news@wcmessenger.com with the subject line “neighbor.”

While we are on the subject of All Around, you may have noticed a new column recently called “Volunteer Connection.” This is a column that allows local nonprofit groups to publicize the need for volunteers. Throughout the year, many local nonprofit agencies need volunteers for specific events or projects. This column is designed to give those agencies a place to “connect” with volunteers who are looking for opportunities. To have an opportunity listed, e-mail volunteer@wcmessenger.com.

Could this be the most famous dead hairless raccoon in America?

If you look at the front page of today’s paper, I hope you will see that we are, in essence, spoofing the media coverage of the discovery of an odd looking creature. (And yes, in a way we’re even spoofing ourselves.) We patterned the top of the front page to look like one of the tabloid magazines you normally see while checking out at the store.

No, we won’t make a habit of this, but we did think this story deserved some “fun” play. Especially since for the past two days, media outlets from across the country have been calling the newsroom to ask permission to use our photos. Even CNN called. (So far, media outlets from Phoenix to North Carolina, to Minnesota to San Antonio have done stories on it.)

I do hope you read Brandon’s story: he did an excellent job of contacting a variety of people in his effort to find out what this thing is.

A state biologist said it is a hairless raccoon, although differing opinions can still be found. Whatever it is, it captured the attention of media outlets nation-wide.

But remember, you saw it here first.

Today’s Update included information about the collection of supplies for earthquake victims in Haiti. The original information said certain kinds of over-the-counter medications were needed. The person who sent in the information then e-mailed back to say those types of items can not be collected at school.

So we’ve got a box here at our office where you can donate medications through 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21. Needed items include Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, Neosporin, cough medicine and children’s and adults multi-vitamins.

Donations of other medical supplies for the victims will be collected at the Decatur High School gym Tuesday, Jan. 19, during the basketball games between Decatur and Bridgeport. Items needed include Neosporin or triple antibiotic, Ace bandages, alcohol pads, Band-Aids, gauze, gloves, tape and thermometers. The freshman games will start at 4, followed by JV at 5:15, girls varsity at 6:30 and boys varsity at 8. Cash donations will also be accepted.

Celebrate a new year

We dedicated a good portion of Sunday’s paper to looking back at 2009. As we’ve done the past several years, we tried a little different take on the usual “ranking” of the top ten stories of the year. We did highlight some of the year’s bigger headlines.

We remember the tragic deaths of Chelsea Lunt, Leslie Denison and Sgt. Randy White, the Swine Flu panic, the seemingly high number of unusual deaths and even a look back at some of the year’s oddest stories (remember the cross-dressing bandit)?

Our Web staff did great work putting together a special Web site dedicated to the year end review. And of course photographer Joe Duty did another excellent job sifting through the thousands of photos to pick our favorites. The newsroom has spent much of the past month pulling together information as well.

But I’m always interested to hear what readers remember the most about the year. What stories will you remember from 2009?

Anderson

Montanez

Sosa-Lopez

Costilla

I just took an interesting phone call about the story we ran in the paper about the four men arrested in a string of church burglaries A man wanted to know why we put the “white kid’s” photo on the front in our tease to the story instead of “one of the Mexican boys.” He said that it seems like the media doesn’t want to report on the crimes committed by minorities.

I explained that the reason the photo was chosen was because he was the only one who was local. The other three were from Fort Worth. All four photos were published with the story inside.

He didn’t seem satisfied. I told them that race or ethnicity had nothing to do with how we chose the photos.

Hopefully this man’s way of thinking on race isn’t shared by too many in Wise County, but if nothing else it shows that we still have a long way to go with race relations in our county.

Any thoughts?

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Messenger.

Last Friday was the start of the season here at the office, and it was marked by the appearance of the newsboy. Every year the newsboy is placed in the Messenger office window where he waves a newspaper, up and down, up and down, greeting passersby … or startling them as the case may be.

In the newsroom, we’ve come to the consensus that he’s scary. I mean, have you seen that face? From the street, he probably looks pretty innocent, but from inside the building on dark winter nights, he’s terrifying.

If you’re here alone and happen to wander to the front of the building, you jump every time. Even though the logical side of your brain knows he’s there, it’s still startling to see a human-like figure when you think you’re by yourself.

And that arm … with each swing you hear a creak. Imagine the scene from “Psycho.”

Merry Christmas from the Messenger!