Last summer we started experimenting with a substantial upgrade to our website.

Our original version provided users with a PDF version of each issue of The Times along with a subscription and donation portal and a library of all past issues. Designed and kept up-to-date by Jean Atwater-Williams, that web version worked fine for us since we started publishing in 2010, but we wanted to offer something more, something more akin to the media empires of the late 2020s. Jean didn't have the time.

However, our friend Larry Dwyer did have the time - and the skills - to take us further into the future. Larry joined our small crew of volunteers with the title of Web Editor. He's paid the same as the rest of us - in the $$atisfaction of doing something useful and that he likes to do.

The Times' new website, designed by Larry with Jean's support, includes as before a PDF version of each issue, portals for subscription and donation, and our archive of every issue for the past 15 years. And a lot more.

Users have access to all current articles in a new web format. It is now possible to view individual articles on a desktop computer, laptop, or phone without having the download the PDF file.

The new website is an additional resource for The Times, along with a current PDF and hard copies of each issue that are distributed free of charge to all addresses in Sandisfield. The Times can also be found is our distribution box at the Transfer Station, at nearly all of the Town's business locations, as well as six locations in Otis, the Monterey Library, and locations in Colebrook and Southfield.

Larry has over 40 years computer experience and 30 years of web design. He has operated the websites Aviation Models (aviation-models.com) and The Aviation History Online Museum (aviation-history.com) since 1995.

Once he started last July, he had our new website up-andrunning within a few weeks. "So far things are going pretty well," he said. "It takes about 16 hours to lay out and create the homepage and articles after they're initially laid out for the hard copy edition by Tina Sotis, the Graphic Designer. Once Tina has the issue ready for print, I download all the articles and get to work. Being retired allows me the time to devote to the paper and working on the paper allows me to keep my computer skills current."

As well as Sandisfield Times Web Editor, Larry volunteers at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Conn. He has extensive aviation background, having started work for Trans World Airlines at the age of 19 and working for TWA for 27 years at JFK Airport as an aircraft mechanic, inspector, and Crew Chief. At the New England Air Museum, he volunteers in Aircraft Restoration and in the NEAM Library.