For the past two and a half months, you might have noticed, I have been serving as the de facto managing editor of The Walton Tribune in the wake of the departure of our previous editor.

This hiatus period, as I wore several hats at once as both the news editor and interim managing editor of The Walton Tribune, wasn’t the first time I’ve been called to fill the seat in the big office, but it definitely lasted longer than previous temporary jaunts in the job have.

Well, I am proud to announce that the hiatus period is over and you can welcome a new, permanent managing editor to the ranks of The Tribune’s staff going forward.

You might even recognize him. He’s only been here for nearly 20 years now.

Yes, abandoning my attempt to talk about myself in the third person, you can congratulate, or excoriate if you prefer, little old me, as I step into the shoes of previous editors and take on the role of guiding this newspaper into the future.

“Stephen has absolutely earned this opportunity,” Proprietor and Publisher Patrick Graham said in announcing the promotion. “After being here nearly 20 years, he knows very well the standard for excellence in community journalism that has been set here, and I’m excited to have a front row seat as he strives to not only reach but exceed that standard.”

As you can see, it’s not a task I take lightly, either.

You may not have noticed many changes in The Tribune since our previous editor left — though believe me, I’ve been doing a lot behind the scenes to try and steady the ship here, bringing some much-needed stability to the newspaper and its output — but going forward, I hope you’ll see a renewed focus on local news and the stories that matter most to our local readers.

It’s been a long road to get here, really. I started at The Tribune as a fresh-faced cub reporter in the summer of 2006, straight out of classes at the University of Georgia, convinced I was one step away from taking over the world and just needed a small stop-over at my local newspaper, which luckily happened to be hiring right when I was done with journalism school, to tide me over.

Almost two decades later, I’m still here and the world remains unconquered, by me, at least. Instead, I settled in here at The Tribune offices and have watched Walton County grow and thrive in that time. I’ve seen half a dozen editors come and go in that time. I saw several publishers come and go in that time, too, and then the first one came back and bought the place up.

Technically, I’ve been working at The Walton Tribune longer than Patrick has, but he has the deed in hand, which still gives him a leg up on me.

I hope my local connection will inform my tenure here as managing editor. I grew up in Walton County, attended local schools here, graduated from Monroe Area High School back when it was still on Bryant Road. I’m a Purple Hurricane with roots in the community, and I want to be a voice for everyone here.

Some things won’t change. I’ll still use this space at times to talk about movies I like or books I read, so for the five of you who like that, don’t worry, it’s not going anywhere. For the rest of you, I hope to bring local insights to the news previous editors never had.

And 20 years from now, I hope I can still be here, bringing people local news they can use, right here in Walton County.

Stephen Milligan is managing editor of The Walton Tribune, a sister publication of The Covington News. He can be reached at stephen.milligan@waltontribune.com