The Eagle Summer 2012

theeagleggtheeagleNews from the Wick Communications Company Summer ’12

FROM THE CEO

JOHNMATHEW

For more stories about the people of Wick Communications, job openings at our locations, human resources information

and forms, and a whole lot more -- go online to:

http://www.wickcommunications.com/

We were sad-dened by the April 18 death o f lon g - t i me Wick Publish-er Rick Schnei-der, publisher o f t h e E a s t -e r n A r i z o -n a C o u r i e r, C o p p e r E r a a nd A ri zon a Range News. Schneider, 61, w a s a g r e at friend to many

in Wick Communications and a tireless worker for his newspapers and the commu-nities he served.

I was able to attend Rick’s memorial service in Manka-to, Minn., several weeks lat-er, along with Bob Wick, Tom Lee, Manuel Coppola, Libby Berndt, Monica Watson and Aimee Staten. It was a beau-tiful service and we all en-joyed getting to know Rick’s family. The service included a slide show photo presenta-

tion of Rick’s life that was very interesting. He will be missed.

Congratulations to Mon-ica Watson, long-time Saf-ford employee who has been named to succeed Rick as publisher. Monica has done about every job at the Safford operation and I know she will do well.

The installation of a re-furbished press in Willis-ton was completed in May, along with installation of a computer to plate system. Congratulations to Willis-ton’s production director, Dan Moe, Publisher Mitzi Moe and Wick Production Director Scott Green for quarterbacking the instal-lation, and to the Williston staff for a great job of helping make the installation suc-cessful.

Speaking of computer to plate systems, Ontario has its scheduled soon and we hope to complete installation in Roanoke Rapids later this

year. That will mean all Wick production sites will then h ave c o mput e r t o pl at e technology.

C on g r at u l at ion s t o a l l who won press association contest honors i n edito -rial and advertising con-tests recent ly. Wi l l iston won b ot h gener a l exc el -lence and sweepstakes in N o r t h D a k o t a , L a p l a c e won first place in general excellence in Louisiana and Sidney won second place i n genera l excel lence i n Montana.

It has been i nteresti ng to se e B erk shi re H at h a-way, the company run by legend a r y i nvestor Wa r-r e n B u f f e t t , m a k e a n u m b e r o f c o m m u n i t y n e w s p a p e r i nv e s t m e nt s recently. That speaks well for the future of our newspapers and markets. While we are not for sale, it’s good to know Buffett has a strong belief in the future and viability of lo-cal newspapers.

Saying goodbye to Rick Schneider Anchorage Press www.anchoragepress.com 25,991 48,532Argus Observer www.argusobserver.com 76,380 277,624San Pedro Valley News-Sun www.bensonnews-sun.com 10,747 34,443Capital Journal www.capjournal.com 75,822 247,963Cibola Beacon (Free) www.cibolabeacon.com 26,540 103,467Douglas Daily Dispatch www.douglasdispatch.com 32,708 110,743Eastern Arizona Courier www.eacourier.com 101,971 356,499Frontiersman www.frontiersman.com 129,822 364,680Bogalusa Daily News www.gobogalusa.com 61,692 197,932Green Valley News www.gvnews.com 58,926 116,401Havasu News www.havasunews.com 163,592 503,448Half Moon Bay Review www.hmbreview.com 74,580 309,779The Daily Iberian www.iberianet.com 137,330 536,982Inside Tucson Business www.insidetucsonbusiness.com 39,731 73,802L'Observateur www.lobservateur.com 22,645 66,781Montrose Daily Press www.montrosepress.com 98,620 350,231Nogales International www.nogalesinternational.com 86,338 261,047Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald www.rrdailyherald.com 143,773 555,286Sidney Herald www.sidneyherald.com 71,095 237,944Sierra Vista Herald www.svherald.com 187,113 679,323St. Tammany News www.thesttammanynews.com 73,974 224,860Tucson Weekly www.tucsonweekly.com 167,967 586,695Wahpeton Daily News www.wahpetondailynews.com 46,518 124,410 Wick Communications www.wickcommunications.com 11,551 53,792 Arizona Range News www.willcoxrangenews.com 17,917 44,646 Williston Herald www.willistonherald.com 256,564 791,744

Totals 2,199,907 7,259,054

Location Web address June 2012Visitors Page views

Wick Web Stats

* Provided by Wick Digital Media

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

2

Almost 25 years ago, SandyStandifer stepped into her job atthe Today’s News, one of the pred-ecessor newspapers of Today’sNews-Herald. On June 22, Sandyretires as business manager forRiver City Newspapers.

Her departure will leave a bigvoid, not just because of Sandy’s

considerable financial andaccounting skills but because ofher great institutional knowledge.

She’s also leaving the businessdepartment in good hands.Shannon Engels has trained withSandy for the past six weeks or so toassure a smooth transition.

Many of us have worked with

Sandy long enough to appreciatethat she has a rare balance of pre-cise accounting and measurementskills and a rich personality. She’s agreat friend, sounding board androck-solid teammate to many inthis office.

For those and many other rea-sons, she will be missed.

— Mike Quinn, Publisher

RCN RIVER CITY NEWSPAPERS

RCN business manager Sandy Standifer retires after 25 years

ShannonEngels joinedthe RCN staff asbusiness man-ager April 20.

Filling the veteran’s shoes ...

Havasu sizzles in the summer

Staff PhotoFor anyone that thought it was a myth about the heat in Havasu,here’s proff it’s not.Thermometers reached far into the mid-120s thefirst part of July. RCN employees were given the green light to donmore comfortable clothing until further notice.

RCN employeesenjoyed Taco Day inMay. Golden Corraldid a great job with allthe food. It was a greatsuccess.

Next up was icecream sandwiches,bars and popsiclesJune 19.

RCN will celebrateall things ice cream inJuly.

Welcome, NewEmployees

Jamie Case joined the AccountingDepartment on May 23. Jamie is filling the

position of part-timeaccounting clerk. Jamiebrings with her morethan years of customerservice experience.

Employee ChangesOn June 4, Agnes

Bunch began workingfull-time in the editori-al department as theeditorial assistant.Agnes has been work-ing part days in the edi-

torial department for about three years and herincreased presence will be a real asset for thedepartment.

EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION

DAYS A HIT

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 20123

All smiles: At left, from left, News-Sun Receptionist Sara Brown, ReporterDana Cole and Ad Rep. Melinda Green, on board the train that took themto Tucson and back. Above, UP Engine 1996.

NEWS-SUNS A N P E D R O V A L L E Y

RIDIN’ THE RAILS: News-Sun trio helps celebrate city’s heritage

As part of its year-long150th anniversarycelebration, UnionPacific Railroadawarded Bensonmembership in itsTrain Town USAregistry, making it

the first town in the railroad’s westernregion to receive the train town designa-tion.

Because of Benson’s historic connection

with the railroad and the community’srelationship with Union Pacific, the rail-road company threw a party in April thatincorporated Union Pacific’s heritage fleet.

The ride on the vintage cars offeredfolks a very special, once-in-a-lifetimeexperience.

Passengers rode the eye-catching 1950s-era cars, bearing the names “City of Sali-na,” “Challenger” and “Cheyenne.” Seat-ing in the domed Challenger car allowedpassengers to watch the engine as it

wound its way down the track, along withviews of the passing scenery.

The passenger cars were sandwichedbetween two engines, in a push-pull sys-tem – allowing the train to travel to andfrom its destination without having to turnaround.

“The Union Pacific staff was very cor-dial and welcoming,” said News-Sunreceptionist Sara Brown. “It was like tak-ing a step back in time — I wish I couldtravel like that all time.”

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

4

RANGE NEWSA R I Z O N A

WILLCOX•SAN S IMON•SUNSITES•BOWIE•COCHISE•DRAGOON

Coloring Contest The Arizona Range News handed out some

good fortune, in the form of cash, to recent win-ners of its Spring promotion.

Three creative elementary school children eachgarnered $50 in cash rewards for winning theirage group divisions in the Range News’ annualSpring Coloring Contest. The contest coincideswith the Easter holiday, which dominates thetheme of the blank coloring page the 4-10 year-olds must fill-in.

Hundreds of entries from five elementaryschools around the area were judged by the ARNstaff. The winners were Vanessa Hudson,5;Aidan Shearer, 7; and Autumn McShane, 9. Theyoungsters also had their personal photos accom-pany their winning entries on a full-page, full-color winner’s page. Fifteen local advertiserssponsor the contest.

From left, Vanessa Hudson of Willcox Elementary School; Aidan Shear-er of Willcox Elementary School; and Autumn McShane of Cochise Ele-mentary School, along with her winning entry, at right.

ARN staff active in communityAbove, Photographer/Photo Editor Dave Brown, center, receives a “Yee Haw” award inMay from Willcox School District Superintendent Dr. Richard Rundhaug for his help in

providing his own photographs for district presentations, pamphlets and school year-books. At right, Elizabeth Broeder, left, daughter of Reporter Carol Broeder, and a

friend of the family, Sandie Lane, work at a fundraising event, “A Cupcake for Cup-cake,” raising money for the Northern Cochise Community Hospital Auxiliary NursingScholarship in the name of her sister (Carol’s daughter), Sarah Rose Catherine Broed-

er, who died in a tragic car accident on May 30, 2011, at age 16. Sarah planned tobecome a Labor and Delivery Nurse and “Cupcake” was her nickname. On March 12,2012, which would have been Sarah’s 17th birthday, the Broeder family, after sellingnearly 40 dozen donated cupcakes, presented the Auxiliary with a total of $1,133.15. PHOTOS BY / Managing Editor Ainslee Wittig (left) and Stacie Harris (right)

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 20125

THE COPPER ERASAFFORD, AZ CLIFTON, AZ

Monica Watson, an 18-year Wickemployee, officially became pub-lisher of the Eastern Arizona Courierin Safford and the Copper Era inClifton.

Watson filled the vacancyThursday, July 5, following theuntimely death of RichardSchneider, who died of cancer inApril.

Wick Communications, the ownerof the local newspaper based inSierra Vista, chose Watson as pub-lisher for the Eastern ArizonaCourier.

“I was excited and speechlesswhen I found out I was publisher,”Watson said.

“I’m very thankful and honoredfor this opportunity and want tocontinue providing a quality prod-uct to the community.”

“She knows the newspaper busi-ness just as thoroughly as she knowsher community,” said Tom Lee,Copper Group Manager of WickCommunications.

Watson started at the Courier as aclassified advertising clerk,advanced to manager of that depart-ment and then moved to the pro-duction department.

After that, oversight of the circula-tion department was added to herlist of duties. Watson was namedadvertising manager in September2011, a position she will retain inher new role as publisher. She willoversee the operations of the

Arizona Range News in Willcox,where Ainslee Wittig serves as edi-tor/ office manager.

Additionally, Watson was instru-mental in moving the Courier to thedigital age and helped bring thenewspaper from its cut-and-pastedays to the layout of pages and adson computer programs.

“My goal is to have the newspapervery involved in the communityand the community very involvedin the newspaper,” Watson said.

A homegrown product of theValley, Watson was born in Morenciand attended school in Clifton.Watson moved to the Valley in 1980and later graduated from ThatcherHigh School.

She has resided in the Gila Valleymost of her life, where she contin-ues to raise her family. Watson andher husband, Craig, have one childstill occupying the nest, Sabrina, 14.They are also the parents of fourgrown children, Jacob, Joseph,Krisanna and Virginia. Watson is aproud grandmother of Kelan andRylee, and a third grandchild isexpected in August.

To relax, Watson says she cleanshouse or shops for the latest fash-ions. The Watsons also enjoy familycabin vacations and volleyball tour-naments.

“All I can say is, I am thrilled tohave this opportunity and will con-tinue to provide a quality newspa-per to both Graham and Greenleecounties.”

Stephanie Jones was named busi-ness manager and filled the slotvacated after the death of SherryEnglish.

Monica Watson

In memoriamThe Eastern

Arizona Courierand The Copper Erarecently sufferedthe loss of its pub-lisher, RickSchneider, and itsbusiness manager,Sherry English,

within a week ofeach other in April.Both are missedand rememberedfondly for theirfriendships andcontributions tothe two newspa-pers.

Game timeAssistant Editor JonJohnson, above andleft, goes for the bas-ket during an AprilDump the Drugs ben-efit game. At left, adrepresentative TimBaca jumps for theball.

Courier, Copper Era

Rick Schneider Sherry English

Watson named publisher of the

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

6

Right, Tracy Shields cuts her going away cake, provided by Herald employee Coco Kerley, at the Sierra Vista of f ice on May 11. Below, Shields talks about her up-coming adventure during a reception after work at her favorite restaurant – Out-back. Listening are, left to righ. Publisher Phil Vega and IT Manager Don Judd. In the background are Herald/Review Business Manager Joan Hancock and Wick Major Accounts Coordinator Missy Bosley.

The HeraldSIERRA VISTA

N E W S O N L I N E AT W W W. S V H E R A L D. CO M

Richardson named Community Photojournalist of Year

Off to Saudi ArabiaOver the years the

Herald/Review news sta f f has ga r nered awards from a variety of news groups and or-ganizations on the state and national level. In July, our photographer Beatrice Richardson made a bit of Herald/Review history by be-ing named the Commu-nity Photojournalist of the Year by the Arizona Press Club.

Beatrice had entered a portfolio of around 30 photos as a part of the en-try process. Besides the overall honor, she also took a first place in the Picture Story category

for “Ray Thomas”. And she received second plac-es in the Portrait/Per-sonality category (“Ze-ke”) and in the Pictorial photography category (“Glow”).

Herald/Review Lead Photographer Mark Levy wasn’t left out of the picture. He was awarded a first place in the “Non-Metro Spot News” pho-tography category for a photo titled, “Evacua-tion”.

Non-Metro, by the way, means a daily newspa-per with less than 20,000 circulation.

Other award win-ning staffers included

two second places for reporter Adam Curtis in education reporting and short-form writing; senior reporter Bill Hess earned a second and a thirwd place in break-ing news, a third place in public safety report-ing and a second in hu-man interest writing; Bisbee Daily Review reporter Shar Porier received a third place in human interest writ-ing and an honorable mention in public safety reporting, and sports editor Matt Hickman received a third place honor in sports report-ing.

Some of the Sierra Vista Herald’s Arizona Press Club winners from left: Bill Hess, Matt Hickman, Beatrice Richardson and Adam Curtis at the awards party at The Duce in Phoenix on May 19. Sierra Vista Herald and Bisbee Daily Review received 14 awards, including Community Photojournalist of the Year.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 20127

From left, Wick Production Manager Scott Green, Sierra Vista Herald Publisher Phil Vega and Herald reporter Derek Jordan battled wind and rain to get the fire started on the grill during the Herald’s annual cookout at the July Fourth fireworks show in Sierra Vista.

SIERRA VISTA HERALD • BISBEE DAILY REVIEW

Fourth of July firestarters Intern joins staff for summerFour years ago I gradu-

ated from Nogales High School, and left southern A r i z o n a to pursue my dreams of taking Samantha B r o w n ’s job on the T r a v e l Channel. I find my-self back here, much to my mother’s delight, with different am-bitions.

22 years young, I am a re-cent graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Jour-nalism and Mass Commu-nication at Arizona State University. While at the Cronkite School, I seized the opportunity to report at a variety of publications: ASU’s newspaper, The State Press; The East Val-ley Tribune; The Arizona Republic and Cronkite News Service, which pub-lishes stories in 30 papers across the state.

I most enjoy interpreting state law for small towns, reporting on the environ-ment and utilizing social

media to find stories, sourc-es and see what trending topics are. A witty hashtag and/or a retweet are my idea of a good time.

Although I’m still no Samantha Brown, the wanderlust is strong in this one; last summer I traveled through seven countries in Rainbow flip-flops, from hostel to hostile. When I’m not re-reading Harry Potter, I put myself to sleep with a few pages of the AP Stylebook: A gram-mar enthusiast’s guide to when to hyperventilate at the sight of its/it’s, your/you’re/you are and there/their/they’re, among other atrocities.

I hope to put my experi-ences to excellent use as an intern at The Sierra Vista Herald. I’ve already learned so much about the town and wish to teach it something in return. If you see me out, say hello. If you have a story idea, tweet at me @SVHivymor-ris. If I throw a Dumb and Dumber quote your way, goodness I hope you get it because it’s horribly em-barrassing otherwise.

Ivy Morris

When the motor quit working on the inserter at the Sierra Vista production facility, it was all hands on deck to help hand insert that Sunday’s edition. At left is Sierra Vista Herald sales rep Kathy Murray, while on the right is sales assistant Sheri Quinn who happily pitched in to help.

Do you remember hand inserting?

Ray Taylor, Circulation Manager, talks to Bill Hess about the desserts he made for the monthly birthday party at the Sierra Vista Herald on June 17.

Delicious Desserts

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

8

or almost a decade, the Tucson Weekly has had a writing/reporting internship pro-gram. Each year, three cycles of two to four college students spend several months at Weekly World Central, doing everything from events previews to news stories to

online multimedia pieces.This summer, three University of Arizona students served as interns. We asked each of

them what they want for a career, and what they’ve gotten out of the Weekly experience.

Serena ValdezSenior, graduating in December 2012Once I’ve started my career as a journalist, I’d love to be a feature writer for either a news

publication or a magazine.As for my experiences so far at the Weekly, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to dabble in dif-

ferent types of journalism. Learning how to blog was a helpful experience; however, making multimedia pieces has never been my forte.

Hope MillerSenior, class of 2013I hope to work for a newspaper or magazine and write about politics, the environment or

both.As someone who didn’t have much feature-writing experience before this summer,

interning at the Weekly has taught me how to shed the hard-news-writing style and instead approach stories with more creative flair. I’ve also liked trying my hand at blogging and being able to take more photos.

Rachel CabakoffSenior, class of 2013I hope to work at a newspaper or at a magazine as a features writer.Interning at the Weekly has been an eye-opening experience for me. It has allowed me to

learn more about blogging and the many different styles of writing—ultimately helping me find my voice.

Meet the Interns

Tucson Weekly summer interns Serena Valdez, Hope Miller and Rachel Cabakoff.

Inside Tucson Business honors Tucson’s ‘best and brightest’ rising stars

eautiful spring weather at a lovely outdoor venue capped off the 10th annual celebration of the Tucson region’s best and brightest rising stars.

Inside Tucson Business, the region’s weekly business journal, has since 2003 asked its readers to nominate people generally 40 years old or younger to be recognized as “Up & Comers.” For those familiar with publications that do recognitions of “40 Under 40,” this is similar.

There are usually nine people recognized as Up & Comers, selected by previous honorees as well as Inside Tucson Business staffers.

Editor David Hatfield notes that the relatively small number of honorees makes Up & Comers a meaningful event. “Handing out 40 awards a year in a market our size really doesn’t allow us to set the bar very high,” Hatfield said. “Our honorees have truly done something meaningful in their careers and in our community.”

About 500 people attended the evening reception in April honoring this year’s Up & Comers. Wells Fargo was the sponsor of the event.

B

JEFF ELLSTEVEN EDDY

JOSEPH KROEGERCHRISTINA HUYETTNIKIA GRAY

BRANDON RODGERSFREDERICK PETERSENNATHAN McCANN

RYAN FIELD

2012

& COMERS

UP

CONGRATULATIONS!

F

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 20129G R E E N V A L L E Y

A N D S U N

UPCOMINGMAGAZINE

Sahuarita Lifestyles captures the vitality of one of the state’s

fastest-growing communities

MAGAZINEHacienda, a lifestyle

magazine,makes its debut

www.gvnews.com Serving Green Valley, Sahuarita, Amado, Arivaca, Tumacácori, Tubac www.sahuaritasun.com

The Green Valley News sent John Keker’s story across the globe this summer.

Keker was 17 when he joined the Marines in 1942, and served in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He lost a dog tag while stationed in Guadalcanal but didn’t think much of it — he said lots of

guys lost dog tags.Decades later, an Australian re-

serve soldier deployed to the Solo-mon Islands came across a box of about 15 U.S. dog tags in a private home. The soldier, Shane Fender, has since made it his mission to get the tags back to their owners or their families. Among the first to hear from him was Keker, who the Aussie

tracked down through the Marine Raiders web site.

The story was picked up by the As-sociated Press (and Huffington Post) and shot across the world.

Keker and Fender have fielded lots of media calls. Keker says “all the at-tention has brought back some great memories.” Fender says it’s helping him in his quest to return the rest of

Advertising team grows; interns arrive

THE GREEN VALLEY NEWS & SUN has brought on two advertising reps, an intern and a teenager who knows how to deliver this summer.

Kevin Jordan is a former bank vice president with strong ties to the area. He quickly made in-roads with several new business owners and has seen early success building a client base.

Sarah Keith moved from the production de-partment to advertising, where she is growing our real estate contacts and leading an online project in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce.

Brenna Goth is our summer intern out of the University of Arizona. She arrived with the spe-cific goal of learning more about community jour-nalism — and Wick is the place for that. Brenna just finished a semester in Guatemala and will return to the UofA this fall for her senior year.

Zach Jordan has been a pleasant surprise. He’s 16, and interested in video production, so we gladly put him to work. Zach has done several video projects on new businesses and videos in tandem with news sto-ries on everything from golf courses to solar cooking. He came highly recommended from his high school and has proven to be a hard worker. The summer has been a great learning experience for him — and he has even taught us a thing or two.

KEVIN JORDAN SARAH KEITH

BRENNA GOTHZACH JORDAN

KEKER

A STARIS BORN

WWII vet capturesinternational spotlight

“... all the attention has brought back some great memories.”

HhaciendaA M A G A Z I N E O F L I V I N G , S T Y L E & T A S T E

SPRING 2012

ISSUE NO. 1

LOCAL SHOPS:

BUSINESS PROFILESAREA HAPPENINGS:

SNAPSHOTSTHINGS TO DO:

AREA EVENTSPUBLISHED BY THE

GREEN VALLEY NEWS & SUN

A C I E N D A

IN T IS ISSUEFEATURED OME

SPACIOUSLIVING IN THE

SANTA RITA

FOOTHILLS

BEFORE-&-AFTER

KITCHENREMODELWOWSHOMEOWNERS

LANDSCAPING FOR

LOOKS + VALUE

YOUR YARD

CAN HELP YOU

SELL WHEN

YOU’RE READY

www.sahuaritasun.com

government

h istory

parks & recreat ion

schools

economic development

business

looking forward

community events

local c lubs

emergency services

usefu l informat ion

attract ions

a special supplementto the sahuarita sun

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

10

Douglas DispatchDowntown store fires

Douglas has had three of its downtown stores burn in the last year. Each time the Dispatch was the first media on the scene. Television stations from all over southern Arizona used the Dispatch’s pictures on their newscasts.

New Employees

The Douglas Dispatch would like to welcome and introduce two new staff members. Sergio Ruvalcaba, Circulation District Manager and Patricia Maldonado, Reporter. Both are lifelong Douglas residents.

Patricia Maldonado Sergio Ruvalcaba

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201211

Before New Front New Friday section

WWW.CAPJOURNAL.COM THE VOICE OF SOUTH DAKOTA SINCE 1881 605.224.7301

Capital Journal

Crow Creek Dakota poet, writer and scholar Elizabeth Cook-Lynn was in Pierre on Oct. 12 to talk to T.F. Riggs High School students as part of Native American Week.

Cook-Lynn, the recipient of the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas and other honors, em-phasized the importance of history, language and citizenship as she discussed issues such as the fl ooding of the river valley to build the Mis-souri River dams.

“There are a lot of things we should talk about as South Dakotans who share this won-derful land,” Cook-Lynn said. “You have to be careful about what you do to water, you have to be careful about when you dig up the gold, you have to be careful about all of these things. That is some of what I think about as a writer. The business of knowing your history and us-ing it to tell your story is really a part of the function of every writer I know.”

The Capital Journal caught up with Eliza-beth Cook-Lynn to ask her more about the im-

Q: You were born at Fort Thompson on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in 1930.

How important is it to you as a Native American writer being rooted in the Great Plains?

A: I am not a Native Ameri-can writer per se...I am a Dakota ... Sisseton and Yankton, and all my of my work is grounded in the Great Plains history and land.

Q: You spoke to high school students about Native Ameri-can issues. How is South Dakota doing in terms of teaching its young people an appreciation for native culture?

A: It is up to tribes and fami-lies to teach "culture." That's the function of the reservation-based community colleges ... lan-guage, custom, ceremonial life, values ... how to be a good Dako-tah or Lakota. It is up to the state

o f S o u t h D a k o t a to teach its young people politics and govern-ment, how to write and analyze, how the state was formed in 1889, the basics in understanding its own white-man history. For American In-dians history has largely been a catastrophe, and we must tell that story, too. It is not just an "appreciation" of cultural diff er-ence. We must teach the awful truth of theft of land and dias-pora, and genocidal legislation, particularly of the years from 1930 ... The Indian Reorganiza-tion Act when tribal govern-ments as we know

them now were formed. It is

no accident that the political writ-

ers of the last 30 years (Vine Deloria and oth-

ers, including myself) rose out of those years.

Q: When you speak to young Native Americans who might

want to become writers, what do you say

to encourage them?

A: I tell them to read

books. Some-how, people don't seem to think that writing has something to do with reading.

Q: Is you message the same for non-Indian young people who might want to become writ-ers, or is their task diff erent, in your eyes?

A: For all of us, it is not about me, me, me. It is about knowing

Words ofwisdom

Award-winning poet, local athlete head out on inspirational tour

Dakota life DON’T CALL THEM HULA HOOPSCircles have shades of meaning for

Native American dancer. C3

VISIT US AT WWW.CAPJOURNAL.COM E-MAIL US AT [email protected]

BY MICHAEL [email protected]

Oahe Downstream Recreation Area to host kid’s fishing derby

Jayce Beastrol went fi shing during the Jeff erson Elementary third grade class’s fi eld day May 21. The Oahe Downstream Recreation area’s kid’s fi shing derby will provide a similar opportu-nity June 2. (Nick Lowrey | Capital Journal)

Introducing children to the outdoors is the goal behind the Oahe Downstream Recreation Area’s kids fishing derby, set for Saturday, June 2.

The fishing derby is geared toward encouraging kids to enjoy the outdoors and understand the importance of wild-life conservation. The derby will be held in the recreation area’s marina and will be confined to the area north of the boat ramp. Fishing will start at 10 a.m. and conclude at 12 p.m. There will be three prizes awarded at the end of the derby; one for the largest fish caught, one for the smallest fish, and one for the most unusual fish.

Park Supervisor Pat Buscher explained that part of the park’s mission is to edu-cate people about the outdoors. The derby has been held annually for five years by the Downstream Recreation Area as part

of an effort to engage children in the outdoors and introduce them to South Dakota State Parks.

“It provides children the opportunity to get outdoors,” said Greg Starr, the recre-ation area’s park naturalist.

Participants in the derby need to bring as much of their own fishing gear as they can, as the park can only provide a limited number of fishing poles. Buscher said the derby usually has about 12 volunteers from his staff and other outdoor organiza-tions that help chaperone the event.

The fishing derby will also serve as a way for the park to show off the work it has done to repair flood damage from last summer. According to Buscher, the area where the kids will be fishing was under about 8 feet of water last June. Since then park staff have worked to repair the dam-age and Buscher says the park’s facilities are up and running again.

“Basically we started from zero and got it back to where it was before the flood-ing,” Buscher said.

BY MICHAEL NEARY

[email protected]

MONDAY,JUNE 4, 2012

VOLUME 133ISSUE NO. 106

75¢Capital Journal

XNLV

3283

2

VOTEMAXGORS

REPUBLICAN FOR HUGHES COUNTY STATES ATTORNEY

� JUNE 5TH �

✯ ✯

INSIDEArea News .....................A2-A4Opinion ..............................A5

Region ...............................A6Community .........................A7

Weather .............................A8Sports .......................... B1-B4

Comics ...............................B5 ..................... B6-B8

OAHE DAYS 2012

Oahe Days will return this year despite the challenges caused by last year’s flooding.

Pierre’s arts and music festival will return to Steamboat Park June 15-17 with a few changes.

Some of the event’s art vendors also won’t be returning because they found other events to attend when Oahe Days was canceled last year.

“We always face challenges,” said Brad Curtis, president of the Oahe Days Committee.

The festival had to be moved to the south end of Steamboat Park this year because of ongo-ing efforts to repair flood dam-age. Curtis explained that the city placed new electrical lines in the area of Steamboat Park where Oahe Days will take place this year. Pierre Mayor Laurie Gill said that the city is also working to solve other logis-tical issues as well.

“A big part of what the city did was to help find the right location,”

Mayor Laurie Gill said.The new electrical lines were

needed for the event’s concerts and so vendors could do business.

The number of vendors, accord-ing to Curtis, will be relatively unchanged from the 2010 Oahe days. Many art vendors had to find alternate events to attend last year, when Oahe Days was canceled, some of them made commitments to attend those events this year. However, several new vendors have been recruited to make up for the loss.

“Basically, normal growth was interrupted for a year,” Curtis said.

All of the food vendors that attended Oahe Days in 2010 will be returning this year. This year’s Oahe Days also will feature a car-nival and a parade for the first time since Oahe Days was restarted about eight years ago.

Damage to the park included the amphitheater where most of the music has been played in the

past. That damage is now being repaired so it is unavailable for this year’s Oahe Days. Without the use of the amphitheater, the Oahe Days committee had to contract with an outside company to pro-vide a portable stage. Oahe Days entertainment coordinator Denise Gehring said, the stage, sound and

light equipment will be provided by Sioux Falls based company, Dakota Entertainment.

Oahe Days was originally started in the 1970s to celebrate Pierre and the Missouri

River, but was later discontinued. Eight years ago, a group of Pierre residents felt that the time was ripe to try holding the festival again. According to Curtis, the event has been growing every year until the flood of 2011.

“It’s a morale booster,” Gill said. “Oahe Days is a needed event that celebrates our community and our position on the river – this year especially.”

NICK LOWREY | CAPITAL JOURNALThe Oahe Days music and arts festival celebrates the Pierre community and its relationship with the Missouri River.

Oahe Days overcomes challenges to return to Steamboat Park

Oahe DaysThe music and arts festival is back this year and scheduled for June 15-17 at Steamboat Park.

BY NICK [email protected]

Fairway Drive to see drainage repairs

The city will be seeking and awarding bids to repair the drainage ditch and several culverts along Fairway Drive in June.

The Fairway Drive neighborhood was originally built about 35 years ago. At the time the land was in Hughes County’s jurisdiction and home construction was not subject to city construction standards. The lack of a uniform standard has now led to some drainage issues involv-ing culverts running below come of the neighborhood’s driveways.

Fairway Drive is now part of the city and partly due to last year’s flooding those culverts have become partially blocked with sed-iment, rusted through or collapsed. City Commissioner Steve Harding, who lives in the neighborhood, said that the city project is aimed at fixing or replacing culverts and cleaning out the ditch that runs between them.

“It’s to take care of the drainage,” Harding said.City Manager Leon Schochenmaier said that the

city is now ready to seek bids on the project, which is slated to begin this summer.


STEVEHARDING

Dakotas offi cials warn: Be careful when in water

SIOUX FALLS (AP) — As the weather warms and the waterways become more popular, munici-palities across the Dakotas are telling residents to be careful when swimming, kayaking and canoeing.

Among the tips: Tell someone where you're going, when you'll return and whom to call if you don't come back. Always wear a life jacket. Make sure your skills and experience are equal to the river or lake, depth and conditions you're attempting.

Sioux Falls officials say on the city's website that people should carry a first aid kit — and learn how to use it. Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health officials warn that young children can drown in as little as 2 inches of water in less than 20 seconds. It takes an adult an average of just 60 seconds to drown.

Short Grass Arts Council orchestrates summer tale telling

The Short Grass Arts Council’s summer story-telling series will venture into tales told in a whole variety of artistic styles – from the historical to the personal to the musical.

“It isn’t just getting together with a bunch of people and tell-ing whoppers,” said Barb Wood, the council’s vice president. Wood is coordi-nating Tales on the River, a free series of stories presented at the Moose Lodge in Fort Pierre. The storytelling sessions begin at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and run from June 7 through Aug. 23. Some social time at 6:30 p.m. will precede the storytelling, and the Moose Lodge will sell conces-


Tales on the River Schedule:

June 7 - Ann Sines: Evolution: Crayons

and Acrylics on Cloth.

June 14 - Charles Poches Jr.: Stories

from Organizing the Deadwood Trail Ride

June 21 - Robert Varick: Adventures

Working at Homestake Mine

June 28 - Roger Assmus: The Badlands,

“God’s Favorite Place”

July 5 - Robert Hanten: How Did Salmon

Get in Oahe?

July 12 - Bob Kolbe: Blizzard of 1880

and Flood of 1881

July 19 -Andrew Kightlinger: How Do

You Make a Movie?

July 26 – Mike Rounds: Stories from the

Governor’s Offi ce

Aug. 2 – Jace DeCory: Lakota Philosophy

Aug. 9 – Duane Reichert: A Rodeo Clown

Tells Stories

Aug. 16 – Plains Folk: Stories Through

Music

Aug. 23 - to be announced

SEE Tales

High productivity helping sustain Oahe’s walleye

Missouri River reservoir flooding in 2011 sent many prey fish such as smelt downstream, triggering fears that a repeat of the high walleye mortality rates of the late 1990s could follow.

But biologists say Lake Oahe’s high productivity and a campaign to stock another bait fish make the scenario different this time around, and the outlook for anglers is positive.

In 2011 massive volumes of water were passed through the Missouri River system, and that means many fish passed through the dams along with the water. Lake Oahe in par-ticular saw numbers of rainbow smelt

flushed through its dam. Rainbow smelt are a key prey item for walleye, especially the larger fish.

A similar, though less severe flood-ing event in the late 1990s flushed as much as 90 percent of Lake Oahe’s rainbow smelt population out of the reservoir. The loss of the rainbow smelt triggered a rise in the mortality rate of walleye in Lake Oahe. That rise was most pronounced among larger fish, those over 15 inches.

South Dakota Game Fish and Parks is in the process of determining just what the effect of the 2011 floods on rainbow smelt, and therefore on walleye, will be. GFP biologists did their annual count of spawning smelt in April. The numbers were not all that positive.

“We do know a large percentage of rainbow smelt went through the dam,” said Geno Adams, fisheries pro-gram administrator for GFP. Adams, however, added that the warm winter may have caused smelt to spawn ear-lier which could have thrown off the count.

The full effect of the 2011 flood-ing on rainbow smelt won’t be known until later in the summer when GFP starts to count smelt numbers through acoustic sounding. There are a number of positives for Lake Oahe’s walleye population despite any setbacks in the smelt population. According to GFP fisheries biologist Mark Fincel, productivity in the lake has been very high recently.


SEE Walleye

XNLV

3283

2

VOTEMAXGORS

REPUBLICAN FOR HUGHES COUNTY STATES ATTORNEY

� JUNE 5TH �

✯ ✯

Oahe Days will return this year despite the challenges caused by last year’s flooding.

Pierre’s arts and music fes-tival will return to Steamboat Park June 15-17 with a few changes.

Some of the event’s art vendors also won’t be return-ing because they found other events to attend when Oahe Days was canceled last year.

“We always face chal-lenges,” said Brad Curtis, president of the Oahe Days Committee.

The festival had to be moved to the south end of Steamboat Park this year because of ongoing efforts to repair flood

damage. Curtis explained that the city placed new electrical lines in the area of Steamboat Park where Oahe Days will take place this year. Pierre Mayor Laurie Gill said that the city is also working to solve other logistical issues as well.

“A big part of what the city did was to help find the right location,” Mayor Laurie Gill said.

The new electrical lines

were needed for the event’s concerts and so vendors could do business.

The number of vendors, according to Curtis, will be relatively unchanged from the 2010 Oahe days. Many art vendors had to find alternate events to attend last year, when Oahe Days was can-celed, some of them made commitments to attend those

The Oahe Days music and arts festival celebrates the area and its relationship with the Missouri River. (Nick Lowrey/Capital Journal)

Fairway Drive to see drainage repairsThe city will be seek-

ing and awarding bids to repair the drainage ditch and several culverts along Fairway Drive in

June. The Fairway Drive

neighborhood was origi-nally built about 35 years ago. At the time the land was in Hughes County’s jurisdiction and home construction was not

subject to city construc-tion standards.

The lack of a uniform standard has now led to some drainage issues involving culverts run-ning below come of the neighborhood’s drive-

ways. Fairway Drive is now

part of the city and part-ly due to last year’s flood-ing those culverts have become partially blocked with sediment, rusted through or collapsed.

City Commissioner Steve Harding, who lives in the neighborhood, said that the city project is aimed at fixing or replac-ing culverts and cleaning out the ditch that runs between them.

“It’s to take care of the drainage,” Harding said.

City Manager Leon Schochenmaier said that the city is now ready to seek bids on the project, which is slated to begin this summer.

Dakotas offi cials warn: Be careful when in water

SIOUX FALLS (AP) — As the weather warms and the waterways become more popular, municipalities across the Dakotas are telling resi-dents to be careful when swimming, kayaking and canoeing.

Among the tips: Tell someone where you're going, when you'll return and whom to call if you don't come back. Always wear a life jacket. Make sure your skills and experience are equal to the river or lake, depth and conditions you're attempting.

Sioux Falls officials say on the city's website that people should carry a first aid kit — and learn how to use it. Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health officials warn that young children can drown in as little as 2 inches of water in less than 20 seconds. It takes an adult an aver-age of just 60 seconds to drown.

Short Grass Arts Council orchestrates summer tale telling

The Short Grass Arts Council’s summer storytell-ing series will venture into tales told in a whole variety of artistic styles – from the his-torical to the personal to the musical.

“It isn’t just getting togeth-er with a bunch of people and telling whop-pers,” said Barb Wood, the council’s vice president. Wood is coor-dinating Tales on the River, a free series of stories pre-sented at the Moose Lodge in Fort Pierre. The storytell-ing sessions begin at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and run from June 7 through Aug. 23. Some social time at 6:30 p.m. will precede the storytel l ing, and the Moose Lodge will sell concessions.

The Short Grass Arts Council has orchestrated an annual sto-rytelling series for several years, Wood said, and this is the second year that the series has includ-ed a planned program with designated speakers.

The spectrum of stories throughout the series is wide, with presenters delving into such topics as Lakota phi-losophy, film-making, the life

of a rodeo clown and the Badlands.

“They can give us a story that we didn’t know about from a his-torical perspective, or

High productivity, bait fi sh stocking helping sustain Oahe’s walleye

Missouri River reservoir flooding in 2011 sent many prey fish such as smelt downstream, triggering fears that a repeat of the high walleye mortality rates of the late 1990s could follow.

But biologists say Lake Oahe’s high productivity and a campaign to stock another bait fish make the scenario dif-ferent this time around, and the outlook for anglers is positive.

In 2011 massive volumes of water were passed through the Missouri River sys-tem, and that means many fish passed through the dams along with the water. Lake Oahe in particular saw numbers of

rainbow smelt flushed through its dam. Rainbow smelt are a key prey item for walleye, especially the larger fish.

A similar, though less severe flooding event in the late 1990s flushed as much as 90 percent of Lake Oahe’s rainbow smelt population out of the reservoir. The loss of the rainbow smelt triggered a rise in the mortality rate of walleye in Lake Oahe. That rise was most pro-nounced among larger fish, those over 15 inches.

South Dakota Game Fish and

Parks is in the process of determining just what the effect of the 2011 floods on rainbow smelt, and therefore on walleye, will be. GFP biologists did their annual count of spawning smelt in April. The numbers were not all that positive.

“We do know a large percentage of rainbow smelt went through the

dam,” said Geno Adams, fish-

The voice of Central South Dakota since 1881

Monday, June 4, 2012 www.capjournal.com Volume 133, Issue No. 112 75¢C

SOUTH DAKOTA SIZEAmerican Legion Post 8 hosts enchilada feed of epic proportions. Turnout said to be encouraging. C7B5

Picking up the paceFort Pierre has four home wins.

Area News A2-A3 State/Obit A4 Community A5 Weather A6 Sports B1 Comics B3 Classifi eds B4

To reach us, call 224-7301 or e-mail us at [email protected] Twitter.com/capjournalFacebook.com/capjournal

Guess who’s backOahe Days overcomes challenges to return to Steamboat Park





Want to jump in? Find a map of the

area’s boat ramps at capjournal.com

Tales on the River calender:June 7 - Ann

Sines: Evolution:

Crayons and Acrylics

on Cloth.

June 14 - Charles

Poches Jr.: Stories

from Organizing

the Deadwood Trail

Ride

June 21 - Robert

Varick: Adventures

Working at Home-

stake Mine

June 28 -

Roger Assmus: The

Badlands, “God’s

Favorite Place”

July 5 - Robert

Hanten: How Did

Salmon Get in

Oahe?

July 12 - Bob

Kolbe: Blizzard of

1880 and Flood

of 1881

July 19 -Andrew

Kightlinger: How Do

You Make a Movie?

July 26 – Mike

Rounds: Stories

from the Governor’s

Offi ce

Aug. 2 – Jace

DeCory: Lakota

Philosophy

Aug. 9 – Duane

Reichert: A Rodeo

Clown Tells Stories

Aug. 16 – Plains

Folk: Stories

Through Music

Aug. 23 - to be

announced

“Oahe Days is a needed event that celebrates our community and our position on the river – this year especially.”

Pierre Mayor Laurie Gill

See OAHE, A8

See TALES, A8

See WALLEYE, A8

New look coming to the Capital Journal

Capital Journal employees enjoy a meal and stories of a successful half year. After weathering a fl ood in 2011, the paper has posted plenty of success this year.

Saying “thanks”

Months of hard work will be coming to fruition on Aug. 17 when the Capital Journal unveils its redesign.

We had a handful of goals in mind throughout the redesign process:

-We wanted the paper to be easier to read. Th is meant choosing new fonts, including a new body font. We decided on Nimrod for that. Aside from font choices, we decided to up the number of pullout boxes, pull quotes and sidebars.

-We wanted to increase the number of local stories and photos. While just asking our writers to create more would have reached this goal, we needed a place to put this extra content. >From that need the Dakota Life section was born. Each Friday, the Capital Journal will put out a section that contains big, bold, fun stories and will also be home to many of the smaller com-munity items, such as engagements, submitted photos and bridge club results. Th e back of this section will also serve as a space for a weekly photo package.

-We wanted more consistency. People need to know when and where land transfers, or any other regular item, will run in the newspaper. Th is is a goal we will have to continually battle after we debut the redesign. Th e Dakota Life section will serve consistency well, but items such as court records, the meetings calendar and other items also will have more specifi c homes.

We know anecdotally that people don’t really “see” our content when it’s spread unevenly through the paper on diff erent days. A good example is our court report. Even though it goes into the paper regularly, and even though we have actually increased our news of the public record by adding marriage licenses, for example, readers still perceive that we have stopped carrying or decreased that content because they don’t see it in the same loca-tion or on the same day. Th ey don’t know when and where to look for it. We hope by this to solve that issue.

-We wanted more online content. Th is was another goal for after the debut of the redesign. In addition to online boxes that encourage people to start discussions online, we will post addi-tional items to the website that they can’t get in the print edition. So hand in hand with the redesign is a renewed push to move toward more and better online content as the complement to our paper product.

Redesigns are always much more diffi cult than they appear. What starts out as a few key changes, leads to a maze of impor-tant questions and decisions. We are excited to be near the end of the process. While we know change is always hard on readers, we know the newspaper will be better for it.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

12

Ryan Kee wasjoined the ArgusObserver as itssummer internand is a graduateof Ontario HighSchool inOntario, OR. Heis planning onmoving toCorvallis, OR, inthe fall and at-tending OregonState University

William Lopezhas joined theArgus Observeras a reporter.Lopez will coverthe police, fireand courts for thenewspaper. Lopezspent severalyears in the U.S.Navy where hewrote for navalpublications.

Lindsey Davis bidfarewell to theArgus Observerin June. Davis wasthe lifestyle re-porter for theArgus and hadbeen with thenewspaper justover a year whenshe left.

WilliamAnderson left theArgus Observerin July to takeover a reporterpostion at anoth-er newspaper.Anderson cov-ered the police,fire and courtswhile also helpingout in the sportsdepartmentwhile with theArgus.

Local news you need, information you want.Local news you need, information you want.Your community-involved newspaper.Your community-involved newspaper. www.argusobserver.comwww.argusobserver.comOntario, OROntario, OR

Employees at the Argus Observer go through the line, filling their plates with scalloped potatoes, salad, a roll and a barbecued rib-eye steak. Employees were treated to the barbecue as a celebration for winning the circulation blitz in May.

A blitz celebrationONTARIO, OR

Employees at the Argus Observer in Ontario, OR enjoyeda barbecue ribeye steak lunch complete with salad and scal-loped potatoes on Friday, June 29. The lunch was a cele-bration of the Argus’ successful circulation blitz in May.

The blitz was set up to bring in new, pre-paid subscriptionsfor each newspaper in Wick Communications. The ArgusObserver accumulated 77 new, pre-paid subscriptions to thenewspaper during the event. The Independent-Enterprise inPayette, Idaho, added 31 new, pre-paid subscriptions.

Argus Circulation Manager Joe Rodriguez said he de-partment chose to “share the wealth” with the remainder ofthe Argus employees and the money to hosts the barbecue.

“It was a team effort,” Rodriguez said about winning theblitz.

Bill McCarver with the Argus Observer circulation department pre-pares to serve up some barbecued ribeye steak.

Argus Observer employeesenjoy circulation-hosted lunch

DEPARTURES

NEW FACES

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201213


Argus Observer Publisher John Dillon(left) presents the Jerry Latham MailTribune Award to Circulation DistrictManager Bill McCarver. The Jerry Latham Mail Tribune Awardrecognizes the daily, multi-weekly, andweekly newspapers in Oregon with thehighest percentage increase in circula-tion over the previous year. Jerry Latham was a longtime circulationmanager for the Mail Tribune in Medford,OR, and made a generous contribution tothe Oregon Newspaper Foundation toestablish this award in perpetuity.Circulation changes were calculatedfrom information on Audit Bureau ofCirculations reports or in the newspa-pers’ annual published statements ofownership.The Argus Observer won the awardamong all dailies within the state.

Argus Observer Publisher John Dillon(left) presents the first-place award forBest Ad Series to Argus Observer graph-ics department artists Tom Perryman,Melissa Swetland and Lori Schaffeld dur-ing the quarterly employee meeting atthe Argus Observer July 18. The graphicsdepartment won several awards duringthe Oregon Newspaper PublishersAssociation annual convention July 12and July 13.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

14


Rashell LeBow receives a certificate July18 naming her Employee of the Quarterfor the Argus Observer and Independent-Enterprise. The presentation was madeduring the Argus Observer’s quarterlyemployee meeting. LeBow, who is em-ployed in the classified department, wascited for her quick ability to pick up newways of doing things, her customer ser-vice and her excellent work ethic.

Payette, IDPayette, ID www.ind-ent.comwww.ind-ent.comPayette County’s Nationally Acclaimed NewspaperPayette County’s Nationally Acclaimed Newspaper

Celebrating longevityArgus Observer reporter Larry Meyer (left) is greeted by Publisher John Dillon during an employee barbecue in May. The barbe-cue was held to honor Meyer’s 35th year as an employee at the Argus Observer in Ontario, OR. While employees contributed dif-ferent items for the barbecue, Dillon supplied the cake and the balloons congratulating Meyer on his accomplishment. Meyer hasbeen through three publishers while with the Argus Observer and is the longest continuous employee with the newspaper.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

16 Mat-Su Valley

ALASKA’S MATSU VALLEY HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1947

Frontiersman staff

As the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman enters its 64th year of publication, it has us thinking about how much the infor-mation business has changed, especially recently.

In the olden days of the last millen-nium, the Frontiersman was a mid-sized, twice-weekly paper covering the places and faces of the Mat-Su Borough. As recently as the 1990s, the paper was black-and-white with spot color ads, and it was printed at the Anchorage Daily News’ production plant.

But in this past decade, the Frontiers-man has acquired its own printing press, added home delivery and expanded its coverage to include a Sunday print edi-tion, a website, a YouTube channel, an E- newsletter, and Facebook and Twitter news feeds.

When we began printing the paper at the production plant next door to the main office at 5751 E. Mayflower Court in 2005, Anya Petersen-Frey compiled a look back at some of our history.

“… Milestones include: the first use of color in 1967, when a blue masthead was introduced; in 1979 computers were added to the newsroom, followed in 1983 by the use of the first color photograph on the front page. In 1999, the paper became fully paginated, so all pages are now com-puter-generated. After becoming a once per week publication in 1949, the paper returned to a twice-weekly publication in 1984, appearing on Wednesdays and Saturdays. In August 2002, a Sunday edi-tion was added. The Frontiersman began home delivery for the first time in its core areas of Palmer and Wasilla two years ago, in April 2003.”

This year the changes at the newspaper center around our evolving use of social media like Facebook and Twitter to gath-

er and share news with our readers. These online platforms have revolutionized the way we gather information and give us a tool to interact in real time with readers.

For example, a Facebook reader left a note in January asking for directions to the New Year’s celebration at the new Big Lake Ice Arena on Lions Court. Another asked where Santa Claus would be meet-ing with Valley children in the final days before Christmas. And another left a note about a team of six dogs lost — and found — on the Iditarod Trail.

When we wanted to know who the people are who give us the gift of the Val-ley Christmas tree on the Glenn Highway, we asked Facebook readers. It took just 47 minutes for one of those readers to con-nect us with the cell phone number for one of three Secret Santas.

Then the story took an unexpected turn. When we told our Facebook readers we were planning to reveal the mystery behind the tree, they objected, pleading instead for us to tell the story, but keep the men’s identities secret.

We even let readers vote in a poll ques-tion on frontiersman.com about whether or not to tell the men’s names. Readers voted 190 to 87 for us to keep the secret in our Dec. 18, page 1 story “O Christmas tree.”

Throughout this time, people used our Facebook page and the website’s reader comment function to leave thank you notes for Ben, Lucas and Jason, our local Secret Santas. And one extraordinary person even left gifts under the tree for the men.

Sometimes we even use this new tool for something as routine as checking the spelling of people’s names.

We are still exploring ways Facebook is a useful tool, but you can follow along on our journey at facebook.com/frontiers-man.

HEATHER A. RESZ/FrontiersmanAfter a local family — Lonnie and Stephanie Scalisi and their seven children — lost their home to a fire, we told their story in the newspaper about how two of their sons saved two of their younger siblings from the blaze. The next day on Facebook we let our community know that Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman staff were headed over with a truck loaded with donations. Several people responded by dropping of clothing, cash and household items for the family at the newspaper office.

New tools useful for community reporting

Frontiersman.com

As the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman enters its 64th year of publication, it has us thinking about how much the infor-mation business has changed, especially recently.

In the olden days of the last millen-nium, the Frontiersman was a mid-sized, twice-weekly paper covering the places and faces of the Mat-Su Borough. As recently as the 1990s, the paper was black-and-white with spot color ads, and it was printed at the Anchorage Daily News’ production plant.

But in this past decade, the Frontiers-man has acquired its own printing press, added home delivery and expanded its coverage to include a Sunday print edi-tion, a website, a YouTube channel, an E- newsletter, and Facebook and Twitter news feeds.

When we began printing the paper at the production plant next door to the main office at 5751 E. Mayflower Court in 2005, Anya Petersen-Frey compiled a look back at some of our history.

“… Milestones include: the first use of color in 1967, when a blue masthead was introduced; in 1979 computers were added to the newsroom, followed in 1983 by the use of the first color photograph on the front page. In 1999, the paper became fully paginated, so all pages are now com-puter-generated. After becoming a once per week publication in 1949, the paper returned to a twice-weekly publication in 1984, appearing on Wednesdays and Saturdays. In August 2002, a Sunday edi-tion was added. The Frontiersman began home delivery for the first time in its core areas of Palmer and Wasilla two years ago, in April 2003.”

This year the changes at the newspaper center around our evolving use of social media like Facebook and Twitter to gath-

er and share news with our readers. These online platforms have revolutionized the way we gather information and give us a tool to interact in real time with readers.

For example, a Facebook reader left a note in January asking for directions to the New Year’s celebration at the new Big Lake Ice Arena on Lions Court. Another asked where Santa Claus would be meet-ing with Valley children in the final days before Christmas. And another left a note about a team of six dogs lost — and found — on the Iditarod Trail.

When we wanted to know who the people are who give us the gift of the Val-ley Christmas tree on the Glenn Highway, we asked Facebook readers. It took just 47 minutes for one of those readers to connect us with the cellphone number for one of three Secret Santas.

Then the story took an unexpected turn. When we told our Facebook readers we were planning to reveal the mystery behind the tree, they objected, pleading instead for us to tell the story, but keep the men’s identities secret.

We even let readers vote in a poll ques-tion on frontiersman.com about whether or not to tell the men’s names. Readers voted 190 to 87 for us to keep the secret in our a page 1 story headlined “O Christ-mas tree.”

Throughout this time, people used our Facebook page and the website’s reader comment function to leave thank you notes for Ben, Lucas and Jason, our local Secret Santas. And one extraordinary person even left gifts under the tree for the men.

Sometimes we even use this new tool for something as routine as checking the spelling of people’s names.

We are still exploring ways Facebook is a useful tool, but you can follow along on our journey at facebook.com/frontiers-man.

New tools useful for community reporting

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201217Mat-Su Valley


BLACK AND WHITE AND READ ALL OVER ...

Mat-Su/Copper River District Agriculture Agent Stephen C. Brown holds a copy of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman atop the 22,820-foot summit of Cerro Aconcagua in the Argentinean Andes Dec. 16, 2011. Brown said he believes this means the Frontiersman holds some kind of high-altitude distribution record.

NATIONAL EXPOSURE

Job Corps National Director Edna Primrose looks at a copy of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman featuring Alaska Job Corps student Megan Dauphinee after hers was selected among the top three speeches in the nation. She went on to win the 2012 National Job Corps Student Oratory Competition in Washington, D.C., Feb. 7.

FRONTIERSMAN GOES GREEN

Greg Johnson/FrontiersmanMat-Su Valley Frontiersman installed a new computer to plate machine in December 2011. Pressroom Manager Ryan Sleight (pictured) said the machine has streamlined the production process and eliminated the use of chemicals from the plate production process, which is better for the environment and the bottom line.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

18 Mat-Su Valley


Frontiersman.com

WASILLA — A trio of Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman employees were honored for their life-saving efforts to aid a man who had his hand severed during an industrial accident in the newspaper’s parking lot.

It was a normal deadline day Dec. 22, 2011, at the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman — until a man ran in the front door and asked someone to call 911. When office manager Joanne Briceland picked up the phone to place the call, she didn’t know the details of what 45-year-old John E. Buckley needed.

While Briceland waited for a dispatcher to pick up the call, circulation manager Doris Armstrong and photo editor Rob-ert DeBerry saw Buckley on the ground in front of the newspaper’s printing plant. They ran down the steps from the busi-ness office, across a snow-covered lawn to the plant’s parking lot.

DeBerry said he only jumped the hand-rail between the two buildings because he was following Armstrong and she had vaulted the rail first.

“I hit autopilot about the time Robert said we jumped the railing,” Armstrong said.

In his room at Mat-Su Regional Hospi-tal five days following the accident, Buck-ley told DeBerry he remembers seeing he and Armstrong hurdle the handrail. He also remembers DeBerry slapping his face repeatedly when he would begin to lose consciousness.

The call for help reached dispatchers about 3 p.m., and Alaska State Troopers and Mat-Su Central Fire Department arrived to help a few minutes later.

But it was the quick action of DeBerry, Armstrong and Laura Cox, who works in advertising, that doctors credit for saving his life, Buckley said.

Cox said she heard a man had cut off his hand, so she grabbed her scarf to use for a

tourniquet and ran outside. “I just hope someone would do the

same for me,” she said.Cox said it was ordinary on-the-job

mom training that taught her to respond swiftly and calmly in an emergency.

Armstrong agreed.“My kid was on a first-name basis with

the emergency room staff for years,” she said. “We did what we had to do and we

got lucky.”When Armstrong, Cox and DeBerry

reached Buckley’s side, DeBerry used his belt and Cox’s scarf and put both on the injured arm to stem the bleeding. With-out that tourniquet, Buckley later said, he likely would have bled to death before emergency responders could arrive.

“Doctors told me that guy saved my life,” Buckley said. “If it wasn’t for you

people over there I would have been dead.”

Damage to Buckley’s right arm was severe and doctors had to amputate it a few inches below the elbow.

An employee with Labor Ready, Buck-ley was assisting drivers for American Fast Freight in freeing a semi truck stuck

3 honored for life-saving efforts

ROBERT DeBERRY/FrontiersmanMat-Su Valley Frontiersman newspaper employees Doris Armstrong, Laura Cox and Robert DeBerry were first to respond to an industrial accident where a man lost his right hand outside the newspaper office.

Continued on next page

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201219Mat-Su Valley


on a small hill in the parking lot.According to Alaska State Troopers,

Buckley’s arm became entangled in a chain that got caught in the drive wheels of the semi while attempting to hold the chain in place for traction.

Buckley’s mother, Laurie Adams, said spending Christmas at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center wasn’t what the family had planned, but said it was better by a mile then burying her son.

“If it hadn’t been for you, he wouldn’t even be here,” Adams told DeBerry at the hospital. “You are a hero in our eyes.”

Mayoral proclamation

The trio’s life-saving efforts didn’t go unnoticed in the community, with Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright presenting the Frontiersman employees with a city proc-lamation at a Jan. 23 Wasilla City Council meeting.

“All three rendered aid, gathering coats to keep him warm, putting pressure on the injured arm to help stop the bleeding

and comforting him while waiting for the EMTs to arrive,” Rupright says in his proc-lamation.

Although still hospitalized at the time the city recognized DeBerry, Armstrong and Cox, Buckley sent a statement of gratitude.

“I never expected Dec. 22 to be much dif-ferent than any other work day,” he said. “What sticks in my mind is how fast a situ-ation can go from ordinary to life-altering, and if not for Robert DeBerry and other Frontiersman staff, life-ending. Their swift responses saved my life. There is no doubt in my mind that without their heroic efforts I would never have made it to the ER. I should be in Denver at a rehab center by the time this is read, otherwise I’d be there. Thank you all.”

Adams, called the accident “a mother’s worst nightmare,” and said she’s grateful her son is still alive.

“Every time I start to dwell on the reper-cussions of that accident, I am reminded how close my son came to dying that day,” she said. “Words cannot express my grati-tude to those first responders from the Frontiersman. It is because of them my son is alive and recovering today.”

Quick action recognized by mayorContinued from previous page

John Buckley and Frontiersman Photo Editor Robert DeBerry pose for a photograph inside Buckley’s hospital room at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

NEW FACESJay Rodri-

guez joined the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman staff July 1 as circulation manager.

Chelsea Osborne joined the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman staff Jan. 31 as an inside sales representa-tive.

CONNECTING WITH COMMUNITY

Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman Managing Editor Heather A. Resz talks to a jour-nalism class at Wasilla High School Feb. 22. The class is one of several in the area that participates in the Frontiersman’s Schools page project each year.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

20

13th scholarship, 1st expoDeborah Herring is the 2012 Women

in Business Luncheon Scholarship win-ner. June 15 was the 13th annual gather-ing put on by The Daily Herald.

The luncheon guest speaker Cor-rine Edwards, 2012 Mrs. North Caro-lina United States, said all women have something they know they are

best at doing.“For me, this is teaching math. For

Deborah, it is nursing.” The scholar-ship, typically $1,000, is awarded to a woman who may have been out of school for a time dealing with divorce, a career change or other life issue, and who is interested in attending Halifax

Community College. In addition to this year’s luncheon,

The Daily Herald added on “The Ulti-mate Girl’s Day Out” the following day. The two events combined were the Roa-noke Valley Woman Expo. The inaugu-ral event offered shopping, make overs, food, health screenings, fashion show,

presentations of Zumba and Piloxing, along with live music. The idea was in-spired by our Roanoke Valley Woman magazine, now in its second year. Wom-en of the Valley had options for many experiences, from cosmetics to cooking items, style, exercise and so much more under one roof.

Kris Smith | The Daily HeraldWomen in Business Luncheon Scholarship recipient Deborah Herring, left, with guest speaker Mrs. North Carolina Corrine Edwards.

Dustin Renwick | The Daily HeraldLadies from Halifax Regional get on their feet during a Zumba class led by Kristen Smith Batchelor during the second day of the Roanoke Valley Woman Expo.

Boys and girls club donation

The Daily Herald Sports Editor Jonas Pope IV recently presented Halifax County Boys and Girls Club Director Kim Taresco with a check for $304 raised during an all-star challenge with the Roanoke-Chowan News Herald. Kneeling, from left, are Tia Bass, Sam Watson, Trevon Robinson, second row, Crystal Powell, Pope, Taresco, Amari McDonald, Johnny Cruz, third row, Areona Middleton, Holly Price and Jamyla Bryant.

Dustin Renwick | The Daily Herald

The Daily HeraldEmployees of the

Month

March: Linda Foster

April: Jonas Pope IV

May: Kris Smith

June: Mark Mathews

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201221

BY JACQUELINE HOUGH

STAFF WRITER

After spending most of his life working, David Hager is not sure what

to do in the next phase of his life — retirement.

“It’s a strange feeling know-ing I don’t have to get up to go to work,” he said.

He admits he feels guilty about not going to work but knows he has put in his time and now it’s time to “kick back.”

It is time he will use to spend with his wife, Colleen, his two adult daughters and three grandchildren.

Recently retired, Hager worked at The Daily Herald as press foreman for 26 years.

He came to the newspaper in 1986 from Williston, N.D. It was because then Publisher Steve Woody called him about com-ing to work here.

Hager’s father, Nick, had suggested his son because The Daily Herald needed someone to help with the production end.

Nick Hager worked for the Williston Herald and Wick Communications — The Daily Herald’s parent company — for more than 30 years, installing presses and building office fur-niture around the country.

Hager said when he first arrived, the press room was a nightmare.

“It was so bad I couldn’t tell what color the press was,” he said.

“But I thought I would give

it a shot.” And for 26 years, he did.

He arrived with his wife and daughters. While he doesn’t miss the cold of North Dakota, he said he has never complete-ly gotten used to living in the South due to the large popula-tion.

“The Eastern sea coast con-tains 75 percent of the people who live in the United States,” he said.

The other thing is the sum-mer heat. “I can take the heat here but not the humidity,” he said. “It gets hot up here.”

However, he remembers a cold winter in North Da-kota when he was a school bus driver and it was 56 degrees below zero.

“I don’t miss the cold or wind,” he said.

Hager said because of his job, he did a lot of traveling,

helping with other newspapers and learning new things.

Traveling to places such as Louisiana, Arizona and Las Vegas.

Now retired for a little more than two weeks, Hager said he misses the people at The Daily Herald.

Dennis Carter, a pressman at The Daily Herald, was working at the newspaper when Hager started.

“He was a good guy to work with,” Carter said. “He will be missed. He knew a lot about the press.”

On his first day of retire-ment, Hager woke up at his usual time.

“It was weird and then I realized I didn’t have to worry about the machinery, work or doing inventory,” Hager said.

“It was like a weight lifted off.”

Roger Bell | The Daily HeraldRecently retired David Hager, 26-year pressman at The Daily Herald, is no longer pressed for time at work. Now he enjoys time with family.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

22

Stop the presses:Herald wins top 2 awards at state newspaper event held in Williston

WILLISTON HERALD

The Williston Herald picked up the top two awards in its division, and dozens of newspaper

professionals from around the state descended on Williston this weekend for the 126th Annual Convention of the North Dakota Newspaper

Association held at the Airport International Inn.The Herald won both the 2011 Sweepstakes and

General Excellence awards in the small daily newspaper category, nudging out second-place finisher Jamestown Sun.

Herald Publisher Mitzi Moe smiled broadly as she accepted the awards and posed for photos with Herald staff members following the presentation. It was the first time since 2006 that the Herald had won both top awards.

The Dickinson Press finished third and The Daily News in Wahpeton received honorable mention. In the large daily category, Grand Forks Herald won General Excellence, while The Forum of Fargo won the Sweepstakes.

The General Excellence award is based on a consensus of out-of-state judges, who poured over thousands of entries from North Dakota newspapers, including weeklies with less than 1,000 circulation to the biggest paper in the state, The Forum out of Fargo.

The Sweepstakes award is based on combined points of individual awards in editorial and advertising categories.

Three Williston Herald staff members combined to win five individual advertising categories: Marcy Huber won best apparel ad; Wanda Olaf placed first in outdoors/sports ad and financial ad; and Carla Huravitch placed first in single ad and small space ad. The Herald advertising staff also placed in several other categories, which attributed to the point total for the Sweepstakes award.

In the editorial categories, the Herald’s newsroom staffers won eight categories: Levin T. Black won in both the reporting series and business news reporting categories; Katie Pizza

placed first in feature reporting; Nick Smith won feature reporting series; and Lynne Napton and Jacob Brooks teamed up to win the spot news category.

The Herald newsroom also won for best editorial page, best website and best headline, “Skin it to win it,” which appeared on a story about a tattoo contest.

Several other Herald stories and photos placed or received honorable mention.

The convention, held in Williston for the first time since 2002, was a three-day event and wrapped up Saturday.

Besides award ceremonies for the top newspaper content of 2011, the event included seminars, a bus tour of oil country and an annual meeting of the NDNA Board, which elected new annual officers. Kathleen Leinen, of the News-Monitor in Hankinson, became the new NDNA president, replacing Williston’s own Wanda Olaf, who had been in the position for the past year.

Williston, ND

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201223

ND newspaper professionals hopon bus for tour of the Bakken

WANDA OLAF | WILLISTON HERALD

Outgoing and incoming presidents

Williston, ND

WILLISTON HERALD

The 126th Annual North Dakota Newspaper Association convention was held at the Airport International Inn in Williston last week, bringing many out-of-town newspaper professionals to the city.

To help the visiting editors, reporters, advertising representatives and publishers get a clear view of the life in the oil-impacted area, the association scheduled a bus tour. The tour was designed to showcase growth throughout Williams County.

Williston Economic Development Director Tom Rolfstad was on hand to run the tour and try to encapsulate the massive changes, both good and bad, for the Bakken region.

In the two-plus hour tour Rolfstad pointed to many of the the new housing developments and apartment complexes currently under construction as well the litany of RVs and campers currently residing on city streets and various locales throughout the area. The tour also highlighted the many oil rigs, fracking companies and man camps in Williams County. The railroads and

planned bypass locations were also key points of interest on the tour.History was also on the agenda. The tour took the group of 50 plus

attendees through historic downtown Williston, a ride past the Confluence Center and a cruise past Fort Buford. However, the key according to Rolfstad was in not only pointing out the development, but stressing to others from throughout the state how the growth helps the state as a whole.

“Hopefully we were able to give them (the tour group) an idea of what is happening in the Bakkens. It’s relationship building. It’s important for them to see how this growth benefits us all as a state, not just Williams County,” Rolfstad said.

The tour was successful, according to Daryl Hill, a Basin Electric employee.

“The biggest insights I got from the tour were the immense amount of manpower not only in place, but still needed, and the housing challenges facing the region,” he said. “Tom did a great job of shedding light on all of this.”


General Excellence

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

24

Herald reporter given a restraining order

Miss North Dakota pageant

Williston, ND

WILLISTON HERALD

Williams County Sheriff’s Office deputies served a Williston Herald reporter with a temporary restraining order on Wednesday.

Pastor Jay Reinke, who uses his Concordia Lutheran Church to provide a living space to homeless people, filed the restraining order. In the court filing, Reinke said he was “terrified” by Hank Stephenson, who followed him down First Avenue in front of City Hall while asking questions about the living arrangements organized on behalf of the homeless at Concordia and his private home.

Stephenson encountered Reinke while covering a Williston City Commission meeting. After following the pastor outside to ask questions, Stephenson and Reinke initially returned to the meeting. There was no physical altercation.

“Stephenson has been doing his job, trying to get to the truth,” Williston Herald Publisher Mitzi Moe said. “I find the restraining order unjustified.

Reinke in the order stated Stephenson was taking notes. That is what reporters do.”

“I honestly didn’t know what to do.” Reinke said in the restraining order. “After a few minutes, seeing he was taking notes of the meeting, I stood, left the room and literally ran to the car. I do not mean to be overly dramatic, but I cannot remember the last time I felt terrified like I did with Hank’s aggression.”

Stephenson is a temporary reporter for the Williston Herald. He has been at the paper two weeks and had previously asked Reinke questions.

Deputies told Stephenson the restraining order does not carry a fine, but he must stay 50 feet away from Reinke at all times and is instructed not to contact him in any way. A court date is set for July 3. Stephenson does not have to show up for the hearing, but the restraining order could be extended at that time.

Violation of the order is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.


Home sweet home

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201225

Williston, ND

Stop the presses and bring in a new one: Herald upgrades newspaper press


“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,” wrote Charles Dickens in “A Tale of Two Cities.”

In Williston this famous dichotomy of Charles Dickens is rendered in technicolor for modern Americans. The booming economy in the Williston Basin pulls almost everyone in two directions: the need to expand is hindered by the need for housing, the stories of the small town are overshadowed by the stories of big business, the boom in the Williston Basin is overbalanced by economic troubles elsewhere in America.

Sometimes things don’t work out, sometimes they do. Sometimes we’re forced to deal with loss, sometimes with gain.

At the Williston Herald, these difficulties and advances are now manifest in a new piece of equipment. A new press is being installed. It replaces one of the oldest operating presses in the country.

The old Harris press was installed at the Williston Herald in 1969 by Nick Hager.

Today, the Harris press, cutting-edge in its day, is scrap metal. It was difficult even to find someone to haul it away, according to Scott Green, production director for Wick Communications, which owns the Williston Herald.

Jesse Lange, a contractor who hauled off the discarded press, said he plans on storing the press until he finds someone to take it.

“I tried to get colleges to take it. I tried to get anybody to take it. Out here, it’s not as easy as anywhere else, where you can just run it down the street and get what you need or get rid of what you need. You’ve got to be

resourceful. And two hours means two weeks and two weeks means two months, out here,” Lange said.

The new press is a refurbished Goss. It will take two to three weeks to install, according to the installation crew. Wick purchased the press last year and had it refurbished by Dauphin Graphic Machinery. It was in storage in Pennsylvania until recently.

“The configuration is very similar to what we had with the old Harris, except it’s a newer press. And it should give them better register controls, better tension controls, and more availability of equipment. That (old) press is so old you can’t find parts for it,” Green said.

Brandon Watson, a pressman for the Williston Herald, said the new press is a big step up for the newspaper. He said they will be able to turn out immaculate papers with much greater consistency.

“It’s going to be better in just about every way. In every way possible it’s going to be better. It’s a complete upgrade,” Watson said.

Watson said it will take a while to learn the specifics in how to operate the new press, but in a few weeks the learning curve will level off.

Mitzi Moe, Williston Herald publisher, said she is happy that the Williston Herald will be able to turn out a higher-quality newspaper.

“We’re just very excited that we’re going to be able to bring this to the community. Our economy is growing and as it grows we’re growing. So we need better equipment to serve our customers,” Moe said.

She said customers can expect sharper images and print.

“The end result is going to be a much better product for our customers,” Moe said.

While the new press is being installed, the Williston Herald is being printed at the Miles City Star in Montana.

Out with the old...

...In with the new

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201227

Newspapers have goodyear at annual contest

The Daily News of Wahpeton-Breckenridge and the News-Monitor received a combinedtotal of 16 first place awards atthe North Dakota NewspaperAssociation Better NewspaperContest held Thursday and Fri-day in Williston.

The News-Monitor had 11first place awards and won thesweepstakes division of themid-size weekly category. TheDaily News had five first placeawards including three adver-tising awards for entertain-ment/liquor ad by SharlaNordick, vehicle ad by SherryHasbargen and ad series byNordick. Reporter Miles Trumphad a first place award for agcoverage and Kathleen Leinenhad a first place award in gov-ernment reporting.

The following are the secondplace awards by the Daily News:Hasbargen for home/gardeningad, Nordick for small space ad,Sports Editor Eric Grover forsports photo, Leinen for picturestory and portrait photo.

The following are the thirdplace awards by the DailyNews: Hasbargen for smallspace ad and agricultural ad,Nordick for promotion of thenewspaper - readership and sig-nature page, Leinen for stand-ing news fronts, editorial page,headline and front page design,the Daily News staff for specialnews section, Carrie McDer-mott for personal column - hu-morous and Trump for portraitphoto.

The following are the honor-able mention awards for theDaily News: Nordick for food

ad, Leinen for overall design ex-cellence, best web site, Groverfor sports feature, McDermottfor news photo and Grover forsports photo.

The following are the firstplace awards for Leinen for theNews-Monitor: portrait photo,editorial page, sports photo, fea-ture photo, front page design ex-cellence, reporting, sports col-umn, sports reporting seriesand section/feature fronts de-sign excellence. Nordick tookfirst place for agriculture adand signature page.

The following are the secondplace awards for the News-Mon-itor: Nordick for promotion ofthe community, agricultural ad,small space ad, ad series, andentertainment/ liquor ad; Lan-don Kafka for pictorial photo,feature reporting series andsports reporting series; Leinentook second place in sports re-porting series, editorial, sportsreporting, sports page/section,spot news, government report-ing series, government report-ing, reporting series, spot newsphoto, feature photo, picturestory and portrait story,

The following are the thirdplace awards for the News-Mon-itor: Leinen for portrait photo,pictorial photo, feature photo,agricultural coverage and spe-cial news section; Kafka in gov-ernment reporting and VickieKrump in news photo.

The following are the honor-able mention awards for theNews-Monitor: Nordick foragricultural ad, health care ad,and home/gardening ad andHasbargen for vehicle ad.

Robyn Rohde joins staff of the News-MonitorHello, how are you?I’m doing great. Survived my

first day in a new place so thatis always nice. So far Hankin-son has been very welcoming.

What was that, who am I? Ohwell, I’m Robyn Rohde, thenewest employee at the News-Monitor, I’m the reporter forthe paper.

A little about me, I’m a pisceswith a virgo rising. I enjoy longwalks on the lake shore, and Inever met a movie I didn’t wantto see at least once. Wait, thatwas my introduction for some-thing else, sorry.

Seriously though, I really ama journalist for the News-Moni-tor. I just started as a reporterthis week and after four hoursthey haven’t kicked me out, so Ithink it might be a good fit. Asyou can tell (I hope) I have a bitof a sense of humor and don’tmind making light of a situa-tion. Don’t get me wrong, I liketo have fun, but I also know howto get down to business.

Speaking of business, I havebeen in the newspaper indus-try for nearly a decade and I ab-

solutely love community jour-nalism. I grew up in Langdon,N.D., and it was for the CavalierCounty Republican that I gotmy start in writing. For thepast 10 years I have bouncedfrom Langdon to Fargo andthen to Hazen, writing mainlysports content but don’t let myaffection for athletics fool you. Ialso have news experience andam really looking forward to

diving into the issues that af-fect all of you.

I am also looking forward togetting to know many of youaround the county as I grow in-to what this area has to offer.So, don’t feel shy about spark-ing up a conversation if youhappen to see me around town.Just look for the ponytail peek-ing out from behind the cam-era.

Robyn Rohde is the new staff member at the News-Monitor in Hankin-son, N.D. She has a few years of weekly newspaper experience and hasbecome a good addition to the paper.

‘As you can tell (I hope), Ihave a bit of a sense ofhumor and don’t mindmaking light of asituation. Don’t get mewrong, I like to have fun,but I also know how to getdown to business.’

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

28

Herald welcomes ad directorBrian Eder is the

Sidney Herald’s newest team member. Eder, who moved to Sidney in June from western Montana, carries 15 years of news-paper experience with him.

Eder is no stranger to Montana, having owned and acted as publisher for the Phillipsburg Mail and Clark Fork Journal. As ad director for the Sidney Herald, Eder will head the special sections, as well as introduce new products from the Herald to readers and advertis-ers.

“I would like to get this

paper more forward-think-ing,” Eder said, now that newspa-pers are moving online.

“We’ve got to be thinking about the future.”

Eder relocated from the Twin Cities 13 years ago where he worked for his family business, a printing company, but was drawn back to the newspaper industry. “I believe in newspapers,”

he said. “Somebody has to give that information to the public. I see it as a need, and I love being a part of that.”

Rural living fi ts his personality as well, he added. “I love this Mon-tana lifestyle. I love the community feel, and I love Montana.” In his free time, Eder enjoys outdoor activities, especially fi sh-ing.

Eder can be contacted at [email protected] or by calling the Herald’s offi ce, 406-433-2403. He would love to hear comments about the paper.

Eder

The Sidney Herald earned sec-ond place in general excellence for Montana’s largest twice-weekly and small dailies category at the Montana Newspaper Association convention Saturday.

Judges wrote, “A close – very close – second. Again, a clean design with lots of community information for readers; for example, the ‘Bulletin Board’ on the front showed a ton of pride in their community, especially the high school; lots of names and faces.”

The Ravalli Republic took fi rst place in the category.

The Sidney Herald captured four fi rst-place honors for the 2011 year.

For Best Special Section, the Herald won with its “Tappin’ The Bakken” section. Judges wrote, “The breadth of coverage here on a single subject is astounding and without wire services. Great stuff !”

The Herald also earned fi rst for Best Editorial Page. Judges wrote, “Well done and very through. Great local voice!”

For Best Black and White Ad, the Herald took fi rst for a bridal adver-tising for Jim’s Catering. “Great use of art – kicky headline – good use of white space; all well balanced, creating an effective ad.”

For the second consecutive year, the Herald earned the top honor for Best Website. Judges wrote, “The newest redesign only made the website better than what was provided. The carousel allows the newspaper to feature a vari-

ety of stories prominently. An e-edition is also a helpful tool for readers.”

The Herald placed second for Best Advertising Series and Small Space Advertising. The Best Advertising Se-ries dealt with McDonald’s employees. Judges said, “A real series that fl ows through the pages toward a clear con-clusion with good use of color to wrap it up.” The Small Space Advertising was for a bridal shower, “A very nice, personalized ad.”

Reporter Louisa Barber earned third place for Best Serious Column. Judges wrote, “Good analysis of newcomers.”

“Tappin the Bakken,” featuring the writing of Barber, placed third for Best Niche Publication. Judges wrote, “In-teresting niche, and clearly an impor-tant one for your readers.”

For Best Sports Pages, the Herald earned third place. Judges wrote, “Clean and compelling design with nice headline treatment and strong photo play in most cases.”

Reporter Ashlee Anvik received hon-orable mention for Best Long Feature Story (a feature of Lambert’s Taylor Sheehan) and Best Sports Feature (A story of how Fairview’s Jim Bieber and Vernon Klose don’t miss attending any of their grandchildren’s athletic contest).

The Herald also received honorable mention for Best Small Space Ad, Best Color Ad, Best Black and White Ad, Best Multi-sponsor Ad and Best Adver-tising Headline.

Herald receives high marks fromMontana Newspaper Association

Bridger Rice and Braden Ler, both from Savage, Mont., were the winners of the Sidney Herald’s Athletes of the Year awards.

Every year, starting in 1992, the Sidney Herald selects the top male and female high school ath-letes of Richland County.

“It’s something that former publisher Rick Schneider and myself started as a way to salute our top scholar athletes,” Bill Vander Weele, manag-ing editor, said.

The Herald selects eight fi nalists for males and females. The fi nalists are then invited to a luncheon held during a weekly Sid-ney Kiwanis Club meet-ing where the winners are announced by the Herald.

“The Kiwanis Club really appreciates the program, and it gives the athletes a chance to be recognized by a large group of people,” Vander

Weele said.Rice was an all-state se-

lection for basketball this season, helping the Sav-age Warriors advance to the Eastern C divisional tournament. She led her team with 18 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. She was an all-conference selection as a sophomore, junior and senior.

In track, Rice fi nished her high school career with a huge showing at the Class C state track and fi eld meet this spring, placing second in the 300-meter hurdles, third in the 100-meter hurdles, fourth in the 200-meter dash and fourth in the shot put.

Ler was a two-time all-state football player who helped Savage

reach back-to-back state championship games his junior and senior seasons. As a senior, he led the Warriors with 124 tackles from his middle linebacker position, while also tallying four sacks and one interception. On offense, Ler reeled in 34 catches for 582 yards and 12 touchdowns. He earned all-conference honors as a sophomore, junior and senior, and was an all-conference honorable mention as a freshman.

Ler also earned all-state basketball honors his senior year. In track, Ler was a member of Savage’s state champion four by 100-meter relay team and placed sixth at the state meet in the high jump.

Herald honors area’s top athletes of year

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201229

BOGALUSA-FRANKLINTON, LOUISIANA

The Daily NewsNielsen honored as DailyNews Citizen of the Year

Since 1955, The Daily Newshas sponsored an OutstandingCitizen of the Year Award inBogalusa, and in Franklintonthe award has been presentedsince 1992.

This year, family and friendsgathered at Bogalusa CountryClub to honor 2011 Citizen of theYear for Bogalusa, William“Bill” Nielsen Jr.

Following the recognition ofpast Citizen of the Year recipi-ents by Beverly Sheridan,Bertha “Bert” Breland, secondvice president of the LouisianaRetired Teachers Association,reflected on the experience ofserving as 2010 Citizen of theYear and, as she jokingly put it,relinquished her “crown,”“royal robe” and “throne” toNielsen.

“Bill, I give it all to you, and Iknow you’ll do a wonderful jobwith it,” she said. “It’s a goodyear, and you’re going to enjoyevery bit of it.”

Buddy Adams, who discussedNielsen’s dedication to his fami-ly, his community and his faith,said, “Bill is a great father, hus-band, brother and friend,” hesaid. “Where was he when hewas chosen for this honor? Hewas fishing with his daughter,Sarah. He serves his community.Bill is quiet, but his actions areintense. When he gets involved,he puts his whole self into it.”

Karin Ryan spoke about her

brother, discussing Nielsen’sdevotion to his patients atNielsen’s Pharmacy and howproud his family is that he wasselected.

“Great citizens of Bogalusabefore him have earned thishonor, and now he’s amongthem,” she said. “Bill has servedthe citizens of Bogalusa well,with both his personal actionsand his professional career. Hehas given back through hisactions and deeds and supportand care for the citizens andbeing one of its hometown, oldfashioned, know everybody’sname and most of their kids andeven grandkids, pharmacist.”

Following Hurricane Katrina,Bill Nielsen and his brother

Kevin, set up what Father Pa-trick Collum referred to as a“MASH outpost” at the oldCharity Hospital, which hadelectricity, and dispensed emer-gency medicine there for abouttwo or three weeks, Gallaspysaid.

“That’s an example of commu-nity service, and that’s an exam-ple of the kind of thing that Ithink deserves the kind of recog-nition we’re giving tonight,” hesaid.

In his acceptance remarks,Nielsen gave a brief history ofhow his family came to live inBogalusa and talked about grow-ing up in the city along with hisbrother and two sisters.

“I would like to thank both my

family and extended family andout-of-town friends; my momand dad, for giving me the oppor-tunity, guidance and encourage-ment throughout all of my life;my wife, Wendy, and daughters,Sarah and Sadie, for the sacri-fices and support that you havemade and given which enablesme to do the things that I do,” hesaid.

He also thanked his siblings“for always being there, FatherPat for my nomination, and theselection committee for this val-ued award.”

Nielsen said he feels blessedthat he has the opportunity tohelp people and that he enjoyswhat he does for a living.

“Although this award is givento an individual, it commandsappreciation to a large numberof people that are responsiblefor me being here today,” he said.“Within the past two the threeyears, I have seen more positivechanges in Bogalusa than I haveseen in a long time. It is nice tosee new, both in construction andpride, back in our community.”

Concluding his speech, Niel-sen shared some of the words ofwisdom his father imparted dur-ing his battle with cancer.

“His words were, ‘Bill, you cando a lot of things for a lot of peo-ple, but the only time you canhelp someone is when they needit.

“‘Die trying,’” he said.

DAILY NEWS PHOTO/Richard Meek

Nielsen, third from right, is shown with many past recipients ofthe Citizen of the Year Award.

DailyNews wins

22 LPAawards

The Daily News won 22awards during the Louis-iana Press Association’sannual convention on April28.

The paper’s staff was hon-ored with four first placeawards, 11 second placeawards, four third placeawards and two honorablementions.

Managing Editor RichardMeek and reporters Mar-celle Hanemann and LucyParker shared a first placeaward for their reporting ofthe Temple-Inland spill andfish kill in August. Meekalso won a second placeaward for investigativereporting.

The news staff won sec-ond place awards for BestNews Coverage, Best SpecialSection, General Excellenceand Best Photo Package.

Lifestyles Editor JanGibson won second place forBest Lifestyle Coverage.

Graphic designer KimGerald won three first placeawards, including for BestAd Campaign, and also tookhome the AdvertisingSweepstakes Award. Geraldalso took home several sec-ond and third place awards,as well as two honorablementions.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

30

BY MATTHEW BEATON

THE DAILY IBERIAN

ERATH, La. — It was the photog-rapher’s idea.

I didn’t want to participate in thewater fights. Yeah, the notion wasexciting, but being pummeled withwater exiting a fire hose at 70 poundsper square inch wasn’t appealing.

But the assertive Lee Ball, pho-tographer at The Daily Iberian,proffered the idea. And I, not want-ing to seem a coward or a stick inthe mud, said sure.

A hesitant Erath Volunteer FireDepart-ment Chief Tristin Bouillion,26, said he needed to think it over.About five minutes later he descend-ed from his perch on a fire truck andsaid, yeah, it could be done.

At that point I was all in. I told himI wanted to be one of the two guysholding the fire hose — the ones that

get pummeled the entire round.He was wary. But I, using the

convincing line, “but that’s wherethe action is,” cajoled him intoallowing it. And thankfully ChrisLouviere, 29, of Erath, graciouslygave up his spot.

So now I would participate inthe famed water fights, a corner-stone of the 66th annual Erath 4thof July Celebration.

Louviere, along with several oth-

NEW IBERIA, LOUISIANA

The Daily Iberian garnered 19 awards at the annualLouisiana Press Association Better NewspaperContest for editorial and advertising content; six ofthem were for first place.

The press association held its 132nd annual conven-tion May 5 at the Paragon Casino Resort inMarksville, La., during which awards were given outfor the annual contest that shows off Louisiana’snewspaper industry’s best work.

In news, Daily Iberian photographer Lee Ball won

first-place awards for Best Feature Photo and BestSports Photo categories. Ball also received second-and third-place awards in the Best Photo Package cat-egory and a third-place award in the category of BestSports Photo.

The newspaper also received a third-place award forBest Special Section.

In advertising, The Daily Iberian won first-placeawards for the categories of Best Ad Campaign,Multiple Advertiser Page, Best Services Ad-Non

Retail and Best Retailer Ad.The advertising and ad composing staff is credited

for all the first-place awards, as well as others thatwere garnered, which included second-place awardsin the categories of Staff-Generated Black & White,Staff-Generated Color, Best Ad Campaign, BestServices Ad-Non Retail and Best Non- Traditional Useof Space Ad.

The staff also received a third-place award for BestRetailer Ad.

Iberian garners 19 LPA awards

LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIANDaily Iberian reporter Matthew Beaton suits up to par-ticipate in the annual water fights for area fire depart-ments.

No watered down fight for Beaton

LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIANDaily Iberian reporter Matthew Beaton takes a blast of water from anopposing firefighting team at the Erath water fights on July 4.

EDITOR’S NOTE:Reporter Matthew Beaton got the rarechance to participate in the annual waterfights at the Erath 4th of July Celebration.This is the first-person story that ran withthe event’s coverage.

SEE WATER, NEXT PAGE

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201231

ers, played mentor for the next 10 or sominutes while waiting for the ErathVolunteer Fire Department’s next turn.

“Hold your balance,” he said; that’swhat it’s all about.

He calmed my fears saying the pres-sure wasn’t that bad unless it hits justthe right spot. Mostly, he said, its like amassage — a 70 psi massage.

“It feels good. You’ve got an inch ofpadding here,” he said pointing to thejacket I would wear, “so it kind ofbreaks it up.”

But he warned me if I slipped every-one behind me would be on the groundtoo — a domino effect. That didn’t domuch for me.

Others showed less confidence in myfire hose holding skills.

“Are you serious,” said Kyle Toups,19, of Erath, when he learned of myplans. “In your dress clothes? You aregoing to get soaking wet.”

That Rubicon was already crossed.Meanwhile, former Chief Wayne

Mouton offered some advice. He saidkeeping your helmet on is vital — if itcomes off, your team loses. So it needsto be tight, very tight. The same withthe chin strap. I took that to heart. Infact, my chinstrap was so tight that myErath teammates were worried I wasstrangling myself.

Put succinctly, in the water fight, twoteams of five stand at a distance of 75feet, according to Bouillion, and fireaway at each other with hoses. The twofront guys — called the post position —hold the hose with their backs to theopposition. A guide holds the hose nextand makes small adjustments trying tocorrect the stream so it strikes theopposition’s post members from shoul-ders to head. The team that hits theshoulders and head more wins.

Also, two more team members stabi-lize the hose behind the guide.Naturally, the post position takes themost abuse — that’s where I was.

While being briefed on these nuances,time flew and the next thing I knewLouviere said I should get ready. Heartpalpitating, I pulled out my valuablesand tossed them in an Erath VolunteerFire Department truck.

Then I donned 20 pounds of firefight-ing gear — jacket, pants (with sus-penders) and borrowed boots.

I shuffled into the middle of SouthBroadway Street, jostling in my over-

sized boots, fumbling like a child, try-ing to learn where my feet should goand how I should hold the hose. ChadSavoy, 26, my post partner, directed me.Those few moments were tense. I wasinstructed in the bear-hug method bywhich we were to maintain our balanceand hold the hose. Our inside armsgrab its steel handles, while our outsidearms reached across and held ontoeach other’s jacket. And then we — orat least I — held on for dear life.

It was go time. I grabbed and held andheld and grabbed and tried to securemy footing while wishing I had visitedthe gym more often. But I didn’t fall.Balance was maintained. The throb-bing cold water slammed against myback and shoulders intermittently andthen would dissipate, but return againwith a vengeance.

All the while, Kyle Toups, 19, whoplayed coach danced around us shout-ing instructions to the guide: “A littlehigher George. A little lower George. Alittle to the left George.”

And then the round was over.We walked to the other side and reset.

But then Savoy and I switch positionsto accommodate Ball, who was snap-ping photos.

In the second round, the water foundme and seemed to stick. It rushed andrushed against my shoulder blades,with seldom a reprieve. I felt my feetless stable, but still my helmet and bal-ance held. The round seemed twice aslong and so did the water. But finallythe horn signaled its end.Unfortunately, the match was over, too.

Erath had lost for the second timeand was now out. But it was a personalvictory — no falls, no lost helmet, no“put in a replacement I can’t handle it.”

I asked the guys how I did. Savoy saidI did good, but wasn’t much on elabora-tion. George Bellis, 27, the guide, wasmore liberal in his praise.

“You did amazing,” he said.He said he was a little disappointed

the team didn’t take first (LeBlanc FireDepartment did), but said he was enjoy-ing himself nonetheless.

“I’m having a great time. It’s a winner inmy books,” he said, adding that reportersare welcome anytime in the future.

Meanwhile, the chief, much to mychagrin, said a reporter getting in onthe water fights had been done.

“I’ve let TV-10 get in, but TV-10 got inthe back. You’re the first one that we letget in the front,” Bouillion said.

WATER: ‘You did amazing’ — firefighterFROM PREVIOUS PAGE

CHRIS LANDRY / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Mind if I keep this door open?This adult raccoon surprised several Daily Iberian staffers one Saturday morning afterit crashed through one of the ceiling tiles and hid in an advertising representative’scubical until spooked by Sports Editor Chris Landry. After perching itself on a doorin the advertising department, attempts were unsuccessful to ‘encourage’ it downwhile doors were held open in hopes it would flee back into the wild. It wasn’t untila local deputy was able to capture it with an lease-like device that the masked crit-ter was released into a nearby tree. No one, or thing, was injured.

LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Concentration camp survivorDaily Iberian reporter Jessica Goff interviews Freda Miller, a native of Czechoslovakiaand survivor of Holocaust concentration camps during World War II. Ms. Miller lostseven sisters and her mother in those camps.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

32

T he Anchorage Press writers picked up a few awards at the annual Alaska Press Club contest last April.

Scott Christiansen’s appreciation for the more unusual corners of life in Alaska—and his flair for both arts and crime writing—was twice rewarded.

“Duke’s Alaska,” a story profiling Alaska artist Duke Russell, won third place for best arts coverage.

“When Duke Russell paints Alaska, he’s more likely to portray rust than aurora,” observes Christiansen of Russell’s loving portrayals of Anchorage’s less-than-beautiful urban sprawl.

Christiansen’s chronicle of a premier Alaska nut job (or freedom fighter, depending on your perspective) won second place in the category of best long feature. The story describes the events preceding the trial of Alaska Peacemaker’s Militia leader Schaeffer Cox, what one judge described as a “wild ride through an underworld most readers know nothing of.”

In addition to Christiansen, opinion columnist Mike Dingman was awarded second place for The Suzan Nightingale Award for Best Columnist. Judge Cheryl Thompson remarks that it was his column “Coffee with Rose” that set him apart: “Kudos for having a Tuesdays-with-Morrie kind of feel!”

While not all the Anchorage Press entries won recog-nition, the Press as a whole lived up to its reputation of throwing the best party of the week. As is traditional, journalists from across the state gathered at the Press office to hang out and knock back a few beers the night before the formal banquet and award ceremony. Press World Headquarters editor Victoria Barber baked 57 cupcakes because she gets like that sometimes.

In other news, Barber was recently voted to the Alaska Press Club board for 2012-2013. She’s looking forward to expanding her contribution to the media coalition be-yond picking up the kegs and pizzas for the party.

O ur newsroom will bid a reluctant goodbye to two members this month. Art director Beth Skabar is leaving a life of wrangling ad builds and brainstorm-

ing cover art in Alaska for the sunnier climes of Los An-geles. She’ll begin a masters program in filmmaking at the American Film Institute this fall. Rachel Drinkard, enter-

tainment editor extraordinaire, is also moving on—per-haps literally, by relocating to her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

In the coming months we’ll miss Beth and Rachel’s bright ideas, patience, and healthy appreciation for irony.

Press AwardsPress wins some awards,

throws a party

Police shield Special report honors wounded police officers

T hirty years after being shot by a man toting a mini-14 rifle, former police officer Pete Nolan was recognized an inaugural ceremony of the Anchorage Police De-

partment Shield Awards. The awards were presented to 10 officers wounded in the line of duty, honoring their cour-age during police calls that go back to the 1970s. Today, Nolan is an advertising account manager for Arctic War-rior, a weekly U.S. Department of Defense newspaper pub-lished by the Anchorage Press staff under a DoD contract.

The Press recognized the shield awards with a 12-page special section, edited by Victoria Barber. Freelance writers Heather Hamilton, Mary Lochner, Andrew Sheeler each contributed stories of individual officers.

Lochner reported Nolan’s story in the special section, which includes a description of Nolan on the ground and hit twice, with bullet holes in one shoulder and one leg. “In the first minute, Nolan worried about whether doctors would have to amputate his leg,” Lochner wrote. “As the minutes wore on, he realized he might not keep his life.”

The angry man with a gun was firing like a sniper, pre-venting other police officers from coming to Nolan’s res-cue. Other officers called out to Nolan to encourage him. Nolan could hear their voices, but was isolated while he laid low in a ditch and realized he was badly bleeding. “It’s a bizarre lonely feeling,” Nolan recalled.

Nolan, being a person of faith, prayed. To this day he credits God for allowing him to survive a death-threat-ening event and eventually recover. (He’s an Anglican lay minister who attends All Saints Episcopal Church in An-chorage.) Nolan was bleeding in the ditch for eight and a

half minutes. An undercover officer named Mark O’Brien drove a car into the midst of the standoff to save him. O’Brien got out of the unmarked vehicle, pulled Nolan in, and drove him away to an ambulance that was standing by.

The Press special report included interviews with 10 of-ficers and descriptions of events similar to the one in which Nolan was shot. The project’s genesis came after Press pub-lisher Steve Abeln attended the Shield Awards ceremony at Nolan’s invitation. At the ceremony, Abeln met leaders from the Alaska police community, the honorees and their families, and local politicians—but no local news media.

Abeln thought the stories needed to be told. “The people these men and women risk their lives for every day, needed an opportunity to hear these stories,” Abeln wrote in an introduction to the special report.

—Scott Christiansen

GoodbyeNewsroom loses two members

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201233

Suzanne Le Breton wasrecently promoted to man-aging editor of the St.Tammany News.

Le Breton started hernewspaper career with WickCommunications in 2000 asa reporter at the NewsBanner in Covington. TheNews Banner merged withthe Slidell Sentry-News toform the St. Tammany Newsin 2005 following HurricaneKatrina.

She also worked for a timeas editor for the paper’sNorthshore Life section.

She was assistant manag-ing editor for the St.Tammany News when sheleft the staff in 2007 after hersecond son was born. Shecontinued with the paper as

a freelance reporter andphotographer until October2010 when she returned tothe staff full time.

LeBreton is proud to sayshe is a St. Tammany Parishnative, and her family datesback in the parish for severalgenerations. She graduatedfrom Covington High Schooland obtained a Bachelor ofArts degree in mass commu-nications from SoutheasternLouisiana University in2000. She has two sons, 10-year-old Xavier and 5-year-old Colton.

When not working, sheenjoys doing things with hersons, including Cub ScoutsPack 222 and Boy ScoutTroop 610 both out of AbitaSprings.

“It is an honor to serve aseditor of my communitynewspaper,” Le Breton said.“I grew up reading thispaper, and I truly love thiscommunity.”

ST. TAMMANYST. TAMMANY

NEWSTHE Heart OF ST. TAMMANY www.thesttammanynews.com

SlidellSentry News BannerST. TAMMANYST. TAMMANY

NEWS

Four first-place awards lead the listof 12 awards won by the St. TammanyNews this weekend at the LouisianaPress Association convention.

The paper received the followingfirst-place awards:

• Best editorial page; • Best news story by Suzanne Le

Breton titled “House Leveled” fromMarch 11 about the tornadoes lastMarch;

• Best sports story by Mike Perveltitled “Believe,” dated Feb. 27, aboutNorthlake Christian School’s soccerstate championship; and

• Best retailer ad by Sheila Allemandfor an ad for St. Tammany Marine,dated July 24.

Second-place awards included bestfront page; best single editorial by ErikSanzenbach; best headline by ChadHebert; and best advertising idea or

promotion, Allemand.Le Breton also won third place in

the best news story category for a storytitled “Boater Recalls Night” publishedon March 16; Chris Kinkaid won thirdin the best sports story category for astory titled “Heavy Lifting,” and pub-lished July 24; and Allemand won athird place for staff generated color adfor Southside Café that ran April 22.

The staff also won a third place forBest News Coverage.

The paper competes in the BetterNewspaper Competition division ofnewspapers published two to fourtimes a week. There are 12 divisions ofcompetition ranging from dailies ofmore than 50,000 in circulation,Division 1, to weekly free papers,Division 12. Only the first eight divi-sions are eligible for the BetterNewspaper Competition awards.

St. Tammany Newshonored with awards

St. Tammany News News-Banner and Slidell Sentry-News staff mem-bers attending the LPA conference included, first row: David Freese;second row: Sandy Cunningham, Suzanne LeBreton, Mike Pervel, SheilaAllemand and Debbie Glover

Le Breton promoted to managing editor

SUZANNE LE BRETON

In a brainstorming ses-sion that Wick Board mem-ber Lou Major, PublisherEmeritus Terry Maddox andPublisher/Group Manager J.Kennon conducted, a greatidea surfaced. The thoughtwas, with so many business-es having an online presencea categorized directory ofweb addresses would fill avoid in the marketplace.Additionally, this idea couldreplace some of the lostbusiness we’ve experiencedon other base revenue pages.

Here’s the basic informa-tion on how we implement-ed the new strategy.

The page publishes every-day, Sunday, Wednesday andFriday.

It is anchored on ourhome page with clickthrough to company websites or Facebook page.

The cost to the customeris $27 a month. The page is

divided into categories ofbusinesses with listingsunder each category thatincludes business name andWebsite address.

“We kicked this off to theteam and turned them loosefor a few days to gather thelow hanging fruit,”Advertising and MarketingDirector Bill Cranford said.“After a few days, we beganhaving lock down telemar-keting efforts. We ended updoing this five times forthree plus hours each time.”

“Some reps were excusedfrom lock downs by bringingin a certain amount of con-tracts prior to the sessions,”he added. “In a nutshell, wedrove this hard to reach ourgoal of 150 listings.”

The newspaper alsobought gas cards and otherincentive rewards for thetelemarketing sessions thatwas on top of the commis-

sion structure. We playedgames to try to keep the funduring the process of con-stantly calling businesses.

This resulted in us reach-ing the goal of 150 or $4,125of new monthly business.Annualized, this is a $50,000idea.

Brainstorming sessionbrings about great idea

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

34

Best Along the River Since 1913

Employees of the quarter

RHETT TRICHEFIRST QUARTER

MONIQUE NARCISSESECOND QUARTER

L‘ OBSERVATEUR

PromotionIn April,L’Observ-ateurManagingEditorDavidVitranoadded tohis list ofresponsi-bilities when he was promotedto general manager of thenewspaper.

LAPLACE – L’Observateur took homeeight first-place awards, including the cov-eted General Excellence award, the annualLouisiana Press Association annual conven-tion at the Paragon Casino and Resort inMarksville, La.

Competing against other newspapersacross the state with similar circulationsand frequencies, members of Georgia’spress association judged L’Observateur ashaving the best overall content in the com-petition.

L’Observateur’s editorial team also tooktop prizes for news coverage and photopackage. Additionally, Sports Editor RyanArena took first place in the Sports Columncategory with a couple of columns dealingwith the NFL.

The advertising department also fared

well this year, taking first place in three cat-egories: best staff-generated color ad, bestnon-retail services ad and best animatedonline ad.

Finally, L’Observateur took home a first-place plaque for its efforts in communityservice, specifically for its involvement witha holiday program it conducts with the St.John Parish Young Marines to provide giftsfor residents of the Southeast LouisianaWar Veterans Home in Reserve.

Publisher Sandy Cunningham said she isvery proud of the entire staff for all theawards, especially the award for GeneralExcellence, which shows the strength of thenewspaper as a whole.

At this year’s convention, the 132nd in theorganization’s history, Cunningham relin-quished the role of president, which she

held for the past two years.L’Observateur came away from the

weekend with a total of 19 awards, includ-ing the eight first-place fineshes. Otherawards included:

• Second place for Best OnlineAdvertising – Single Ad, Animated

• Third place for Best Front Page• Third place for Best Editorial Page • Second place for Best Overall Sports

Coverage• Third place for Best Lifestyle Coverage• Third place for Best Headline• Third place for Best Sports Photo• Third place for Best Special Section• Second place for Multiple Advertiser

Page and• Third place and Honorable Mention for

Advertising Idea or Promotion.

L’Observateur takes home 8 firstsat annual press association convention

Newspaper takes home 14 awards in allFrom left, Sports Editor Ryan Arena, General Manager/Managing Editor David Vitrano and Graphic Designer Rhett Tricheshow off the newspaper’s first place awards.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201235

Best Along the River Since 1913

L‘ OBSERVATEURDistribution manager Bryan Beauchamp

loses his battle with leukemia July 12LAPLACE – Death is one of the

unpleasant matters those in thenewspaper business must dealwith. It comes in many forms —murders, accidents, obituaries.But no amount of journalismschooling or experience can pre-pare one for the sudden loss of avalued team member and friend.

Recently the staff of L’Ob-servateur learned its distributionmanager for the past few years,Bryan Beauchamp, lost his battlewith leukemia as he died of abrain hemorrhage early themorning of July 12..

Beauchamp had worked at thenewspaper since June 2008,

starting as a circulation assistantand moving to distribution man-ager in 2009.

Dealing with circulation is notlike other jobs at a newspaper.The hours are even more irregu-lar, and his time was often spenton the road or in the warehouse.But that did not stop Beauchampfrom making an impression.

L’Observateur Sports EditorRyan Arena said: “Bryan played alarge role in my daily routine. I’dcome in and walk to the back cir-culation area where he worked,looking for a cup of water. He’dalways stop me to talk to me aboutthe latest in sports or about the

crazy things people were sayingto Deke Bellavia and BobbyHebert on the radio. These chatscould grow to epic lengths attimes, and somehow I neverminded the distraction from myjob duties — hey, I’m a sports guy.All part of the job, right? The talksweren’t at all unlike the ones Ihave every day with my dad.Bryan and I were both relativelyquiet people who could becomerelatively loud when sportsentered the equation. He was pas-sionate about it, and that wassomething we shared. I’ll misshim greatly.”

But Beauchamp’s interests

ranged far beyond sports. Hegained a reputation as a wonder-ful cook, gracing company lunch-eons with steaming pots of gumbofeaturing his homemade an-douille.

“He mixed and smoked hisown andouille sausage, made amean pot of chicken andouillegumbo and jambalaya. He wouldpick blackberries and makehomemade blackberry jelly togive out as gifts, as well as fruit-cake every Christmas,” accordingto his family.

And at one of the newspaper’scrawfish boils, Beauchamp gotthe chance to indulge in one of hislatest passions — karaoke, singingsongs from some of his favoritemusicians including Elvis, John-ny Cash and Johnny Rivers.Indeed, Beauchamp enjoyed asomewhat musical reputationaround the office.

“You always knew when Bryanhad come back into the buildingbecause he’d be whistling someindistinct, but happy tune. Everynow and then you could alsocatch him singing something,”remembered reporter RobinShannon.

Beauchamp was devoted to hisfamily and his church. He wasextremely active in many aspectsof life at St. Joan of Arc andseemed determined to raise hischildren in a way that may be adistant memory to many, insistingon summertime vacations andother traditional family activities.In fact, Beauchamp seemed tolong for a time when life was a bitsimpler.

“He enjoyed telling storiesabout the past. People he had

known, things he had done as achild, such as catching crawfishand the way of life in general,”said advertising representativeChristine Browning. “He was aman with a deep faith and astrong moral compass.”

But perhaps the person whoknew him best around the officewas graphic designer RhettTriche, who spent much timewith Beauchamp helping him outas his health deteriorated.

Said Triche: “He was back tosupervise me after he just hadchemotherapy, and I was new todriving the fork lift. I brought itback too far, and I got it stuck inthe mud. I tried, and tried but itwas stuck until Beauchamp — as Iusually would call him — jumpedup and got it to move forward outof the mud. It was just one of themany times Bryan selflesslyhelped someone else.”

BRYAN BEAUCHAMP

Bryan Beauchamp (center) is pictured above with other members of L’Observateur’s staff atlast year’s crawfish boil.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

36

HMBReview Updates from the Half Moon Bay Review

in Half Moon Bay, California

New reporters add life to coverageT he Half Moon Bay Review is happy to welcome some

new faces to the family – one to fi ll a full-time job in the news department, the other as a news intern.

Sara Hayden started work in June. She is a staff writer covering everything under the sun with a focus on the peo-ple and government of the unincorporated coastline north of the newspaper’s offi ce in downtown Half Moon Bay.

Hayden is a graduate of the University of California, Berke-ley, where she earned a degree in Chinese language. Perhaps more pertinent for the newspaper, is her extensive experience with both student and professional media. Hayden worked for the acclaimed Daily Cal student newspaper, help-ing, among other things, to set up the paper’s multimedia offer-ings on the Web. In addition, she served two internships with the San Francisco Chronicle. Editors there raved about her work.

Saman Ghani Khan is a recent graduate of the Stanford University journalism master’s program and is with the Review for the summer and fall. Among other journalistic endeav-ors, Khan worked for several years in broadcast and print for English-language news organizations in her native Pakistan.

Like Hayden, she is bilingual, fl uent in both English and Urdu. Khan will get a chance to do a little of everything for the Review.

— Clay LambertSaman Ghani Khan

Mark Foyer

Sara Hayden

A gift for a writer who never bobbled a storyIt’s not every day that a guy celebrates 50 years on this earth, 15 of which spent as sports-

writer for the Half Moon Bay Review.When the stars aligned for Mark Foyer’s dual celebrations, Review production specialist Mark

Restani stumbled on the perfect staff gift: bobble heads. That’s right, those ubiquitous plastic likenesses that are staples of ballpark giveaways. Restani found an online vendor and the hat was passed.

The only question was how Foyer should look. Should he be clad in his regular sportswriting attire – typically jeans, tennis shoes and a sweatshirt appropriate for the cool climes of the California coast? Or should he be rendered in his best finery?

Mark has been known to dress up, notably for big assignments such as a local team’s ascension into the playoffs.

It was quickly decided that bobblead Mark should look his best. (See ac-companying photos to see the incredible likeness for yourself.)

Suffice it to say, Mark was stunned by the cake, party and bobble heads. He took one home but we kept a copy just to remember what it looks like when Mark nods yes to his editor’s every command.

— Clay Lambert

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 201215

Payette, IDPayette, ID www.ind-ent.comwww.ind-ent.comPayette County’s Nationally Acclaimed NewspaperPayette County’s Nationally Acclaimed Newspaper


Argus Observer Production Manager Wade Cordes works on dismantling the largecamera used to shoot PMTs and shoot pages (above) to make room for the new com-puter to plate machine. The Argus went live with its new CTP July 19. The old camerawas used to create photo management transfers, scale to size and shoot pages for theway newspapers were done in the past.

Argus Observer Circulation District Manager Bill McCarver shows some of the itemspurchased through the Argus Observer’s coupon classes. The food and other items arepurchased with coupons used in the Argus Observer to teach the class, then donatedto one of two charities in the Ontario, OR, area. Those charities include VeteranAdvocates of Ore-Ida, which sends items to troops who are in other countries, andNew Hope Kitchen, which uses the food items to serve free meals every Monday,Wednesday and Friday. More than $4,000 in food and merchandise has been purchasedthrough the coupon classes this year alone.

EAG

LESU

MM

ER 2

012

26

Richardson joins staff of the Daily News BY MATT RICHARDSON • DAILY NEWS mat-

[email protected]

Four states in four years.To say that I have landed in a

few different places throughoutthe past few years of my lifewould be pretty accurate, howev-er the story behind the madnessis one of hard work, persever-ance and a great family.

My parents met while attend-ing Iowa State University inAmes, Iowa. Following their col-lege courtship and marriage, Iwas introduced into this crazyworld April 9, 1990. Two years lat-er, my brother Grant joined usand family life began as I knew it.

Our stay in Ames was short, aswe moved back to my mother'shometown and onto the familyacreage in Harlan, Iowa where Ispent my childhood. Warmingnewly born lambs on an openoven door, bottle feeding earlyspring calves and falling asleepin the cab of a tractor or combinemake up the fondest of my mem-ories on the farm.

Agriculture and livestock are afamily affair, and my relation-ship with mine is closer than anyother in my life. My relationshipwith my brother is especiallyclose as we have that uniquebond many share with their sib-lings.The memories that we havetogether are those we will alwaysshare, and maybe one day evenlet mom know, if we feel she canhandle the harrowing tales ofour childhood in their entirety.

Moving past grade school andinto the upper levels of my edu-cation, I found myself becomingmore involved with activities

such as 4-H, music and golf atboth a recreational and competi-tive level. Although I continuedwith all of these activities andmore throughout my schooling,it is when I attended Wayne StateCollege in Wayne, Neb., that myinterest in music transformed in-to a passion for it.

I changed my major more thana half dozen times in my fouryears of college. Although I was-n't always so sure on my careerpath in life, I couldn't be moreclear on my feelings toward thefine arts.I played in the jazz band,jazz combo, percussion ensem-ble, pep band and led our drum-line my senior year. Any chance Icould trade in my textbooks,pensand pencils in for my drum and apair of sticks in college, I madesure to take full advantage of.

Finding a part-time job duringcollege in a town of 5,600,amongst countless other collegestudents looking for the same,

was a challenge that led me topursue something quite unique.Iput those hours of lecture onproper writing format and func-tion to use. I wrote a 30-page busi-ness plan, presented it to a smalltown credit union, and persuad-ed them to loan a 20-year-old stu-dent enough money to buy asmall town bar. I teamed up witha college friend who was a politi-cal science major, so, although hedidn't exactly have a job lined upafter college, he did have theknowledge of all governmenttaxes, restrictions and permitsthatweneeded to makethis crazyidea work. And it did.

Today I am now a silent partnerin the operation of The Green-horn in Stanton, Neb., but theknowledge that I have and con-tinue to take from my role in itsoperation is endless.

As I was adjusting to life awayfrom my family, they themselveswere adjusting to a change asnew employment opportunitiestook them 10 hours north of ourfarm to the lake country of Be-midji,Minn.The change I experi-enced between Iowa's rich agri-cultural base, to the wind-whipped Nebraska plains, to thecountless lakes and pines ofnorthern Minnesota was quite aculture shock to say the least. Al-though relocating to a new state,town or job can be intimidating,it can also be very exciting.

My acceptance of this reporterposition at The Daily News, andmy move to Wahpeton, is one Itake take with high hopes andgreat anticipation.I look forwardto serving this area and makingstrong, lasting relationships.

Richardson

Pamela Kaye Marquart, advertising manager for The Daily News for-mally took over as president of the Rotary Club of Wahpeton. In herinaugural address, Marquart spoke of her journey getting to themoment and thanked the out-going president for taking over a yearearlier than planned, when she was unable. Marquart also thankedthe other club members who had helped her get to this day. As toprograms, she pledged to maintain current programs and thenfocused on membership. She repeatedly promised not to be a ‘dele-gate and disappear president,’ but a ‘delegate and then get herhands dirty with everyone else President.’

The Eagle Summer 2012

Documents

s t e r n

c o p p e r e r

c o u r i e r

p e r i nv e s t

publisher o f t h e

b e r o f c o

e technology

r i z o n