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Bittersweet day for Freedom

September 1st, 2009, 3:25 pm by davis

News of Freedom Communications Inc. filing for bankruptcy protection Tuesday stirred bittersweet emotions.

It’s bitter in that Freedom — for which some of us have worked many years — may well no longer exist as Freedom when the company emerges from bankruptcy proceedings.

It’s sweet in that the company will continue, our jobs will remain and the company is in better shape to move forward today than it was Monday.

It’s also bitter, however, in that the company’s founding family, descendants of R.C. Hoiles, will no longer command the helm that’s guided the business since its inception during the early 1900s with the purchase of small town newspapers in Ohio.

But it’s also sweet in that Freedom’s legacy — of promoting personal freedom and liberty — will continue in the hearts and minds of people who value those principles. We’d hope that’s about everyone.

Interviewed by telephone Tuesday, Dick Wallace said he hopes people will remember Freedom for its commitment to those core values that Hoiles, the grandfather of Wallace’s wife, strived to live by and do business by every day.

He maintains a hope that his family will retain some ownership of the new business that emerges.

Wallace, who started with Freedom as a salesman for national advertising with what is today The Orange County Register on Dec. 13, 1961, retired about a year ago. He’s remained active, however, with the family’s commitment to what’s been called the Freedom Philosophy.

“The family has no control over it now, but I hope it will continue through editorials and those sorts of things,” Wallace said.

It was a decades-long family squabble that led to what became a massive debt that helped lead the company to bankruptcy proceedings Tuesday.

Some of Hoiles’ descendants cried out in 2004 for the company to “show me the money.” They took it and ran.

Some, however, stayed with Freedom. Wallace was among them.

“Those of us who stayed wanted to support the company and its core values going forward,” Wallace said. “We were not in this for the money.

“We have a little bit of the company left, and hopefully there’s something that will be left in the new business and that the newspaper business will turn around,” Wallace added. “If the industry doesn’t turn around, it will be a sad day for all newspapers.”

Sad indeed.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

Posted in: The Tribune • community • economy • media | Post a Comment »

Sad afternoon in a melon field

August 21st, 2009, 2:45 am by davis

Walking through a field of rotting cantaloupes Thursday afternoon was a sad thing.

The rotting fruit and browning plants made it look more like fall, when the late-to-blossom fruit fail to mature as the growing season runs out.

But not in August.

That, however, was the case in a field south of Vallonia farmed by Mark and Sue Kamman. They shared their story of how a wet, cool growing season is devastating part of the watermelon and much of their cantaloupe plants they set this srping.

You can read about it in Friday’s edition of The Tribune and online at Trib.Town.com.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to Tribtown.com.

Posted in: The Tribune • agriculture • community • economy • food | Post a Comment »

This little piggy has world watching

April 27th, 2009, 1:31 pm by davis

The swine flu outbreak certainly has grabbed the attention of folks.

It was the lead story in today’s edition of The Tribune, a story that first appeared online Sunday evening at TribTown.com.

We’ll follow up later tonight and in Tuesday’s edition of the newspaper with more on the story.

Reporter Jill Treadway reports that schools are putting their typical flu season routine in place — wash your hands, keep your sneezes to yourself and sanitize tables and desks.

We’ll report that Schneck Medical Center and Jackson County Department of Health report they’re taking steps to protect people as well.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

Posted in: The Tribune • community • health | Post a Comment »

More vital than ever

April 9th, 2009, 12:01 pm by davis

I was asked at church last Sunday whether The Tribune was being sold.

“Well,” I said, “we’ve been sold a couple hundred times since I’ve been employed with the paper, but we never have been sold.”

No, we’re not being sold, and The Tribune hasn’t been sold since Freedom Communications of Santa Ana, Calif., bought it in 1973.

Does that mean we couldn’t be sold as I write this? Or Saturday? Or next week? Or next month?

No, it doesn’t.

But to be honest, I don’t think the market for newspapers is too hot right now.

Sadly, a number of newspapers have closed in this recession, a recession that our industry has been feeling for the past several years, partly as a result of the shift toward online sites as a source for information and advertising.

And several newspaper companies in recent months have filed for protection under U.S. bankruptcy laws.

Is our owner among them?

No.

And I hope it stays that way.

Yes, Freedom and The Tribune have been working through some tough times, just as other papers and other industries are struggling.

People are shouting that newspapers are losing their reach and their relevance. They shout that we should shut down newsrooms, stop killing trees and stop publishing our old rags.
Irrelevant? Hardly.

We may be selling fewer copies of The Tribune, just as The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and the Palladium-Item in Richmond are selling fewer copies of their newspapers, but we remain the 800-pound gorilla in terms of readership in Jackson County.

Only more so.

That’s because in addition to the estimated 75 percent of 32,900 adults in Jackson County (24,675) reading hard copies of The Tribune on a daily basis, we’re also reaching thousands more through our Web site, TribTown.com.

In March, the news site saw 38,472 unique visitors, 126,604 visits and 710,428 page views.

Irrelevant? No, we don’t think so. Instead of weakening our relevance and importance, the Web has enhanced our reach and vitality. We can now report to readers almost instantaneously with words, photos and video.

People still trust newsrooms — or information centers, as the hip crowd prefers — to deliver them important, relevant local news. We continue to do that, and we expect to continue doing so for years to come.

Will we change? You bet. Will we stick around? Yep.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

Posted in: The Tribune • community • media | Post a Comment »

Taking a break over spring break

March 18th, 2009, 4:29 am by davis

Sorry for the lack of recent postings, but I’ve taken the week off to spend with my daughters while they’re on spring break from school.

So far, one of them has been sick, so we’ve done little except hang around the house.

We did make use of Jill Treadway’s article in last Friday’s edition of The Tribune and at TribTown.com, checking out to see what was going on the Jackson County Public Library, Kids Commons at Columbus and the WonderLab at Bloomington.

We had planned a road trip to Bloomington and the WonderLab for earlier this week, before Hannah became ill, but we’ll probably still make it up to Kids Commons. She and Sarah always have a good time there.

It would be cool if the Seymour Museum that’s planned for the old federal and city building downtown could incorporate something interactive for kids.

Well, I better go. I sneaked in to the office this morning to interview a prospective summer intern, and I need to get home before my wife needs to head to her office.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

Posted in: The Tribune • community • family • media | Post a Comment »

What you learn at funerals and from obituaries

March 3rd, 2009, 7:17 am by davis

It’s interesting — and a little sad — what you learn at funeral homes and from obituaries.

The sad part comes in the sense that you often wish you had known what you learned a little sooner so you could have enjoyed talking about it with the person. At the funeral home, of course, it’s too late.

Such was the case Monday at Voss Chapel at the calling for Bill Hammett, who died over the weekend.

The Seymour man worked at The Tribune for about 40 years, setting hot type in his early years with the paper and later building ads on a computer.

While watching the slide show of photos from Bill’s life, a picture of Bill dancing with his wife, Marilyn, triggered a memory that Bill had once shared that he liked to dance and would, on occasion, stand up from his workstation and do a little air dance, showing a move or two.

Billy was a hoot and livened up what was then called the “back shop,” a place that no longer exists.

That memory of Bill air dancing prompted me to say something at the funeral home to Lynn Sutherland, a retired press operator, about Bill having given me the impression he was fast on his feet.

That in turn prompted Lynn’s sister-in-law, another former Tribune employee, to say that was indeed true and that Bill had taught her to dance at what was then called the Girls Club back in the 1970s.

I never knew that.

I knew Bill was an avid softball player and golfer and that he was involved with coaching youth sports, but I didn’t know he taught dance.

Just as I had never known until reading the obituary for Avis Hoevener that he enjoyed painting. Avis was another longtime Tribune employee. He died last year when I was out of town. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize he had died for a few months, learning of it when I happened across his obituary in a back issue of the paper.

That’s where I read that Avis enjoyed painting and that he was apparently pretty good at it.

I always enjoyed running into Avis and his wife at Larrison’s or some other place in town since his retirement. I wish I’d known about him taking up painting. It would have been something else for us to talk about, and I’d have liked to have seen some of his works and asked what inspired him.

It all reminds me that I learned at Pop’s funeral back in 1979 that he was more engaged with my life than I knew.

That happened when some of his co-workers and card buddies said at the funeral home things such as “you’re the one who wants to be a writer, right?” and “so are you ready to start college and become a newspaper man?”

Yes, I was one who wanted to become a journalist, a writer, a newspaper man.

I guess I knew Pop was aware of those goals, but I’m not sure that I had ever thought it was something he’d talk about with his buddies. He always seemed too busy working, and working hard.

Again, it’s interesting what you learn at the funeral home or reading the obituaries.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to Tribtown.com.

Posted in: The Tribune • community • family | Post a Comment »

Votes for Reno Gang and Mellencamp

February 24th, 2009, 9:27 am by davis

Two phone calls came into the office in response to a column in Monday’s paper and an earlier blog concerning what Seymour should be known for.

The question resulted from a comment made a fellow diner at an Indianapolis restaurant soon after Katie Stam of Seymour was crowned Miss America on Jan. 24 in Las Vegas.

Lester Tracy, a collector of “Life” magazines, a wonderful old, colorful magazine from the golden age of such publications, called to cast a vote for the Reno Gang and what’s purported to be the world’s first train robbery.

Tracy mentioned a 1952 edition of “Life” that included an article on that robbery. It’s an interesting spread, one that John M. Lewis once shared with me and other readers of The Tribune when the former attorney, judge, state lawmaker and local historian wrote about it in one of his Look Back columns.

And William Ackeret left a voicemail with a vote for John Mellencamp, the Seymour native who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. He said Mellencamp’s music will be long remembered and that the community should embrace Mellencamp more than it has over the years.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to Tribtown.com.

Posted in: John Mellencamp • Miss America Katie Stam • The Tribune • community | Post a Comment »

Keeping the public informed

January 5th, 2009, 4:35 pm by davis

Reporters with The Tribune generally have pretty good luck with gaining access to public meetings and gaining access to public records.

That’s because local public officials, for the most part, appear to comply with the Indiana Open Door Law and the Indiana Public Records Act.

Having said that, we’d be naive not to point out we may occasionally wonder whether some actions taken in public meetings haven’t already been decided in private.

And of course we occasionally must question whether executive — or closed — sessions really merit being discussed in private session.

We think it’s essential that the two laws be followed by local officials. We also consider it essential that we work to see that local officials comply with the laws.

We do that annually by reporting on access issues each year during National Sunshine Week, reporting on the starting times of open and closed meetings and reporting on access complaints.

We also inform readers annually of the role of the Indiana Public Access Counselor, which reviews complaints and questions filed by members of the press, the public and by government officials and their employees. We’re happy to report each year, by the way, that a majority of questions and complaints filed with that office come from members of the public.

We hope that shows that John and Jane Q. Public are aware of their rights and are willing to step forward and raise a red flag when warranted.

As we state in an editorial in Tuesday’s edition of The Tribune, we encourage anyone with concerns about access to public meetings and records to contact us here at The Trib, 523-7051, or Public Access Counselor Heather Willis Neal, (800) 228-6013.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

Posted in: The Tribune • community • media | Post a Comment »

Arv closes notebook (sort of)

December 14th, 2008, 6:27 pm by davis

Arv Koontz has retired.

Again.

Arv first left The Tribune in May 2001 after first joining us as sports editor in March 1972.

His first assignment for the paper was covering the boys baskekball regional. Jeffersonville won the regional that winter en route to a state title, Arv recalled the other day.

He left while I was working with The Palladium-Item in Richmond, and bringing him back to The Tribune was something I hoped to accomplish when I returned to the paper in July 2004.

Arv had, afterall, probably covered more games, meets and matches at Seymour High School than anyone else.

Arv, then working for The Banner in Brownstown, spurned our first attempt to lure him back, but he agreed when asked a second time, returning to The Tribune in February 2007.

We were happy he was coming back, even though we knew his second retirement would occur this winter.
That time arrived Nov. 30.

Yes, you’re right.

If you’ve been following local sports, you’ve likely seen Arv in area gyms and his bylines atop several stories over the past 15 days, including today. That’s because Arv is writing for us as a stringer.

Arv’s familiar with stringers. He’s managed a number of them over the years, such as John Regruth, Dennis Dunn, Hal Elzea and others.

Another face you’ve likely noticed in area gyms since Dec. 1 is that of Zach Spicer.

He’s our new sports editor, moving into that slot after helping The Tribune get started in the video age and covering Crothersville school board and town government for us.

Zach’s off to a good start, and Arv is helping him feel his way through what can be an over-whleming job. (Don’t tell him spring sports is even more intense.)

And Jill Treadway, who’s also concentrated on our video production efforts, is expanding her role by taking over Zach’s old Crothersville beat. She, too, is off to a good start in that role.

Anyway, if you see Arv in the next few days, wish him well and congratulate him on his retirement.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

Posted in: The Tribune • basketball • community | Post a Comment »

Inside pages in living color

December 12th, 2008, 11:37 am by davis

Did you check out today’s print edition of The Tribune?

What did you think of the color photos on our insdie pages?

It’s one of advantages we picked up when we started printing the paper at HNE Printers at Walesboro.

Printing there gives us the capability for color photos and ads on every page.

Limitations of the press in The Tribune building on St. Louis Avenue restricted four-color reproduction to the front and back pages of each section and single-color of spot positions on inside pages.

We think the paper looks better in terms of color inside and in the color reproduction on the front as well.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

Posted in: The Tribune • media | Post a Comment »

Archive for the 'The Tribune' Category

Bittersweet day for Freedom

Sad afternoon in a melon field

This little piggy has world watching

More vital than ever

Taking a break over spring break

What you learn at funerals and from obituaries

Votes for Reno Gang and Mellencamp

Keeping the public informed

Arv closes notebook (sort of)

Inside pages in living color

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