Charter Oak Achievement Days Ads

Local friends and business owners,

We're putting together our annual Charter Oak Achievement Days edition which will be published on July 23.
I will be making phone calls to area businesses and regular supporters of the Achievement Days edition this week. So don't be surprised if you hear from me.

Our sizes include:
3x3 $84.50
2x2 $52
Sig $27

I hope you'll consider showing your support for the 4-H/FFA Achievement Days again this year. Please let me know as soon as you can.

Give me a call at the PRESS office at 712-881-1101


Thank you,!

Send me your News tips!

It's that time of year again. I'm talking with Brad Swenson, the Publisher of the Mapleton PRESS about how I can help as a community correspondent for the Charter Oak and Ricketts areas. You can help. Have you got any ideas for feature stories or personality interviews? Have you got an even on your calendar that you'd like me to cover or at least get some pictures of? Please send me an email and let me know ted.mallory-at-gmail.com

Remember that Charter Oak Achievement Days are coming up July 12-15. The PRESS is planning on runing their annual special edition July 23. Why not show your support by advertising in the Achievement Days Edition? Give me a call, or call the PRESS office and reserve your space today!

Brad tells me that they've got Joleen Schultz signed on to help cover our area too- especially once I go back to school next Fall. When in doubt, call Michelle Kane at the office in Mapleton :

Phone 712-881-1101
Fax 712 881 1330
mpress@longlines.com

What happened to Ted's Column; An email exchange

On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 9:45 AM, Mapleton Press wrote:

OMG you haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Oh Teddy I do miss you so much and so do our readers. I can honestly say I have had more positive feedback on your articles than negative and I have had several asking where you are. Please come back to us.

Thanks for the pics I will email Rita for ID. Also thanks for taking pics at the COU concert.

Also I am really sorry to her about Beth's brother... I know the pain it causes love ones. It leaves a tremendous about of questions to those left behind.

Love ya
Maddog

from Ted Mallory
to Mapleton Press
date Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 3:25 PM
subject Re: COU Christmas Concert


Thanks for all your encouragement. You're a sweetheart.

I still don't know what I'm going to do yet. Brad was right when he called me busy. Christmas & Basketball aren't helping.

And in the wake of Cory's suicide, my head's really in a bad place, so that makes it even harder. It certainly is a hell of a lot harder than losing someone to illness or old age.

Since you're such a good friend, and apparently an avid reader (definitely a major supporter) I'll tell you that it's not necessarily JoAnn's, it's more complicated than that and has a lot to do with how right-wingers were making my family members feel by talking about me.

Although, I will admit that I was getting a lot of hate email and negative blog comments from people other than JoAnn and it all compounded on 8 rejection letters in a row from syndicates for either columns or cartoons- so I was both sick of putting up with people's crap feeling sorry for myself.

So I still don't know where I'm at with it yet. I was just starting to get over it (grief/withdrawls/just taking a break from it/letting go of something that I'd let become too important to me- whatever you want to call it) when my mom had a scare with a spot on her lung (which turned out to be an infection, not cancer- thank God), then one of my Aunts was killed in a car accident, and most recently this Cory thing.

No promises, not even a clue as to whether or not and if so, when...
But huge thank yous for being so tenacious in your kindness, concern, and encouragement. You're the greatest.

Maybe I'll just have to make a point of sending you dumb email forwards or something.

Thank you and Merry Christmas.

Love,
"Teddy"

---

Once again, to all of you who have told me how much you used to enjoy the column or that you've missed it, and all of those who've tired to encourage me over the last couple of months- and especially all of you who've offered your prayers and comfort to either me or our family since Cory's death-

A HUGE thank you. May God return all of your kindness to you when you most need it.
His peace this season (Philippians 4:4-8)

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.

What the graphic deptartment talks about while waiting for its computers to work

Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader, Thursday, August 23, 2007 – Page 3

I have to be one of the luckiest guys in the world. Not only am I a teacher who was I able to find a summer job, but I love my summer job and enjoy the people I get to work with there.

By now I’ve been back in the classroom for a couple of weeks, so I miss the mature, stimulating yet serious, adult conversations that I being surrounded by adolescents just doesn’t offer.

The computers were slowing down, the internet was cutting in and out, so like any work place, we coworkers took on the most pressing issues of our time.

Some one said they had a side ache.

Well, what have you been eating?

Hot Tamales (the candy) and Dr. Pepper.

Well, there’s your trouble right there.

What you need is Pop Rocks and Coke.

What’s wrong with eating Pop Rocks when you drink Coke?

It’ll make your stomach blow up. Like feeding Alka Seltzers to a pig.

Isn’t that what happened to Jerry Mathers from ‘Leave it to Beaver?’

No he died in Vietnam, you’re thinking of Mikey from the Life Cereal commercials. “Hey Mikey, he likes it!”

They fed Alka Seltzer to his pig?

No he died from drinking Coke while eating Pop-Rocks. Only I guess that was Mikey, I thought Mikey died in Vietnam, I thought I saw the Beave on Disney Channel back in the Nineties.

So what about Pigs?

Oh you know, some hoodlum kids like to watch pigs blow up. Off course that’s a good way to tick off the pig farmer.

What are you talking about?

Pigs, they can’t burp and they can’t fart, so they blow up when they eat Alka Seltzer.

Why would anyone do that? That’s crazy.

I don’t know, just a stupid thing you dare people to do, like cow-tipping and snipe-hunting?

What’s snipe-hunting? What’s a ‘snipe?’

Oh, you’ve never been snipe-hunting before? We’ll have to take you out snipe-hunting some night, you’ll like it.

What does that have to do with pigs?

Oh, well a snipe is kind of like a bird, I guess.

Hey I heard people like to do that to seagulls out in California.

Hunt them?

No, feed them Alka Seltzer.

Why?

So they blow up because they can’t burp or fart, so they blow up.

I though that was pigs?

It is, that’s why people don’t throw rice at wedding anymore.

Why don’t they throw rice at weddings anymore?

Because it hurts the birds, they’re stomachs blow up.

Hey, have you ever put Mentos in Diet Pepsi?

Aw man, that is so cool?

What, what, why is that cool?

It makes like a 15 foot fountain.

No way.

Way. Don’t you ever watch YouTube?

What’s YouTube?

Have you seen that movie ‘Cars?’

Yeah, I love how they go cow-tipping, only they’re tractors instead of cows.

Hey, did you ever notice that Hot Tamales kind of make Dr. Pepper taste like beer?

Now if you think this was confusing, keep in mind that all three major soft drinks were originally pharmaceuticals.

Coke, was intended to replace coffee as a pick-me-up and headache cure. Thus the original trace of cocaine.

Pepsi was originally a bicarbonate, to settle your stomach. Sort of like today’s Pepcid.

And one of Dr. Pepper’s key ingredients is prune juice. Originally one was suppose to drink it at 10, 2, and 4 to keep regular. Of course, to celebrate their anniversary, they’ve put a “23” on their cans. I think it reminds me of Heinz 57 and it’s kind of gross.

It refers to the fact that pharmacists experimented by mixing 23 different flavors to come up with the spicey-sweet one they settled on.

When I was in high school and college we’d put a little bit of everything in our glass and dare each other to try it.

They call that concoction a “suicide.”

Equal time for 'Old Timers'

At the beginning of this summer I used this column to introduce you to some of the new people here in the PRESS office in Mapleton. And boy did I ever catch heck for it. Not from the new publishers or any of the new staffers, but from the old guard.

"What about us, huh, Ted?" One asked, "What are we? Chopped-liver?"

Okay, okay, even though I'm sure that some readers are ready for something light and funny, like cute things my kids have said or done. In the "Sex, Politics, and Religion" vein, I haven't written anything too spiritual in a while, and Lord knows there's plenty going on in politics.

That's alright, this is a subject that is close to my heart anyway. I consider myself insanely lucky to get to work here this summer and as I've said before, I'd just about give a limb to get the new publishers Mark Rhoades and Brad Swenson to let me work here every summer from now on. But it's one thing to get to do something you love, but to get to do it with people you enjoy and care about is even better.

Here are just a handful of the people who's names appear in the staff box on page two every week:

I don't know who's been here the longest, but I know who the core is, Ann Collins. Ann is our office manager who sits in the reception area up front.

If I'm not mistaken, she started working for Mike and Barb Lyon back when she was still in high school. Consequently, she knows these three newspapers inside out. Julie Haman, the new reporter for the PRESS and I joke that she's like Radar O'Rielly on the TV show MASH. If you need to know where something is, how something's done, or what's going on, you just need to ask Ann. Unfortunately for her, most of Western Iowa knows this about her.

People are constantly calling or stopping in and asking her for phone numbers, directions, on office hours- not ours, some other businesses'. Like a bartender, she also has to listen to everybody's problems and complaints. Sometimes about the paper or their ad or subscription, but more often than not, just about the weather or life in general, or city hall.

This summer I've been at the "ad desk" with Carol Cowsert. This suits me fine because Carol is who I usually get help with the computer from. She's also who I always E-mail my column to on Fridays during the school year. She's originally from Colorado and she tends to agree with me politically, so I like to imagine her as some kind of hippie flower child when she was a kid. Unlike me, she's quiet, pleasant, amiable and polite- so maybe the hippy thing is way off.

She's just about as hard a worker as you'll find. She works up all the ads, on top of building the Budget Booster, our ads for the Rocket, Greensaver, and Today's Action, and her share of Mapleton PRESS (and this page when I'm not here). She's the least likely to break for coffee and the last to leave for lunch. I don't know where we'd be without her.

There are some that we only get to see once a week like Elaine Teut, our Schleswig correspondent, whom I always call Evelen or Elaine or any other name. Former owner and financial officer Barb Lyon, was coming in to paste-up the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper before I came. We still get to see her at lunch on Mondays or Tuesdays at Piccadilly Circus where we run into lots of other regulars. And of course Nancy Hanson, and Sheryl Bruhn and the rest of the Tuesday crew who all stuff, fold, sort, stack, tie and ship your papers every Tuesday; Howard Kruse, Delores Gosch and Molly Tullis.

Then there's Cathy Hanson, she and Nancy are sisters. They still have the same last name because they married brothers. Cathy's a hoot. She's like a great aunt or everybody's grandma or something. Maybe I just think that because she has so many stories about her grand kids.

At least once a week she bakes treats that she brings in for break
time. She used to do the print the T-shirts for the "Ink Spot," before
it was bought and moved to Castana. Cathy does lots of typing and
picture taking, but I need her proofreading skills most of all since
I\'m such an abysmal speller.

Carol prefers to have it quiet when she works, but on days she\'s not
here Michelle Kane plays Country radio for me. Michelle takes
pictures, does write-ups and builds most of the PRESS and helps with
the Booster and other papers. She and I both love spicy food. She
cans her own salsa, and does a lot of gardening, but we\'re told that
the billion cats that live on her farm have wrecked all her cucumbers
this year.

We don't always realize how fortunate we are in such small towns to have such superior newspapers, and these folks are much of the reason why.

There. Is this good enough for ya, Michelle?


At least once a week she bakes treats that she brings in for break time. She used to do the print the T-shirts for the "Ink Spot," before it was bought and moved to Castana. Cathy does lots of typing and picture taking, but I need her proofreading skills most of all since I'm such an abysmal speller.

Carol prefers to have it quiet when she works, but on days she's not here Michelle Kane plays Country radio for me. Michelle takes pictures, does write-ups and builds most of the PRESS and helps with the Booster and other papers. She and I both love spicy food. She cans her own salsa, and does a lot of gardening, but we're told that the billion cats that live on her farm have wrecked all her cucumbers this year.

We don't always realize how fortunate we are in such small towns to have such superior newspapers, and these folks are much of the reason why.
There. Is this good enough for ya, Michelle?

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.

Obituary; Mike Lyon

Edward "Mike" Lyon
May 30, 1944-May 1, 2006

Edward "Mike" Lyon, 61, of Mapleton, Iowa died Monday, May 1, 2006 at
his home in Mapleton following eight years of prostate cancer and its
complications.

The Funeral Service for Mike was held Thursday, May 4 at 10:30 a.m. at
St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Mapleton with Rev. Dr. Scott Fiege
officiating. Burial was in Mt. Hope Cemetery at Mapleton. Norma Jean
Dose was the organist and Georgine Wessell was the vocalist.
Visitation was Wednesday, May 3 after 2:00 p.m. with a Prayer Service
at 6:30 p.m. all at the Armstrong Funeral Home in Mapleton.

Edward Michael Lyon was born May 30, 1944, to Robert Bayard Lyon and
Marie (O'Meara) Lyon in Ida Grove, Iowa. He moved with his family to
Schleswig, Iowa where he graduated from Schleswig High School with the
class of 1962. He served his country in the Iowa National Guard. He
was united in marriage to Barbara Glau May 24, 1964 in Schleswig.

Mike was a long time publisher, having been involved in the newspaper
business for over 40 years. He and his wife, Barb, published the
Mapleton Press, the Schleswig Leader and the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper
until February of 2006. He and his wife also owned and operated Lyon
Photography, with a focus on wedding photography, for over 10 years.
They also owned the Ink Spot, a screen printing and embroidery
business until 2006.

In 1985, Mike saw the potential of using a laser writer to replace
compugraphic equipment in the publishing of newspapers. He was the
first in the nation to start a desk top publishing system. He sold
systems in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota and also
consulted with publishers in many other states.

Mike received numerous awards over the years for his newspaper skills,
some including the Master Editor Publishers Award, the Iowa Newspaper
Association's highest honor, the INA's Distinguished Service Award,
the INA's first "Friend of Iowa' Newspaper Award, and the Iowa High
School Athletic Association's News Media Award. He was president of
the Interstate Newspaper Association in 1984 and a member of the Iowa
Newspaper Association Board for nine years serving as president and on
numerous INA committees.

In the Mapleton community, Mike was a very active citizen. He was a
member of St. Matthew Lutheran Church, a member of the Mapleton Club
where he served on their board and as president, helped start a Jaycee
Chapter in Mapleton, served on the Mapleton Fire Department and was
one of the founders and president of the Maple Valley Development
Corporation. He was instrumental in bringing the Maple Valley Medical
Clinic to Mapleton. For his civic contributions to Mapleton, Mike was
awarded the Mapleton Outstanding Citizen Award and the Mapleton Rotary
Club's Service Above Self Award, both in 2005.

Mike had a great love of the Loess Hills and the State of Iowa. Since
his diagnosis of cancer, he spent as much time as he could
photographing the hills, country churches and rural scenery. His
photos can be found in the June E. Nylen Cancer Center, Maple Heights
Nursing Home, and Mapleton City Hall, as well as in the homes of his
many friends. He also published a book of his country churches along
with poetry by his good friend, Georgine Wessell.

Mike is survived by his wife and best friend of 41 years, Barb; two
daughters, Rebecca Lyon of Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Patricia
Barnard and her husband, Mark, of Hugo, Minnesota; one red haired
grandson, Damion Scobie of Hugo, Minnesota; one brother, Doug Lyon and
his wife, Dee, of Schleswig, Iowa; one sister, Sandy Rickert and her
husband, Phil, of Santa Fe, New Mexico; his mother-in-law, Marcella
Glau of Mapleton; plus other family members; and many friends and
associates in the tri-state area.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Bob and Marie (O'Meara) Lyon and his grandparents

Memorials may be directed to the Mapleton Endowment Fund in Mike's honor.

Honorary pallbearers were The Mapleton Fire Department and The Mapleton Press staff.

Pallbearers were Tom McNamara, Bill Monroe, Ed Maier, Keith Robinson, Steve Oberg and Todd Sadler.

Arrangements were made under the direction of the Armstrong Funeral Home of Mapleton

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.

The end of an era; Happy retirement, dear friends

Now that the deal has gone through and last week it was reported on in these newspapers, I can finally write about it. The end of an 83 year era in Western Iowa newspapers.

When I first met Mike Lyon, I was intimidated. And justifiably so, but not just because he’s so tall or because he can be “hard to read,” but because he’s a consummate professional. He took pride not just in his own work, but in the caliber of everything Lyon Publishing produced.

I was a gung-ho college kid. I’d been editor of my high school paper but opted not to pursue the same path in college. I drew cartoons and wrote opinion pieces, but didn’t have to gather information and report it, interview or sell ads.

My then fiancé, Bethany had worked for Mike and Barb Lyon in high school and summers after working on the COU yearbook and Ye Aulde Bobcat. She had gotten very good at interviewing and reporting. The summer we got married she somehow talked them into hiring me for some special projects like a special edition of the NEWSpaper for Charter Oak’s Centennial.

That year Lyon published a plat book, so I learned fast about how to sell ads, which can be very hard. Believe me, asking people for money is always hard even if you don’t take rejection personally and you really believe in the product or service you’re providing.

Where both advertising and civic involvement are concerned, Mike was a good teacher and a good example. He believes in small town Iowa and supporting the local community. Advertising in your local paper isn’t just supporting the paper, it’s participating in that community. It shows that you’re proud of your town and it’s investing in that community.

Of course a newspaper is a business and even journalists and publishers need to make a living, but so many small towns aren’t lucky enough to have newspapers. And newspapers benefit their communities in lots of ways, like churches, schools, and sports teams, they are something citizens share in common. They add a cohesive element that brings and holds folks together. They’re a catalyst that can promote community and participation in civic life, activities, projects and politics.

Whether it was Mapleton activities, the Loess Hills, The Iowa Newspaper Association, community clubs and commercial clubs, the fire department or the schools in Schleswig, Mapleton, Charter Oak and Ute, Lyon Publishing and Mike and Barb Lyon have led the way in promoting communities.

As you read in last weeks paper, Mike pioneered the technological revolution in publishing. When I joined my high school newspaper staff we were still mopping photo-developing chemicals up from under our typesetter. Mike took the plunge and started using Apple Macintosh computers with laser printers, then he convinced his colleagues all over Iowa and the Midwest to follow his lead.

Lots of people like to talk about having seen horses, early Fords and now electric-hybrid and ethanol cars during their lifetimes. During his life time, Mike watched his father and grandfather loading printing presses with moveable lead type, developed film in a darkroom and used smelly typesetters and now can download digital images from a camera, complete an entire edition of the Mapleton PRESS on a computer and email it to the printers in minutes.

My fond memories will include laughing and sharing coffee, treats and family stories with Barb twice a day at break time. Like a mother hen, she’d remind us when we were laying out pages that stories and pictures are nice, but you couldn’t even have a newspaper without ads.

I will remember and appreciate all the lessons and advice about designing layouts, ads and t-shirts, and taking and processing photos from Mike. How he’d always call me “young man,” or “friend.”

The front office was always busy with visitors. Many were neighbors and friends, many were clients and merchants, but it was fun to hear the laughter and banter with Mike and Barb of people who came in every week, almost like a restaurant or bar has its “regulars.” And of course lunches at either the Beef and Brew or Picadilly Circus in Mapleton.

Last summer when he broke the news that they were looking for a buyer, the Lyon Publishing “family” wept and comforted each other. This family business wasn’t just a business, it was and will always be a family. That makes it a labor of love.

Mike and Barb, thank you. Please know that many, many people love you and will miss you in this business. May God bless your retirement and restore your health.

Readers, why not shower the Lyons with cards or at least shower these three newspapers with letters to the editor and cards of thanks expressing your good wishes?

The new owner Mark Rhoades also owns the Seward Independent. As an alumnus of Concordia University in Seward Nebraska, I can tell you that we’re very lucky that he’s who finally purchased these papers. The Independent, like the Mapleton PRESS is a well designed, good looking paper with excellent news and feature coverage.

Believe me, there were three alternatives and none of them are as good for us as Mark Rhoades. Many small town newspapers are “rinky dink” things that look like they’re thrown together sloppily by folks who may mean well, but either aren’t well trained or don’t take as much pride in their work as Mike and Barb have.

Many small town newspapers have been swallowed up by huge corporations. This isn’t all bad. I love the look and photography and writing of some of our neighboring towns papers. But if you happen to see the several of them on the news stands next to each other, you notice that they all look alike. Just like every Applebee’s, Denny’s, and McDonald’s looks the same.

And of course many towns just lose their papers altogether. The best way to keep that from happening is two things. Please continue to support us with your subscriptions and your advertising, and contribute.

Especially in this day and age of digital cameras, even camera phones, computers, faxes and emails it is easier than ever to help support and participate with your local newspapers. You don’t have to be a professional writer or photographer- or even amateur ones like me! Send us your letters, send us your story ideas, and send us your stories and pictures. In the past, people have contributed travel journals, puzzles, columns, tid-bits, recipes, and of course pictures.

What I did on my summer vacation

What I did on my summer vacation

Twenty-four years ago my buddy Jason and I decided we were going to be comic book artists.

Twenty-two years ago I was inspired by the cool clipart in my youth group’s newsletter. The youth minister sought our submissions- stories, poems, jokes and cartoons. At that point I decided three things, one was that magazine gag cartoons and comic strips were just as cool as comic books and I was going to draw them. The third was that laying out a newsletter, newspaper, magazine, etc. was really cool.

Twenty-one years ago I discovered a section of the Phoenix Gazette that I’d overlooked. Once a week, high school students from all over the metro area contributed stories, pictures, and a comic strip to ‘the Teen Gazette,’ which ranged from one to four pages, depending on the week. I also noticed that the cartoonist was a graduating Senior. That’s when I decided to become a cartoonist. I drew up a few samples and submitted them to the Teen Gazette. They ran them and kept running them for the next four years.

That fall I discovered what I thought was the coolest thing of all time- Shadow Mountain High School had it’s own newspaper! Anywhere from four to twelve pages, depending on the month. I told the advisor that I was already drawing a comic strip in the Teen Gazette, he and the student-editor asked me to draw editorial cartoons. Naturally, I decided to become a political cartoonist.

Sophomore year they made me “Art Director” and put me on staff full time. It was a class that I got credit for. I was in heaven. It was hard work, working with blue pencils and dummy-sheets, an off-set typesetting machine, line-tape, pica rulers and exacto blades. Late work nights and difficult deadlines, but I loved it. I decided that the cartooning field was too competitive, so I would become a graphic designer, just in case.

I had “Journalism” put on my class ring. I wondered if that was wise, so much could change in a year or two.

Toward the end of Junior year, the student-editor and advisor asked me to apply to be editor. I balked at the responsibility. They pressed. The only other candidates weren’t as qualified. I caved, and I paid for it. It was even harder work and mounds of stress, but I was glad I did it. That year I decided that if I could ask a genie for anything, it would be to get to be a newspaper columnist. Of course I knew that the real-life route there was a lot more difficult than I’d ever choose to travel.

Seventeen years ago I opted not to actively pursue the editor’s chair of my college paper, but I did draw cartoons for it, both political and otherwise. I even got called to the President’s office about one once. And I got to write a political column some too.

Fourteen years ago my fiancé’ managed to land me a job at Lyon Publishing. She’d worked for the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper throughout high school and was yearbook editor. I remember the smell of press ink in the office when I first came entered. It was like the smell of sawdust for circus folk.

That was the year of Charter Oak’s centennial. I had to sell ads for a special edition, and for a Platte book. Mike Lyon taught me a lot and Barb Lyon seemed to like my cartoons.

Years past and I became a high school Art teacher, Yearbook, and Newspaper Advisor.

Three years ago, I asked Mike Lyon if I could work for him that summer. What a treat. That year I learned what the newspaper business was really like. Difficult, but a joy.

At the end of that summer, I wrote a column called “What I did on my summer vacation.”

Last spring, I BEGGED Mike to hire me for another summer. They needed someone to help fill some gaps. This has been an emotionally difficult summer for Lyon Publishing, as anyone close to the papers knows.

I don’t know how much I was able to help. If anything, I got more than I gave. I learned even more and I got to do things I love and got paid for it.

I can only hope that I was able to help and contribute enough to make me worth it to them. I’d like to thank the Lyons for giving me a chance, and teaching me so much. I’d like to thank their staff for being so friendly, and including me as one of the family.

I’d also like to remind readers how lucky they are, in such small towns to have such nice newspapers. I encourage all of you to support them by contributing your stories and pictures, renewing your subscriptions, and of course by advertising.

Samaritan Walking

“And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I've been denying,
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'”
~Tim McGraw

I was starting to feel a little bit sorry for myself. We’ve been swamped here at the paper. I’ve made a few mistakes, like leaving out names or getting names wrong. Then I felt guilty for taking three days off from work to take a class in Sioux City while they were so swamped with Charter Oak Achievement Days and the Monona County Fair. Then I felt guilty about not spending enough time with my family this summer.

Then I met someone who reminded me that we shouldn’t wallow in how hard life can seem, instead we should keep busy living it, better yet, we should celebrate it.

I was driving home from class Thursday night, feeling sorry for myself because the air in my truck doesn’t work when I saw this tall, lone walker along the highway between Charter Oak and Ute. I wondered about offering him a ride, but we were headed in opposite directions. Besides he had a huge backpack, perhaps he didn’t even want or need a ride, perhaps he wasn’t hitchhiking, maybe he was some kind of camper.

So I missed my chance to be a good Samaritan and just went home.
I saw him again the next day on my drive in to Mapleton to work. I thought it was odd, the same tall figure with a long walking staff and a yellow shirt, this time walking toward Mapleton. Both times he smiled and waved at me.

This time I was in a hurry, I wanted to get into work to get a head start on the Achievement Days edition. Ten pages of kids and livestock. I was bound and determined to get as much done on it as I could- it was the least I could do after having been gone all week. Again, I passed him by.

Once there I realized that I’d left a cable at home so I couldn’t transfer any photos from my digital camera to the computer. I’d have to go all the way home to get it or we wouldn’t have pictures of the pen-of three swine winners. I had to run home.

There he was again, a little further. The morning was hotter and more humid. It finally occurred to me that maybe there was a story here. Maybe this was one of those people who walks cross-country to raise money for some good cause. His yellow shirt did remind me of Tour De France champion Lance Armstrong’s “Live Strong” campaign. Worst case scenario, he might be an eccentric traveler with an interesting story to tell.

I thought I should slow down and take his picture, then maybe offer him some help, a ride or at least ask him his story. Alas, when I reached for my camera, I realized that I’d left it on my desk at the office in Mapleton. Strike three, I proved that I’m no good Samaritan.

On the way back to work with my cable I didn’t see him again. Vanished like some tall wizard in a fable where the protagonist is given three chances to make a wise choice but fails.

Fortunately for me, this twenty-something sage had a cell phone and wanted some publicity.
Eric Latham was walking across the country for cancer research. Eric believes that almost everyone’s lives have been touched by cancer.

Sure enough. My grandmother died when I was ten or eleven. I’m not even sure what she really died of, because I really only knew her from the week or two our family spent every other summer back in Michigan where she lived. But what I learned later is that she lived with tumors in her her brain for decades.

When I was in seventh grade I had two classmates with cancer, out of a class of maybe only thirty kids. Mike Miller’s tumor was the size of a football when they removed it. Jon Fladhammer had to have his thigh amputated. Instead of removing his whole leg surgeons re-attached his lower leg backwards, so that his heel would function as a knee when he was fitted with a prosthesis. Neither of those guys lived to graduate from high school, but let me tell you, each of them milked life for everything they could during the time they had left. Jon in particular spent his few years telling people about incredible God’s love for them and how precious life is.

Of course this summer has been a difficult one for Lyon Publishing, home of the Schleswig Leader, COU NEWSpaper, and Mapleton PRESS.

In June we lost Jackie Pester, NEWSpaper reporter for almost thirty years. She had only known that she had lung cancer since April of this year. Our Publisher, Mike Lyon is recovering from back surgery to help him with complications brought on by his long time battle with the disease. Meanwhile our main reporter and webmaster, Bonnie Schroeder, of Schleswig has had scare after scare with her father going in and out of the hospital as part of his battle with cancer.

After eight years, she’s leaving us to work at the Hoffmann Agency office in Schleswig so that she can be closer and more available for her parents. I’ve only worked here two summers, and not in a row, but she’s one of the most beautiful people I know, and I’ve come to think of her as a sister.

I feel like I missed another opportunity with Eric Latham, because I failed to ask him about his faith. You know how you’re not supposed to talk with people about sex, politics, or religion. But Eric is so full of joy and enthusiasm, it’s hard to believe how much time he spends talking to cancer patients. You’d expect someone who’s seen so much suffering and heard so many tragic stories to become depressed or jaded. Just the opposite is true of Eric. Surely this kid knows something that the rest of us overlook. Surely he believes that death is only the beginning for the people he gets to know, the people who’s names he has memorized religiously.

After 93 days of trudging along through the summer sun with a 70 lb pack on his back, you’d think he’d feel sorry for himself. You think he’d get lonely. But I have a feeling that he isn’t walking alone. Now I don’t know because I failed to ask him, I even failed to think about it until I sat down to write this column, but I bet he has someone to talk to the whole time he’s walking. I bet when he gets tired it’s not just the thought of the cancer patients he knows that gives him strength. I bet his strength is renewed like the Eagle’s (Isaiah 40:31).

If I’m wrong, I hope he’ll forgive me for assuming that this is so, I don’t want to force God on anybody. But since what Eric is doing is helping so many people, I pray that the Lord will walk with him anyway. Eric, the tall, lone stranger walking along the highway is himself a good Samaritan and an example for all of us.

A quick review

I understand that this column is now being seen in the Schleswig Leader. Actually, I think it’s been running there for several weeks now. In the event that this has been at all confusing or even just a novelty- I’d like to clear up any misunderstandings this has led to and answer any possible questions that it might have raised.

First of all, I’m not Mike. I assume that you in Schleswig would know that but at least once a reader of the Charter Oak-Ute NEWspaper mistakenly thought that I was the editor. Definitely not. As Schleswigites know, the Lyon family started ‘the Leader’ then expansions and purchases led them to Mapleton and ‘the PRESS.’ Mike Lyon is the publisher.

Mike & Barb Lyon are good people. They’ve always been very kind and generous with me. Back in the summer of 2002 I managed to talk them in to hiring me for the summer and at the end I submitted an essay called “What I did on my summer vacation,” as perhaps the first installment of a weekly column for the Charter Oak & Ute paper.

The closest thing I think Mike has to an Editor, besides himself would have to be Bonnie Schroeder. When I submitted my first column, she said “We should have been doing this all summer.” She’s always been sweet to me too.

I thought for a long time about what to name this feature. I wanted to call it “Sex, Politics and Religion,” because wanted to be able to write about the things that we often avoid talking about. My hope was that I’d make readers think and get people talking about something other than just the weather.
But I was afraid that such a maverick title would scare readers off, so I just went with “Ted’s Column.” Generic, but safe. I figured it would also give me the freedom to not have to take myself too seriously all the time. Part of me hoped to become the small town Iowa version of Dave Berry.

So who the heck am I and how do I get off writing a weekly column in (now) two small town newspapers if I’m not Mike or Bonnie?

I’m Ted. I live in Charter Oak. I teach Art, Newspaper, Yearbook, computer Graphics, and coach Cheerleading down in Dunlap at Boyer Valley. Yeah, I’m a straight, married, middle-aged guy who coaches cheerleading- but that’s a whole ‘nother column.

I’m originally from the red, red state of Arizona. I was the Editor of my high school newspaper and dreamt of being either a syndicated columnist or an editorial cartoonist. I got my BSEd from Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska. I majored in History and in Art. Seward is where I fell in love with the Midwest and with my wife Bethany, a Neddermeyer from Charter Oak, who’s now a guidance counselor at Maple Valley in Mapleton.

So that’s who I am, but where am I coming from?

Sex: That’s not something I think we should talk about in polite company.
Politics: I always thought of my self as a moderate, pro-worker, pro-farming, lower-middle class traditional kind of guy, but dang, our country has really swung about as far to the right as it can lately, hasn’t it? Some people accuse me of leaning to the left, that may be so, but it’s only because I feel like the boat is a bout to capsize and I need a sense of balance, not because I want to shake the boat for shaking sake. I apologize in advance if I ever set you off, I’m a firm believer in agreeing to disagree but continuing to talk to each other. But like I said, my hope is to make you think and get you talking- better yet, write a letter to the Editor (Mike or Bonnie, not me).

Religion: By definition, this is what is the most important thing in anyone’s life, so it’s pretty difficult for me to not write about it. But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. (Jeremiah 20:9).

I went to Concordia because it’s a Christian college. I wrestled with whether or not to become a pastor and Beth and I taught for 7 years at a Christian school in Los Angeles. I’ve been the Youth Counselor at St. John in Charter Oak since we moved back. So, you can expect some faith issues in this column from time to time.
I’m sure that it drives some people batty that anyone can be a Missouri Synod Lutheran and a registered Democrat at the same time. I figure, Jesus was a radical, barefoot, long haired, unemployed, homeless guy who bucked the establishment and loved, accepted, spent time with, forgave, and was even willing to die for everyone and anyone no matter who they were. I’m pretty tame by comparison.

Somehow the good Lord and Mike saw fit to hire me again this summer, so who knows, even though Schleswig is really Bonnie’s beat, maybe I’ll get to meet some of you and try to sell you an ad. Even if I don’t I hope that you’ll keep reading and I hope you enjoy what you read most of the time.

The rest of the time, I hope you’ll send your letters to Bonnie so we can publish them, after all this is YOUR newspaper. The best way to keep it that way is to participate in it by contributing. Have a great summer.