A new feature of The Register Citizen is a daily local history photo. We're looking for your help. Do you have a gem of a photo from Northwest Connecticut of yesteryear in a scrapbook or desk drawer? Share it with your fellow readers.
If you can scan them yourself, local history photos can be emailed to editor@registercitizen.com.
If not, you can arrange to bring them down to our newsroom and have them scanned while you wait. Call Editor Jordan Fenster at 489-3121, ext. 333, for more information.

If you haven't picked up today's print edition of The Register Citizen, be sure to grab one for the local Gift Guide we published. It has many great, quality gift ideas from locally owned businesses.
If you plan to participate in the Black Friday rush on the area's big box stores, though - and hey, it's a tradition, right? - you won't want to miss out on tomorrow's paper.
In addition to including the launch of a new 8-page local Arts and Entertainment section, tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day edition of The Register Citizen will have more than 20 circulars from retailers who are holding Black Friday sales of some kind. Many of them include valuable coupons.
A great deal for only 50 cents!
Here's a list of some of the circulars you'll find tomorrow:
Kohl's
JC Penney
Home Depot
CVS
Ocean State Job Lots
Target
Staples
Walgreens
Dick's Sporting Goods
Radio Shack
Rite Aid
Bernie's
Michael's
Best Buy
Kmart
Sears
Big Lots
Olympia Sports
Ikea
Peebles

We have a number of things in store for Tuesday's print edition of The Register Citizen, including:
* A special insert - our 2008 Christmas Song Book, with sheet music for your favorite Christmas carols.
* Part 2 of Tracy Kennedy's series on domestic violence and the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Susan B. Anthony Project.
* Coverage of what should be a very interesting Torrington Board of Education, where members are expected to discuss Superintendent Susan O'Brien's handling of the departure of former Torrington High School Principal John Metallo.
* Coverage of a Winsted Planning Commission meeting in which a final vote may be taken on the controversial Aurora housing development. Expect some critics of the development to be mentioning The Register Citizen's long Sunday interview about developer Anthony Silano's colorful past.

We changed a few things in The Register Citizen's print edition this morning and would love to know what you think.
Anytime you mess with the organization of the paper, you worry that readers will find it difficult to find their favorite items. Reading a daily newspaper is a habit and falls into a routine that one messes with lightly.
We hope and expect that folks will like that we've expanded space for local news and opinion. The other changes were designed to be more consistent about where to find stuff each day, but if we've screwed up (i.e., putting the comics with the TV listings), please let us know.
Drop me a line at 860-489-3121, ext. 350, or email me at mderienzo@registercitizen.com.
If I'm not in, feel free to call our editor, Jordan Fenster, at 860-489-3121, ext. 333, or jfenster@registercitizen.com.

In addition to the launch of expanded local news and opinion sections (CLICK HERE for an old column about that), you'll want to pick up Monday's edition of The Register Citizen for the start of a series of articles by reporter Tracy Kennedy.
On her beat covering courts in Litchfield County, Tracy writes almost every day about people charged with crimes that are sometimes horrific, almost always destructive or damaging in some way, to somebody.
Tracy's series starting Monday will explore what happens to the victims of these crimes ... the resources and restitution available for them and how these crimes can impact the rest of their lives.

An interview with me and Register Citizen Business Manager Andrea Benedict about the newspaper's "Warm the Children" program will be aired at 7:30 p.m. tonight on Channel 5 of Torrington-Litchfield-area Cablevision TV.
Warm the Children is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and Andrea has been coordinating it pretty much singlehandedly the entire time.
We are appearing on a show hosted by Bill Egan, executive director of the United Way of Northwest Connecticut, which is our partner in Warm the Children.

A not-to-miss event on Tuesday evening will combine the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce's phenomenally successful "Business After Hours" series with a general local business expo.
The "Table Top This" Expo will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Cornucopia banquet hall in Torrington, and 55 local business exhibitors are signed up to show off what they do.
As always with Business After Hours, there will be complimentary beverages and refreshments.
We (The Register Citizen and our affiliate publications, the Foothills Trader, Good News About Torrington and Thomaston Express) will be one of the exhibitors.
Stop by our table and pick up a free coffee mug, at a minimum.
If you were thinking about subscribing to the paper, stop by and sign up at our table, and you will get a free Thanksgiving turkey (I'll check on this, but I'm assuming a coupon for one ... I don't plan to have frozen turkeys at the Expo!).
If you're curious to see what we have in store as part of the expansion of the paper Nov. 24, you can sign up for a free, no-obligation 2-week trial subscription.
And anyone, even if you are already a subscriber or choose not to, can stop by the table and enter a raffle for a $100 grocery store gift card perfect for buying those Thanksgiving dinner essentials.
To RSVP for the Table Top This Expo and Business After Hours, visit the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce's Web site at www.nwctchamberofcommerce.org.

Just in time for community Christmas tree lightings, holiday parties and caroling, The Register Citizen's Wednesday, Nov. 26, issue, will include a specially printed keepsake booklet, the "Raise Your Voices In Christmas Song 2008 Songbook."
The 24-page booklet includes holiday greetings from local businesses and words and sheet music to some of our favorite Christmas carols, including "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," "Joy to the World," "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," "O Christmas Tree," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "What Child Is This," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Silent Night," "The Holly and the Ivy" and "We Three Kings."
Extra copies of the Christmas Songbook are available at The Register Citizen office at 190 Water St., Torrington, for any church, school or other group that would look some for holiday sing-alongs they are planning.
Call 860-489-3121, ext. 312, for more information.

Do you remember former Torrington businesses such as Howard's, Genovese Drug Store, Richman's Jeweler's, Op Arcade and the Ace of Clubs?
Do you remember when bread cost 25 cents a loaf?
In this Wednesday's Register Citizen, we'll publish a special "Remember When" section of historic photos and memories of Torrington.
The specially printed booklet should be a great coffee table read or keepsake.

We're making some improvements to The Register Citizen (CLICK HERE for previous column about some of the things that will be added starting Nov. 24), and I'd like you to have the opportunity to see for yourself, without risking a dime.

So I'm offering anyone who wants to take me up on the offer a free two-week subscription. Just call 860-489-1450 and ask for my two-week offer.

This is not a gimmick. It's not a situation like those free magazine trials, where the publication keeps coming and you get a bill. You won't have to call and cancel or anything. You'll get The Register Citizen delivered to you free for two weeks, and then it will stop, unless you tell us you want to keep getting it.

It's troubling to me how daily newspapers like ours end up handling stories like the one this morning about the local man who got arrested at a church in Florida.
Like many stories involving arrests and crime, there's more to this one than the big headline and shock value details that were included in the article.
But often, it's impossible to get at the gray areas or background of a story like that. Family problems that spill into the news are traumatic or embarrassing enough. While the subject of these kinds of stories, or their family and friends, are outraged that it made it into the paper, and in the manner it did, there's typically little appetite for extending the story another day by helping a reporter flesh out how things got to this point of chaos.
The best-read stories about crime are those with the most bizarre, funny or shocking details, but most people, including us at the newspaper, lose sight of the fact that mental illness is often at the root of the incidents that lead to these types of stories.
Living with mental illness, or living with a family member or friend who is caught in its grip, is a serious, sometimes tragic, issue that makes enjoyment of a good bizarre crime story seem cheap and inappropriate.
I don't have many answers on this one, but do believe it's worth, from time to time, to stop and think about the human side of these types of stories.
And it's important for all to know that there are resources out there to educate the unaware and support those who are all too aware of the nightmare that mental illness can cause for a family.
Litchfield County, in fact, has its own chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and that's as good a place as any to start. CLICK HERE for a link to NAMI's Connecticut-based resources and information.

The Register Citizen will publish a massive, 72-page "How to Choose" guide in Thursday's edition.
Topics will include:
- How to choose insurance.
- How to choose a dry cleaner and master tailor.
- How to choose a used car.
- How to manage back pain.
- How to plan a child's birthday party.
- How to choose a Realtor.
- How to give your bathroom a facelift.
- How to choose a cosmetic laser practice.
- How to take care of your gutters.
- How to pack and ship fragile items.
- How to choose a jeweler.
- How to choose a sunroom contractor.
- How to choose medical equipment.
- How to choose water treatment.
- How to choose a hearing aid.
- How to choose a carpet cleaner.
- How to choose a funeral plan.
- How to choose a nursing home.
- How to choose a remodeling professional.
- How to choose a bridal shop.
- How to choose an auctioneer.
- How to choose windows and patio doors.
- How to choose a bank.
- How to choose an attorney.
- How to choose a painting contractor.
- How to choose a rehabilitation center.
- How to choose an assisted living facility.
- How to choose a tutor.
- How to choose tires.
- How to choose a mortgage lender.
- How to choose a dentist.
- How to choose a heating and air conditioning contractor.
- How to choose fireplaces and stoves.
- How to choose a college.
- How to choose a wireless service.

If you haven't checked out the incredible mouth-watering variety (maybe I shouldn't update this while I'm hungry) of homegrown products available from Nodine's Smoke House, check out this local business's Web site at http://www.nodinesmokehouse.com/.

It's a great Christmas gift idea for out-of-town friends and relatives if you're looking for something unique and Litchfield County-based.

But the coolest thing about Nodine's is its charitable giving program.

If you order through the Nodine's Web site, and enter designated key code number "1015," for example, the United Way of Northwest Connecticut will receive 25 percent of the proceeds from the sale.

A list of other charities involved in this program, including Saint Peter and Saint Francis School, Friendly Hands Food Bank, the Warner Theatre and the Susan B. Anthony Project, among others, is on the Nodine's Web site.

CLICK HERE for my latest column, on some improvements we'll be making to the paper in two weeks.

It's been a long, difficult year for many locally owned retailers.
And that's why we're not apologetic about feeding that typically annoying trend of obsessing about Christmas earlier and earlier each year.
It's only a few days after Election Day, three weeks before Thanksgiving, and already The Register Citizen is working on its schedule of "Holiday Gift Guides."
This year, we will publish a "Black Friday Gift Guide" on Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving.
A "Buy Local Gift Guide" will appear in the paper on Thursday, Dec. 11.
An "Affordable Gift Giving Guide" will appear in the paper on Wednesday, Dec. 17, featuring gifts categorized by "under $100," "under $75," "under $50" and "under $25" headings.
And a "Last Minute Gift Guide" will appear in the paper on Monday, Dec. 22.
If you want to support locally owned businesses, check out the ads in these sections before trekking out to the big box stores this Christmas season.
You'll be surprised at the quality and affordability of products offered right in our downtown shops.

Tonight, The Register Citizen will do the most comprehensive job ever in reporting local election results to you as they happen on its Web site, www.registercitizen.com.
And throughout the day, we have been bringing you items and updates from the polling places, including problems with the new voting system in Connecticut, news about turnout, and interviews with the campaigns. Check out our local election blog, http://northwestctpolitics.blogspot.com, for a comprehensive look.
You can also turn to us tonight to get up-t0-the-minute presidential election results on an interactive map from The Associated Press. CLICK HERE for a preview.
If you haven't voted yet, and still need to find your polling place, CLICK HERE for a full list of sites throughout Northwest Connecticut.

Click headline below for latest "From the Publisher" column:

FROM THE PUBLISHER: In Wilber mess, what choice do we have?
A wise man once said, "For every complex problem, there is a simple solution that is wrong."

Our new Web site allows for and encourages more commenting on stories, editorials, etc. Comments are posted immediately, and you can at any time track the top 5 "most commented" on stories to see what is getting the most response.
Debates on some stories and topics (good luck displacing John Metallo vs. Susan O'Brien in "most commented" anytime soon) can take on a life of their own.
With that free-flowing comment policy comes safeguards, however. And you are our biggest safeguard. If you read a comment that is objectionable - profane, threatening, etc. - please note that there is a "report abuse" button next to every single comment. Just click, report the problem, and momentarily, one of our editors will be alerted, review the comment and take action.
We probably won't take a comment down if, for example, a Yankees fan "reports abuse" because they don't like a pro-Red Sox comment. But profanity, hate speech, etc., will be taken down immediately.