Happy new year, readers! Whether you stayed on the island for the holidays or not, we hope you had a relaxing time with friends and family.

But now that Dec. 25 and Jan. 1 are crossed off the calendars for another year, the reality of going back to work or working on those new year’s resolutions — if that’s your sort of thing — is beginning to set in.

Speaking of resolutions, The Beachcomber has one: find more community contributors for our publication.

It’s not that you haven’t seen the names of islanders grace the pages of The Beachcomber lately. After all, the run-up to the 2019 election was a pretty intense time for perspectives, including commentaries from those who were for and against the hospital district. At the same time, the island saw a solid fall sports season with plenty of folks from the public school community stepping up to write wonderful play-by-plays of weekend games.

But lately, readers may have noticed a few columns and articles that ran in the paper from reporters who are not part of The Beachcomber. The reporters are from our parent company, Sound Publishing, who make these articles about King County available to us.

Meanwhile, The Beachcomber’s Sports section has seen only a few athlete profiles, but no coverage of the winter season of games.

Our small newsroom would like to remedy the situation.

We invite all willing islanders from all viewpoints and backgrounds to provide us with a solid bunch of guest commentaries each week. The Beachcomber extends that same invitation to anyone with a comprehensive knowledge of sports to cover the winter season for basketball, volleyball, wrestling and swimming currently underway.

Traditional news stories, however, will be left up to our reporting staff or freelance writers.

We look forward to what islanders may bring to our newspaper in 2020. After all, what would a community newspaper be without residents of Vashon-Maury Island helping to fill some of the page space?

The Beachcomber used to have a Sports editor and ample staff to cover games. Those duties have gone to dedicated coaches and parents that support our local young athletes. We’d love for that to continue. The Beachcomber just wouldn’t be the same without a Sports section.

The newspaper’s Opinion section, meanwhile, has always reserved spots for community members to sound off on issues pertinent to them. Guest commentators have ranged from a regular bus rider to our local public officials.

But there are so many more local minds to hear from on Vashon — academics; spiritual leaders; activists; public school officials; business owners; performing artists; ferry commuters; boaters and fishers. We’d love to hear from all of them. We’re sure just about anyone would be able to give us an educated perspective as long as they’re willing to put on their writer’s cap.

If you would like to be a Sports contributor to The Beachcomber or write a guest commentary for us, email the editor, Kevin Opsahl, at editor@vashonbeachcomber.com or call directly at 206-504-1872.