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Community Corner

Founding Editor Leaves for Maine

Turning Responsibilities to Catherine Garcia, Darren Fishell replays the highlights of Patch's first 10 months in Diamond Bar.

Darren Fishell, founding editor of Diamond Bar Patch, has started his cross-country journey back to Maine, where he graduated from Bowdoin College. There he returns to New England life as a staff reporter, where he will work on special assignments for the Brunswick Times-Record.

Darren joined Patch with a vision for his hometown.

“I knew something the parent company, AOL did not," he said. "There is no other dedicated news outlet serving the community.”  He found great satisfaction from building a team dedicated to “putting our community online.”   

Find out what's happening in Diamond Bar-Walnutwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

At his going away party August 31 at the Tea Rush, his colleagues swapped stories about business synergy that ramped from connections made through Patch. Gabriela Klein pointed out the fortunate pairing between Diamond Bar businesses: The Growing Home and Learning Center now providing organic produce to  D’Antonio’s Restaurant.

Darren was particularly proud of Patch’s coverage of  athletes hailing from Diamond Bar, particularly the story of soccer siren Alex Morgan, who shined on the international competition at this summer's World Cup. In no small part thanks to Patch, every big screen in town was tuned in to watch her exploits with a soccer ball.

Find out what's happening in Diamond Bar-Walnutwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Diamond Bar Mayor Steve Tye says, "We will miss Darren and the energy and enthusiasm he brought to reporting about news and events in Diamond Bar. I look forward to reading about his many successes in the future."

Interim editor Catherine Garcia is now responsible for the Diamond Bar Patch. Darren advised contributors this week that “Catherine is a great journalist who has worked with our Patch sites to the east and who studied at the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Journalism School in New York. “

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