Re: questions

On 10/15/07, Wayne & Ina Mae wrote:

Hi this is Ina Mae and I was wondering why for all the papers there isn't a name combination of all areas Instead of Mapleton Press another name that will have all the communities involved Now you have a paper like the good ole days PICTURES and some local gossip Also some one told me a Mapleton resident (former) died recently but I have not see an Obit His name was Larry Reed Did I miss it? Just curious and Keep up the good work This site is awesome

Wayne and Ina Mae Bliesmann

Very good question. I don't know whether or not I can answer it as well as other people but I'll try. Remember, I'm not the President, the Publisher, the Editor or even a full time staffer, I'm just a contributor who sometimes is lucky enough to work for them during the summers too.

As I understand it, one of the biggest reasons for consolidating the three papers, besides printing costs was postal rate increases. Now to finally answer you question about the name- the way it was explained to us on staff was that there were even more considerable costs involved to drop the word "Mapleton," from the name, once again partly from paperwork with the Post Office, but if I remember correctly also because of incorporation papers or something like that on the state level as well.

You will notice that the word "Mapleton" is considerably smaller than it was on the old Mapleton PRESS. The thinking is to kind of minimize the 'Mapleton' part and emphasize the 'PRESS' part since it now serves a much broader area.

I hope that answers your question somewhat. Ann Collins, the Office Manager and Brad Swenson the Publisher, or even Mark Rhoades, the President of Enterprise Publishing could all answer any questions about the PRESS better than I ever could. But thank you for asking.

I did have some ideas for alternate names;
just 'The PRESS' was one.
just 'The Paper' was another, sort of an homage to the NEWSpaper
another fun one I suggested was Western Iowa's NEWS-LEADER, sort of an homage to both the CO-U NEWSpaper and the Schlswig Leader. But, that sounds kind of cheesy, like a slogan that a local TV news show or an AM talk radio station might have for themselves.
My favorite was 'Bob.' I figure if a radio station in Onawa can do it, why can't a newspaper? Or how about 'Ed?' Then we could've said, get your news straight from the horses' mouth!

But in the end they just decided to stick with 'The Mapleton PRESS.'

Thanks for your question. I will pass on to Ann the question about Larry Reed. That is one that I truly can not answer, except to say that it is usually up to the funeral home to send in information like that and that believe it or not, sometimes the family, or even the deceased may have chosen not to.

Thank you so much for reading!