Publisher: Bedford Online | An online Community for Bedford, Indiana

Welcome “With technology continuing to change our world at a rapid pace, the Internet has become an almost infinite resource of instant information. Like many of you, I spend many hours each week at my computer. An active interest in research on many different subjects and twenty-seven and a half years in the teaching profession have contributed to my belief that the Internet offers unlimited and wholesome learning opportunities for all. This belief and the desire to organize and present such opportunities in an appealing form have sparked the development of the Bedford On-Line Magazine.” The preceding paragraph was written by Judi McMillen, former owner of Bedford On-Line. I am now the full time editor of Bedford On-Line and fully concur with her statement. Our site will be updated regularly, and new features will be added as they are ready. Our goal is to keep Bedford On-Line a first-class, no nonsense, family-centered, and useful area website for all. Thank you for dropping by. Please visit us often! Dave Morthland Editor, Bedford On-Line Our History •Update: January, 2007 – Back in 1996, I helped put Bedford On-Line onto the net. Over the holidays in 2006, I purchased the site from John and Judi McMillen to allow them to enjoy retirement and their grandchildren. In April, 2007 I partnered with Rick Yaney at HPC to be able to improve access and add new features to the website. BOL has been in good hands for the past 10 years and it is our hope to be as good a steward for the website as they were…….Dave Morthland. •In late 1995 a nebulous group of interested parties began meeting to discuss the possibility of creating an environment which would allow computers in our area to communicate with each other. It never was clear just how this was to be achieved, with some people calling for a local area network , while others thought a wide area network (with dial-up connections) was better. Sources of funding also were vague. •After several meetings, our local newspaper announced it would be providing dial-up connection to the Internet to all who were interested, and that ended the discussion about facilities. However, there was still an effort to create a web site for the community. Such a site began to take shape, but it evolved very slowly, and contained static information which did not attract repeated visits from users. •David Morthland decided that he wanted to see our community “on line” and that he possessed the tools and the interest to make it happen. On March 8, 1996, Bedford On-Line was up and running, and Dave listed us with over a dozen Internet search engines, such as INFOSEEK and YAHOO. By April 8, we had logged over 1000 visitors. •Bedford On-Line has continued to grow and expand its viewing audience by providing current information on the local scene and links to appropriate sites. We strive to be the central point for anyone seeking information about this area, which includes Bedford, Lawrence County, and nearby cities. When local information becomes available in a well-maintained web site, we link to it, and we audit our links regularly to remove those that fall out of date or are abandoned. We try to encourage the sources to set up and maintain their own web pages (by the way, did I mention that we also design and implement web sites for a reasonable fee?), but we also have been known to take the bull by the tail (or should it the horns?) and maintain some public information. For a fee, we keep information updated daily for a business; a good example of this is our page on area movies. This page is updated as often as the movie schedules change, and it even follows the daily changes occurring around Christmas. •It has been told that years ago a small town built its own gallows and was very proud of it. When a town in a neighboring county asked if it could use the facility to carry out a sentence of its court, the town council deliberated and responded that it was sorry to decline the request, but that the facility had been built by local tax money for the benefit of its local sons and daughters. Many people think that Bedford On-Line is visited by local residents only. But we regularly receive e-mail from people outside our area, asking questions about the community or just thanking us for providing the information. Before we included a church page, one person wrote that he was coming to Spring Mill State Park for a week, and he wondered about worship times in a Catholic church. Others have written to ask for genealogical information. Recently, we received a compliment from a former resident who just enjoyed reading about his “hometown”. •On December 3, 1996, McMillen & Associates entered into an agreement with WBIW/WQRK/WWEG Radio to jointly market and promote Bedford On-Line. Their promotional support has been a major factor in producing over 6000 “hits” on Bedford On-Line during January, 1997. As an additional benefit, they provide the NewBytes page, which is updated daily with local news. •On June 4, 1997, Judi McMillen started working full-time as Editor of Bedford On-Line. This has enabled us to expand our local business listings as well as update each of the six main feature sections on a weekly basis. •On June 24, 1997, Bedford On-Line switched its files to the most powerful, flexible, and functional virtual server on the Internet today, where over 6050 businesses share multiple DS3 lines connecting to three Internet sources (UUNET, Sprint, and MCI). Now there is very little chance of our service being interrupted for even a minute out of every 24 hours! This new arrangement has provided us the opportunity to sell virtual servers to clients around the country. •The Reel Deal Giveaway (11/00/97 through 12/32/97) was our first giveaway program. •The Valentine Giveaway ran from 01/16/98 through 02/08/98. Entries for this giveaway could be made over the Internet at Bedford On-Line or in person at the Premiere Theatre. The grand prize, awarded on Monday, February 9 consisted of 2 passes for a movie at the Premiere Theatre, dinner for two at the Stonehenge Steakhouse, a suite for 2 for Valentine’s night at the Stonehenge Lodge, a Valentine bouquet from Bailey’s Flowers, one pound of Valentine chocolates from Hoovers, •With a solid claim to the loyalty and readership of Lawrence County and surrounding area, the next phase of our relationship is to generate additional revenues from advertising and web page design and maintenance to support our continued efforts to bring the news to our electronic readers.