Sarah Larson, Patch Staff

Sarah Larson has been a newspaper reporter since 1995, when she landed her first gig as a stringer covering the council meetings of two tiny towns about 30 minutes outside her Illinois hometown.  She thought she was the luckiest girl in the world.

Since then, she has progressed through five beats and various editorships at two newspapers and loved nearly every minute of it.

She has won a shiny collection of journalism awards throughout her career; they are now stacked on her closet shelf next to her college t-shirts.

In 2000, she moved to Bucks to cover Bucks County government for The Intelligencer. Like many people in Central Bucks, Doylestown has been the center of her world ever since.

Dr. Thomas Forte and his hygienist Betsy, formerly on East State Street, chide her every six months for not flossing regularly.

She divides her food shopping between Acme, Giant, and Genuardi's, before it closed.

And both her children were born at Doylestown Hospital, where the nurses and doctors in the NICU quite literally saved their premature little lives. Thanks, guys! (and a shout out to Drs. Le and Yeh at the Doylestown Women's Health Center for helping deliver them safely.)

In 2004, she married Drew Markol, Neshaminy grad, sports writer for The Intelligencer and all-around good guy. They live in Hilltown with their children, an old cat named Mattie, a young dog named Holly and assorted fish and hermit crabs brought back from trips to the shore.

As for hobbies, she loves reading mystery and adventure novels, cooking (but not cleaning up after) and creative pursuits, primarily photography and scrapbooking.

Before all that, she graduated in 1993 from Drake University, in Des Moines, Iowa, with a degree in English and Political Science. She then gave her parents even more gray hair by moving to Hungary to teach English in a town on the Danube near the border on Serbia. Did she mention this was during the height of the Bosnian War?

She learned more about herself and the world in those two years than before or since.



Beliefs<br>At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible and human beings have beliefs.

So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal certain key beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable.

This disclosure is not a license for our editors to inject these beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that our beliefs are on the record will force us to be ever mindful to write, report, and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you, the user, ever think you see evidence that we failed in this mission, we wholeheartedly invite you to let us know.<br> <br>Politics<br>* How would you describe your political beliefs?

Republicans think I&#39;m a Democrat. Democrats think I&#39;m a Republican. I&#39;ve been registered as both but am currently registered Independent. Regardless of registration, I&#39;ve always voted for the person I believe most embodies my core belief, which is that government is necessary and can help improve people&#39;s lives, but shouldn&#39;t be overly involved. (of course, what determines &#34;overly&#34; is the sticking point, isn&#39;t it?)

Religion<br>* How religious would you say you are? Casual, observant, devout, non-religious?

I was raised and confirmed in a United Church of Christ church. I am fascinated by the intellectual study of religions, and I love to study and discuss religion and spirituality. But I&#39;ve not yet found a belief system which has answered enough of my doubts to make me feel comfortable to become a part of that belief myself. That said, I think much of the good in this community and this world comes from people of faith - regardless of which faith that is.

Local Hot Button Issues

* What do you think are the two or three most important issues facing the community? Where do you stand on each of these issues?

The issues facing the greater Doylestown area have changed much in the past decade. In the not-so-distant past, the main battle zone was to preserve the area&#39;s history and the rural nature of the surrounding countryside from booming housing and economic development.

Now, those boom times are gone. Most of the land that could be built upon has been, and the shrunken economy has put the brakes on most other development.

The biggest issues right now are getting the residents, the government and the businesses of greater Doylestown through the dismal financial present.

Providing the expected level of services and attractions without raising taxes on already strapped homeowners is going to be a challenge for the next few years, even if a recovery is underway or on its way.