N-C anniversary special: A look at those who have stayed News-Chronicle editor Tom Brooker. By Tom Brooker News Chroncle editor Staying local. Staying independent. Staying loyal to our community and our home-town constituency. This is how we like to view ourselves at the News-Chronicle, and each year we celebrate the fact we have survived the difficult journey such independence requires. But we're not the only ones on this self-imposed trek. Brown County is blessed with talented people who have chosen to stay right here. They're becoming an endangered species. Although this area has been a wonderful incubator for entrepreneurs who started highly successful companies, over time many have yielded to the pressure of bigger money, greater tax advantages or cheaper labor pools and moved elsewhere. Likewise, some have merged with a kindred company and no longer have corporate control. And many have simply been absorbed by mega-corporations. Banks, paper companies, insurance agencies, grocers - and newspapers - have passed by the dozens from the ranks of local companies to mere "operating units" governed from afar. The same goes for individuals with unique talents. It's tougher and tougher to keep that great professor or administrator at St. Norbert College or UWGB when he or she can command far better compensation at "prestige" universities or - more commonly = in the private sector. Rare and precious is that outstanding physician who says the hell with joining "name" hospitals and chooses to keep practicing right here in Brown Country. Ever since we've been doing these anniversary editions - which have immodestly and unashamedly been songs to ourselves - we have indirectly been paying homage to the pure grit necessary to compete and contribute as a purely local entity. This anniversary, we celebrate that spirit we all hold in common. This week, we honor those who choose to contribute to this community in every imaginable way, who hire local people and reinvest profits right back into Brown County, who donate to local charities, who serve on local boards, who teach our children, who heal our sick. Happy anniversary ... to all of us.