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Editor's ViewpointMeditations Of A Minnesota Mossback |
Importance of the Word
My great-grandmother, Rose Bowerman Cooke, wrote a column for the Polk County Itemizer-Observer in Oregon for many years. The daughter of a circuit-riding preacher, she learned early on that what settlers in the back hills of the Oregon territory hungered for - next to the Word, of course - was word. Word of their neighbors down the valley, of epidemics, of births and deaths in the family, the outcome of elections in the nation's capital. In the absence of telephones and electricity, Great-great-grandpa Bowerman helped spread the Good News - and the other news.
Years later, great-grandma lived at Hilltop, about six miles north of Falls City, situated at the last stop on a regrettable road headed west to the Coastal Range. On Sunday afternoons after church, Rose made the rounds of the tiny town of Fir Grove. She wrote about visitors from out of town, what they had for dinner, and other tidbits of local interest.
Local newspapers still attract readers, perhaps more than ever. According to an article written last summer by P. J. Huffstutter of the Los Angeles Times, there is a "slow but steady rise" in the number of small suburban and rural papers. While large papers are seeing a drop in circulation due to competition on all media fronts, Huffstutter reported that more than one quarter of the 8,000-plus weeklies in the nation have a circulation of 1,500 or less, and are thriving.
Take, for instance, the example of the Sunfish Gazette in rural Atwater, Minn. It is unlikely to be posted online anytime soon, and its faithful readers can't find news about their neighbors anywhere else. Ten years ago, Atwater's 1,047 residents wanted a paper, so they started one - a non-profit, no less.
One resident of Atwater was quoted in Hufstutter's article, "Do you know how frustrating it is to be able to get up-to-the-minute information about what's happening in Lebanon on CNN, but not be able to know what was said at the Atwater City Council meeting?"
My friend Jim Gits, Hugo Legion Post 620 historian, recently gave me a handful of newspapers from small towns in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The Victoria Gazette from Victoria, Minn. is billed on its front page as being "A love affair with news and paper." Its editor, Sue Orsen, has been at the job for over 27 years. Every column she has written has been illustrated by her daughter, Jenny, who began drawing pictures of flowers and people, and only recently retired from drawing political cartoons and other illustrations when her own 3-year-old daughter, Addie Sue, took over the task at the tender age of 3.
There were no fewer than 32 letters to the editor in the Gazette's October 2006 issue, addressing such relevant topics as the addition of a second high school, a new church in the area, and the newspaper itself. ("There seems to be something magical about it that you cannot find in any other paper.")
Sandy Grussing, editor of Atwater's Sunfish Gazette, (which, like The Citizen, was named in a contest!) summed it up nicely in an online blog, posted last summer: "With the easy access we have to more information than we even want these days, a 10-page newspaper that we can hold in our hands and read about what's happening in our own backyard has a better-than-even chance at success."
Grussing added, "There's another old joke about small town newspapers . People don't read the paper to find out what happened.
They already know that. They just want to make sure the publisher got it right."
Thank you for your continued interest in the news we bring you every other week. It is our privilege - and our great pleasure - to perform this service for you, our neighbors.
Keep us posted on what is happening in your neighborhood. Unlike the days when word-of-mouth was spread by preachers and peddlers, you can send us news and photos via e-mail - or U. S. Mail. We're always glad to hear from you.