Last week Ryan Ryals announced his weekly column has come to an end.

For nearly two years Ryan has written a column for The Reporter. Producing a column every week is a much more difficult task than most folks imagine.

Many think they are writers, but, few get past the looming deadlines and the hungry beast constantly asking for fresh material.

Ryan is not only the exception, he is the best columnist, paid or unpaid, I have ever worked with as an editor.

When I first ran across his Facebook blog two years ago I realized this was a guy with a voice.

The single most important element for a columnist is a clear voice and he had it. His voice was so prominent it was nearly visual. Look at his picture and you could see him talking to you through the words on the page.

The second aspect of Ryan’s writing was he had clearly stated opinions. This may be the single most misunderstood part of the news business.

Ryan wrote columns for the opinion or editorial page. The opinion page is not front page news. It is for columns and letters. The editorial page is not designed to make people jump into their Birkenstocks, hold hands and sing “Come Together.” Columns should state opinions that are thought provoking, at times argumentative and probably quite annoying to one side or the other.

Ryan did a fine job of annoying various groups. I received many calls during the past couple of years concerning Ryan’s column and I can attest that the desire for suppression of speech is still alive and well.

This newspaper will never allow any group to silence another person’s voice and we will always allow viewpoints from all sides.

If a paper does nothing but publish spoon-fed Pablum from the local government, community groups the paper is trying to make happy or the latest world ending cause, then it has abdicated its duty to the community and is no longer a newspaper.

During the past couple of years Ryan transformed himself from a blogger to a serious (and very funny) columnist. Blogging and columns are two distinct styles of writing. Many writers, including experienced journalists, have difficulty moving between the different styles demanded in a blog versus a column.

Ryan was able to take the best elements of his blogging and change it stylistically into a column, which may be his most effective attribute. The merging of the conversational and journalist styles.

I can’t even begin to count the number of calls and comments from readers telling me how much they enjoyed and looked forward to Ryan’s column each week. The positive far outweighed the complaints.

It is a loss for our paper and the community.

I plan to encourage him to write occasional guest columns when his schedule permits.

Ryan’s columns pointed out a critical component for a community newspaper. Community voices are essential. Folks have a right to voice their ideas and they may not be able to do it in a column. The editor’s job is to listen to everyone, even if it doesn’t make it into the paper. Folks need a chance to talk. I believe it makes the paper better and the community it serves.

That is what Ryan’s column did. It made this newspaper and the community better and my job a lot more fun.