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!

First PRESS run

Well, they finally went and did it. They combined the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper and the Schleswig LEADER into their flagship, Mapleton PRESS. I threw this scan up here in case web readers don't know or believe that I'm actually published in a real newspaper.
I hope/think that readers will like the new paper. I like that it's a hefty 14 pages as opposed to 4 or 6. Except that we didn't have color, I think it stacks up pretty good next to about any other weekly or biweekly I've seen.

I have to admit, however, that it's kind of intimidating. For one thing, I went from two newspapers with around 500 subscribers each to one that (before the merger, already) had a circulation of about 2,535 with an estimated readership of around 5,070. I realize that the Denison papers are over 7,000 and the Des Moines Register is in the neighborhood of 302,896, which pales by comparison to papers in Chicago, L.A., D.C., and New York, but it's still intimidating to me.

I'm also intimidated because Mapleton is where my wife works. Now, not only can she be embarrassed by me in front of her relatives and neighbors, but her colleagues, administrators, students and their parents may occasionally say something to her about her obnoxious, over opinionated husband.

I guess this all hit me when I got my copy and opened it up to page 6. Everything was so huge! For years I felt bad because my cartoons were squeezed into a 3.792 inch space atop of a two-column wide column. So now, a full 5.750 inches seems ENORMOUS. And, in what Garrison Keillor would tell us is typical Midwestern/Lutheran fashion- I feel like I don't deserve it. It's so conspicuous that I feel a little guilty. It LOOKS just like a major metro daily. Yikes.

Well, guess like the Country band 'Big and Rich' like to sing, I'm livin' in the big time. Well, okay, so it's still not the big show, this is still the Farm Leagues, but it is probably like going from the B-Leagues to "AA." I sure hope I'm up to this. Hope I can fill the space and prove myself worthy. I just wish I wasn't feeling so scared about just continuing to do what I love doing. Let's face it, it may be a dream to make it big, but basically it's just a hobby.

Shop Talk; Changes at the papers

At the time that I write this, I've been back working at the papers for a whole three days. It certainly is a little different than it's been, but I still really enjoying it. I thought I'd use this week's column to give you a bit of a backstage peek, so to speak.

First of all, to our Charter Oak- Ute readers, if you missed this page last week, we're sorry about that. It ran in the Schleswig LEADER, but we seemed to have gotten our wires a little crossed and sent in two page threes.

No skin off my nose. Nothing terribly funny or vitally important, I thought it was kind of sweet though. If you REALLY missed it, you can visit "http://tedscolumn.blogspot.com/2006/05/thanks-i-needed-that.html"

By now a few of you have met a few of the new people here at the newspapers. Publishers Mark Rhodes and Brad Swensen and I attended a Community Club meeting in Ute a couple of weeks ago. Last week the publishers were at the ribbon cutting for the new bank building in Charter Oak. They took with them Julie Hamann, the new reporter at the Mapleton office and Kathy Boehm, the new advertising representative.

Just yesterday (Wednesday June 7) there was a coffee at the Beef and Brew in Mapleton for community members to get to meet the PRESS staff.

I can tell you that Karen Soukup will once again be covering news in the Charter Oak and Ute areas and Elaine Teut is still our woman in Schleswig, even though that office is now closed.

All kinds of people have been asking me if I'm "still working at the newspapers" and "What do they have you doing there?"

Well, yes I am, but all kinds of things, I guess- are the best answers I can offer for those questions. This week I'm mostly doing what's called "pagination," that means I'm putting together the pages on a computer. That would make me a graphic designer. You'll notice that they're still running ads for a graphic designer. That would be because I'll go back to teaching in the Fall.

More and more of the layout is being done on computer. I'm sure that the hope is to do it all this way eventually.

For the sake of the operations here, I hope they find a full time graphic designer as well as people who can take over permanently for Karen and Elaine. Be that as it may, I'd give my left hand to get Mark and Brad to promise to hire me back each and every summer from now on. That's because for some of us "Newsies," the ink just gets in our blood.

My first impressions of the new folks are all good. As far as I can tell they are each consummate professionals.

Mark Rhoads is a fifth generation newsman. He values small-town publications and promoting local communities like no one else.

I haven't seen many people work as hard as Brad Swenson. Yet he has a way of putting everyone around him at ease and he's quick with laugh and grin.

Kathy Boehm strikes me as being very outgoing and highly motivated.

I can't believe the good fortune of the PRESS, LEADER, and NEWSpaper to have found someone like Julie Hamann. She told me that she'd worked for years for the Sioux City Journal before getting married. Her husband farms between Danubury and Anthon. She's even working toward a Master's in Journalism from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. How much more qualified can you get than that?

Even with the most competent staff in the world, no community newspaper can do it's job without a community. I make this plea a lot, and here it is again- we need your participation. Some weeks there's not enough content to fill even just four pages. Please send us your news tips. In fact, you can send us your own stories and digital photos directly.

If you ever take pictures with a digital camera or know someone who did, go ahead and E-mail them to us. If you haven't got internet access at home, nag a friend who does, or see if there's a library or business that will let you borrow theirs for a few minutes. If you still can't get online, come see us in Mapleton, we can probably find a way to get your picture off your camera.

Other weeks there may be more than enough news and pictures to fill six or eight pages, but barely enough ads to pay for even four. We need your support, whether that's purchasing an ad, renewing a subscription, or giving someone else a gift subscription.

E-mail me your story ideas at "ted.mallory@gmail.com"

E-mail Ann Collins, the Office Manager in Mapleton at "mpress@longlines.com"

If you ever want to send us something the old fashioned way, on paper, there are drop-off boxes in the Hoffman Agency offices in both Schleswig and Charter Oak. There's also a drop-box on the side of the NEWSpaper office in Ute. Send an actual print of a photograph and make sure you tell us who it's from and if you want it back and we can scan it into the computer and return it to you.

Want to talk to us directly? Make a local call from your home town and it will automatically be forwarded to the PRESS office in Mapleton.

In Charter Oak, you can call 678-3571.

In Ute, call 885-2247

In Schleswig, call 676-3414

Or you can always call straight to Mapleton at 881-1101. And when you need to fax us something, the number is 881-1330.

We need your news

Many kids have three favorite things about school; June, July and August. This time of year they get itchy to get outside and play.

Many of us teachers get an itch too. We start worrying about what kind of job we’re going to get for the summer.

When I was 14, I was chomping at the bit to find a job. By Senior year, it became a necessary evil. Working wasn’t so bad, but trying to find someone who was willing to hire you for 12 weeks, THAT was torture. Filling out applications, going to interviews.

Yesterday I interviewed for the new publishers of the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper and the Schleswig LEADER. And much to my relief, Missouri Valley Times-News, Inc. decided to hire me for this summer. They’d also like me to try to send as much news and photos as I can in the mean time.

Of course, I have a lot of school year left and I can only do so much. We have a lot of Yearbook deadlines to go at Boyer Valley. But especially this summer, I want to help make this the best newspaper possible.

So, if you live in the Charter Oak, Ute, Ricketts, Schleswig, or Soldier areas and have an idea for a story, your own write-up, or photos... please let me know.

If you would like to visit my web log at “http://tedscolumn.blogspot.com” you can click on the link on the top-right of the page:

Where it says “Click here to send me a news tip for the COU NEWSpaper or Schleswig LEADER.”

Of course, right now you can still contact Sandy at the Ute office: 712-885-2247

Or, let Ann, Cathy, and Michelle, at the main office in Mapleton know: 712-885-2247

Fax 712-881-1330

mpress@longlines.com

You can also drop things off at the Hoffman Agency in Charter Oak, the NEWSpaper office in Ute, the LEADER office in Schleswig, or of course the PRESS office in Mapleton.

I’d love your feed back on this column. If you ever want to write a letter to the editor about it, just send it to mpress@longlines.com or leave it at one of the locations above. If you want to comment about anything on my web log, all you have to do is click on the “Comments” link that’s underneath each post

Also on that web site, just under the drop-down jump menu is a guest book.

If you visit online, please, say hello, leave a comment, and (only if you want to) your e-mail address.

You can search through two years of my columns online. One way is to click on the month & year links on the right side under the heading “Archives.” But there’s another easy way to search by topic. It’s the handy navigation bar on the top of the page.

If you’re interested in starting your own online journal, that navigation bar has a way for you to sign up. It’s free, and there are templates that they walk you through so it’s easy too. Think of it as your way of getting that “15 minutes of fame” Andy Warhol promised us all back in the 60’s.

If you’re interested in seeing any of my artwork and photography, reading about how I came to be a cheerleading coach, or keep up with what the Youth Fellowship (LYF) is doing at St. John Lutheran in Charter Oak, you can “jump” to other blogs that I have by using a simple drop-down menu on the right side of the page:

I hope you enjoy surfing the web and reading this column.

I know that Missouri Valley Times-News, Inc. and the staff in Mapleton want the Charter Oak- Ute and Schleswig newspapers to be the best that they can be. I’m looking forward to doing my part this summer, but remember the success of these papers depends on all of us. Please send us your news.