Eight-year-old Maverick Norris can’t wait to get his copy of the newspaper every week. (Photo: the Norris family)

Young subscriber catches up on the news

By Mary-Justine Lanyon

When 8-year-old Maverick Norris went to a local contractor’s office with his father, Nathan, he spotted a copy of The Alpine Mountaineer and sat down to look it over.

On a subsequent visit to the same office, the young Crestline resident was thrilled to see the latest edition of the newspaper.

When newspaper staff member Kathy Creighton heard about Maverick’s excitement over reading the paper, she told him he could receive it each week in the family’s post office box.

“Maverick was so excited,” said his mother, Kara. “He couldn’t believe it was a real newspaper – he had only seen them in cartoons and on television.”

And so Maverick became the youngest subscriber to this weekly newspaper.

“He always goes to the post office with me,” Kara said. “But now he’s super excited because he knows the newspaper will be there.”

And has Maverick had a favorite article in the three weeks he has been receiving the paper?

“He was excited to see the article about the girls basketball team from the Lake Arrowhead Christian School,” Kara said, noting that several of the girls are family friends.

And Maverick was intrigued by the photo of the penguins that accompanied the front-page article about the PolaRotary Bear Plunge. “He wondered why they were dressed as penguins,” Kara said. “I told him he needed to read the article to find out.”

As a home-schooled student – Maverick is part of the Mountain Christian Co-Op at Lake Gregory Church – the newspaper is helping him with his studies. “It’s giving him a lot of reading practice,” Kara said.

Editor’s note: Today, Feb. 23, is Maverick’s eighth birthday. The staff of The Alpine Mountaineer wishes him a very happy day and an exciting year ahead.