Let me hold your attention for a second because I’ve got something to say.
Thanks everyone for following MySaline! I’m so grateful for the amount of people that take even a second out of their day to pay attention to something we’re doing.
When I started the website in the Summer of 2007, I had no idea I’d eventually quit my job at ARDOT to make it a full time thing. I was just casually talking about my town on the internet.
Some of y’all go way back to following when I only had a blog about Benton in 2005 – “BentOnBenton” ha!
Some of y’all go back to when I only had a Yahoo group and hardly anyone had a smart phone. Heck, a lot folks still had dial up Internet.
I was still pretty fresh in town, having moved here in 2001, and learning about where I live. (Though I did live here in the 70s and the 90s) But I had a background as a radio DJ, TV news, TV commercial production, graphic design, magazine publication, and a love for technology. I also have a bubbling concoction of ADHD that gives me no choice but to hyper-focus on this juggernaut of a website and collection of social media channels that MySaline has turned into.
I remember years ago hearing someone say that if you tell people you like owls, they gift you owls. I’ve told you over and over that I like Saline County, and you’ve given me your attention, your plans for your new business, your questions about how government here works, your details about your events, even your yard sales.
You’ve taken time to sign up and fill out a form to become a member in the days before 2016 when the website was still in forum style.
You’ve come to our events when we held potlucks, concerts, movie showings, political forums, and bake-offs. You came to Saline-o-ween, the all day & night carnival and concert at the county fairgrounds, with food trucks, pie Craig O’Neill in the face, comedians, live bands, a steel drum performer, a State Nut Queen Pageant, a lemonade truck that attracted bees, so many beeees, and an explosively loud and rhythmic Led Zeppelin tribute band to cap it off in (of all places) the dirt floor Thomas Arena where the fairgrounds normally just books rodeos.
You’ve been with MySaline through new Mayors, Police Chiefs, Sheriffs, and County Judges, etc. and for various reasons. You were there with us for trauma at the Salt Bowl, a sinkhole at Walmart and a ditch in front of Sonic that kept eating cars. And you bought that T-shirt too and it raised over $1500 for charity.
You were there when I went to Mayflower to see why trucks full of oilspill cleanup were being sent down West Sardis Road to unload at the Saline County Landfill… and I ended up meeting Neil Young in his giant convertible with the bull horns on the hood and that gets 100 mpg.
You followed MySaline’s court case in 2012 when three city council members in Bryant didn’t like what people with fake usernames were saying about them. You came to our Freedom of Speech Rally & Fundraiser rock & comedy show at Denton’s Trotline and bought a MySaline t-shirt and paid admission to help our cause, after seeing me advertise it online but also on talk radio, TV news, and by standing on the side of Reynolds Road with the details handwritten on a posterboard.
My goodness I’m going to cry. This 52,000+ number in the picture is just one part of MySaline’s presence in the community. But it got me to thinking how magical life has been and so here we are. We’ve been through a lot, and I’ve only talked about a little this morning. I love you, Saline County. Thank you for loving me and MySaline back. 
— Shelli Poole
