Editor's Note: Welcome to year five

This year, Las Vegas is celebrating its Centennial--100 years since its birth, appropriately enough, in the form of a land auction.

This week, the Mercury celebrates its fifth birthday. And just as few expected this dusty railroad stop to ever become a metropolis of 1.7 million people and international destination hosting 37 million tourists each year, few expected the Mercury to survive beyond its first year or two. And yet, here we are starting our fifth year, stronger and better than ever.

There is another similarity between Las Vegas and the Mercury--a commitment to constant change and evolution. Neither entity is comfortable with the status quo; neither is content to rest on its laurels. Both recognize that to remain competitive and to draw new customers (and readers), they must offer new and better products and services.

The Mercury you hold in your hands offers an array of new features, and it marks the departure of some others that have been in these pages since the paper's humble beginning. While we regret the demise of some wonderful columns, we predict that readers will be pleased with how we have put those spaces to use.

Over the years, the Mercury has been a column-heavy paper. We hired excellent writers to fill regular spaces in the paper and basically set them loose. For the most part, this resulted in a lot of wonderfully smart reading. Many of those columns were, hands down, the best-written journalism available in Southern Nevada.

But this emphasis on columnists had two other effects: 1) It resulted in a whole lot of words to read each week and 2) it produced a newspaper that looked and felt much the same from one week to the next. In an editor's perfect world, neither of these effects would be seen as a negative, but, alas, I can't control such things.

On the first point: Years ago, people were willing to dedicate enough time to the newspaper that they could digest the mass of great material we offered each week. But in the always-on-the-go modern world, most people don't seem to want to do that. So, newspapers must look for ways to adapt to readers' needs and desires.

On the second point: It's more important than ever for a newspaper to surprise its readers, to throw changeups on a continuing basis. With stiff competition from other, more visually oriented media--television, movies, websites, video games--a newspaper is going to have trouble if it offers page after page of text--no matter how well written it is.

Okay. So let's commence with the painful goodbyes.

Tod Goldberg's column, which ended last week, was a fixture from the first issue. Alternately hilarious and poignant, Tod had his finger on the pulse of Generation X. Tod is a talented writer, and while he certainly is well known to Mercury readers, I predict someday soon he will become a household name, at least for discriminating media consumers. Whether it's for a best-selling novel or a hit screenplay, Tod undoubtedly will enjoy huge success in the years to come.

Steve Sebelius has been involved on and off with the Mercury from the start. He wrote movie reviews as the Full Metal Critic and discussed local driving habits as the Road Killer. His most recent contribution came in the form of Democracy in Peril, a weekly column that pulled no punches in giving readers the straight story on local, state and national politics. While Steve, also the Review-Journal's political columnist, will no longer be writing Democracy in Peril, he will contribute occasionally to the Mercury in other ways.

The Basement Files, written by Kyle Gilliland, has anchored the humor pages since the first issue, delivering a consistently literate and often gut-busting satire on modern life. While the Basement Files column has been mothballed, Kyle's talents will continue to grace the World Report section.

Mike Prevatt's Homeowner column tackled the complex emotions that emerge when a young gay man comes out of the closet. Mike held nothing back from readers as he experienced the ups and downs (watch it!) of dating, social trends, political conflicts and the psychological dimensions of sexuality. I hope heterosexual readers learned a little something about the gay experience, and I hope Mike's column resonated for gay readers. Mike's Aural Intercourse column on popular music also is going away, but Mike's insightful music reporting will continue to be a regular feature in the Mercury.

Last but not least, Andrew Kiraly's Idiot Box Savant column is taking a permanent vacation. Andrew's one-of-a-kind take on television (and snacks) was often as funny as words strung together can get. Andrew, who recently was promoted to managing editor, will use the time he devoted to Idiox Box to helping make the Mercury the best possible newspaper week in and week out.

As you can see as you sift through this first issue of 2005, the Mercury has some new features. From the Left Brain/Right Brain political debate to Bob Grimm's DVD reviews, there are new things in almost every section. I hope you enjoy these new features, but more than that, I hope you notice our renewed commitment to making every page of the paper visually interesting. Make the Mercury part of your weekly routine, and we promise you won't be disappointed.

--GEOFF SCHUMACHER