Family ties bind papers together

Farewell, old friend.
Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader, Thursday, August 30, 2007 – Page 3

No sooner had the town of Schleswig been established back in 1899, than a weekly newspaper was created to serve it. Max R. Hueschen called his paper the Schleswig Herold and printed it in German. In 1903, F.J. Branaka bought the Herold, rechristened it “The Leader,” and started publishing it in English, but kept a German section. Six years later, it was bought by R.E. Vaughan.

Vaughan kept the German section inside until 1910. In July, 1912, Vaughan sold the Leader to Glenn Kirkpatrick, who traded it for eight acres of land a year later to Joseph Dodd, who kept Kirkpatrick on as editor.

Between 1913 and 1917 the Leader had a number of owners but ended up with Henry W. Faul of Denison, who sold it to Percy Lyon in 1923. Lyon owned and operated the Schleswig Leader until his death in 1945, at which time it passed to his son his son, Robert B. Lyon. Lyon moved his offices to Mapleton when he bought the Mapleton PRESS.

Back in 1887 J. Edward McMullen moved his printing outfit from Centerville, Iowa to Charter Oak. He started the Charter Oak Times out of a little tar paper shack behind the grocery store that had been the sleeping quarters for the town wagon maker.

McMullen printed a big 7-column newspaper on PINK paper! Between 1891 (when the town was incorporated) and 1894 ‘the Times’ became ‘the Republican’ under a new owner and then merged with another paper, ‘the Herald’ and was renamed ‘the Times’ again.

‘The Times’ had several owners and locations during much of the 20th century being printed in a former millinery, a shoe repair shop, and a trucking office. It was owned by the W.M. Nellor family from 1938-1971. Then it was sold to W.F. Schrader who printed it in Wall Lake until it was sold to Lyon Publishing of Mapleton in 1981.

Eventually, Robert Lyon passed his business down to his son Edward “Mike” Lyon. When the Press acquired the Ute Independent and the Charter Oak Times, those papers were consolidated into the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper. Mike and his wife Barb continued publishing the PRESS, the NEWSpaper, and the Leader until shortly before he succumbed to cancer two years ago.

The NEWSpaper has served not only Charter Oak and Ute, but also Soldier, Moorhead and Ricketts.

Issues of the Times and the NEWSpaper are on micro-film in the Charter Oak Library. Ute readers, please forgive me, I’m sure that there is historical information about the Independent as well, but I wasn’t able to find it in time to include it in this column.

Enterprise Publishing are the current owners of the Mapleton PRESS. Headquartered in Blair, Nebraska, Enterprise produces several small town newspapers including the Dakota County Star in South Sioux City and the Missouri Valley Times.

This will be the final issue of the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper and the Schleswig Leader.
There’s a lump in my throat as I wrote that sentence. My wife wrote for Ye Aulde Bobcat and worked at the Press when she was in high school. Somehow she talked the Lyons into hiring me the summer we got married. I helped with the Charter Oak Centennial Edition and sold ads for the Crawford County platte book they produced that year.

It has been a privilege to contribute to the NEWSpaper sporadically ever since then.

It seems like the last several summers have been emotionally turbulent ones.
First we lost Charter Oak’s long time correspondent Jackie Pester to cancer. Then Schleswig’s gem of a corespondent Bonnie Schroeder left the Press office for the Hoffman Agency in Schlewig.

Of course the Lyon’s sale and retirement was a major transition and Mike’s passing was the hardest. He was a diehard promoter of the community and the Loess Hills.
And like people, newspapers are temporal and finite. Like people, their loss leaves holes in our lives.

Losing a paper has been compared to losing a school. Towns invest so much of their identity in them that it can be hard to face.

But I’m choosing to think of it not like a death, but like a marriage. I have three daughters, so someday, like it or not people are going to be comforting me with cliche’s about not losing a daughter, but a gaining son.

I don’t know if I was any great prize for my in-laws, but I think that Schleswig, Ricketts, Charter Oak, Ute, and maybe even Soldier readers will be pleased with how much more they get, beginning next week, when the Press becomes more of regional paper and not just a local one.
That’s how I’m choosing to think of it. Not like a funeral, but more like a marriage.

When one of my brothers-in-law recently re-married, we suddenly gained a sister-in-law, two more nieces and a nephew. Christmases may be even more crowded at Grandma and Grandpa’s, but that just means more laughter, more pictures to take, and more stories to tell.

This wasn’t some kind of a hostile takeover, we’re just bringing papers that were already the in same family under one name.

Some people will be sad, and believe me, in the words of a former President, “I feel your pain.” But please think of this as a gain, not a loss.

I may only work there in the summers, but I can tell you that the PRESS staff likes to think of themselves as a family.

You should know that they try hard to serve you and your family. We’re still your community newspaper, communities with family ties.

So here’s to family.
Your’s and ours.

"Uncle Brad" loves the St. Louis Cardinals and Dr. Pepper. I think it helps with all the headaches that come from being head-honcho.
"Cousin Ann" will always welcome you with a smile. When people don't know something around Mapleton, they come to the PRESS office and ask her!
"Sister Julie" in the Art Dept. has to run home a lot to care for her little ones. Like any young mom, she's become an expert on cleaning up barf.
"Cousin Carol" of the Art Dept. is a lefty, so it's hard to borrow her computer for anything since she keeps the mouse on the wrong side.
Can you tell that "Aunt 'Maddog' Michelle" would rather be behind the camera than in front of one. She our "utitlity player," that means she takes pictures, lay outs pages, and even writes. Originally she was a Michigander, but now farms with her husband around Castana. Beware of her home made salsa, it can peel the paint off your walls!