theeagleggtheeagleNews from the Wick Communications Company Winter ’12

FROM THE CEO

JOHNMATHEW

For more stories about the people of Wick Communications, job openings at our locations, human resources information and forms, and a whole lot more -- go online to:

http://www.wickcommunications.com/

Thanks to ev-eryone for your hard work on behalf of Wick C o m m u n i c a -tions.

We l c o m e t o Steve Phillips, W i c k ’ s n e w c h a i r m a n o f the board of di-r e c t o r s , w h o began serving in that role in October. Steve is senior vice

president and chief information officer of Avnet, Inc., a global technology provider located in Phoenix. Steve has served on the Wick board as an outside di-rector since February 2011.

Steve will provide excellent leadership for the board go-ing forward. I know he looks for wa rd to vi sit i ng some of ou r newspapers in the future as well.

Steve’s appointment coincides with Walt Wick and Bob Wick stepping down from the board and their long-time roles as co-chairmen. Walt and Bob remain vitally interested in Wick Com-munications, its newspapers and employees despite stepping

down from a more vigorous direct role.

Lou Major Sr., Cornelia Wick and Patricia Wick also have completed their board service as have Nathan Wick and Andrew Saenz, family members who served as alternate directors. We thank all the outgoing direc-tors for their service.

Our board now includes Steve Phillips, Wick family members Rebecca Rogers and Francis Wick, outside directors Roger Grier and Joe Richter, and me.

J Kennon, Terry Maddox and I had a good visit with Lou Ma-jor Sr. and his family at Lou’s Slidell, La., home late in Octo-ber. Lou is battling brain cancer and had been undergoing radia-tion treatment when we visited. All of Lou’s and Peg’s four chil-dren were home at the time and it was great to see them all.

Cong ratulations to Wick newspapers winning recent editorial awards. The Half Moon Bay Review won na-tional awards in both the Local Media Association and In-land Press Aciation contests, and Arizona newspapers won more than 100 honors in Arizona Newspaper Association contests. Full lists are in the archives at

www.wickcommunications.com.

Do you regularly read Clay Lambert’s weekly blog on editori-al matters, The Kicker? It’s good information and can be found at www.wickcommunications.com as well.

I am particularly proud of the recognition given Frontiersman (Wasilla/Palmer, Alaska) Photo Editor Robert DeBerry for his work in helping save the life of a man injured in an accident at the newspaper. DeBerry was honored with the Alaska Gover-nor’s Consumer/Citizen Award for 2012. Other employees also helped save the victim’s life. De-tails are on the Wick website.

Best wishes to long-time Tucson Weekly Editor Jimmy Boegle, who leaves at the end of the year to start a website and eventual print product, the Coachella Valley Independent, serving Palm Springs, Calif., and surrounding communities.

As I reflect on 2012, I realize again that the accomplishments of our company are a credit to and the direct result of the hard work, imagination and ingenu-ity of our employees. Best wish-es for a happy holiday season and health and happy 2013.

Phillips welcomed as new Wick board chairmanDear All:

Over t he last 18 months, as a board di-rector of Wick Commu-nications, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know many of the Wick family, non-family board members, and the senior management of Wick Communications.

Earlier this year, Walt and Bob Wick ap-proached me about be-coming chairman of the board of directors as they planned to step down from their roles as co-chairmen. Follow-ing discussions with my fellow board directors, I agreed to my name being put forward and I was honored when the board voted for me to become the new chairman of the board of Wick Communi-cations, for a three-year term, with immediate effect.

My 30 years of busi-ness experience is mostly in the technology sector and I’ll never become as knowledgeable in the newspaper and media business as many of you are. However I’ve learned over those 30 years, that when good people work together, great things can be achieved. And Wick Communications has some very, very good people. I am constantly impressed by the level of

capability, engagement, and commitment that ev-eryone has for this com-pany.

The community news-paper business has a good future, but change will be necessary to cope with the challenges presented by an ever-changing business envi-ronment. My intent is to work together with the board and management in a manner that will meet the Wick family’s desire to maintain a sus-tainable profitable busi-ness that balances the needs of all of our stake-holders: family, served communities, and em-ployees. In particular, I am supportive of the very capable Wick Com-munications senior lead-ership team led by our CEO, John Mathew.

Please join me in thanking Walt and Bob for their years of board service to Wick Com-munications. As a result of their leadership, Wick Communications is well positioned to continue to be a leading family-owned community news company with titles across the USA.

I look forward to meet-ing more Wick employ-ees in the weeks and months ahead.

Sincerely,Steve Phillips

A note from new Wick Board Chairman Steve Phillips

News from the Wick Communications Company Winter ’12

FROM THE CEO

JOHNMATHEW

For more stories about the people of Wick Communications, job openings at our locations, human resources information and forms, and a whole lot more -- go online to:

http://www.wickcommunications.com/

Thanks to ev-eryone for your hard work on behalf of Wick C o m m u n i c a -tions.

We l c o m e t o Steve Phillips, W i c k ’ s n e w c h a i r m a n o f the board of di-r e c t o r s , w h o began serving in that role in October. Steve is senior vice

president and chief information officer of Avnet, Inc., a global technology provider located in Phoenix. Steve has served on the Wick board as an outside di-rector since February 2011.

Steve will provide excellent leadership for the board go-ing forward. I know he looks for wa rd to vi sit i ng some of ou r newspapers in t he future as well.

Steve’s appointment coincides with Walt Wick and Bob Wick stepping down from the board and their long-time roles as co-chairmen. Walt and Bob remain vitally interested in Wick Com-munications, its newspapers and employees despite stepping

down from a more vigorous direct role.

Lou Major Sr., Cornelia Wick and Patricia Wick also have completed their board service as have Nathan Wick and Andrew Saenz, family members who served as alternate directors. We thank all the outgoing direc-tors for their service.

Our board now includes Steve Phillips, Wick family members Rebecca Rogers and Francis Wick, outside directors Roger Grier and Joe Richter, and me.

J Kennon, Terry Maddox and I had a good visit with Lou Ma-jor Sr. and his family at Lou’s Slidell, La., home late in Octo-ber. Lou is battling brain cancer and had been undergoing radia-tion treatment when we visited. All of Lou’s and Peg’s four chil-dren were home at the time and it was great to see them all.

Cong ratulations to Wick newspapers winning recent editorial awards. The Half Moon Bay Review won na-tional awards in both the Local Media Association and In-land Press Aciation contests, and Arizona newspapers won more than 100 honors in Arizona Newspaper Association contests. Full lists are in the archives at

www.wickcommunications.com.

Do you regularly read Clay Lambert’s weekly blog on editori-al matters, The Kicker? It’s good information and can be found at www.wickcommunications.com as well.

I am particularly proud of the recognition given Frontiersman (Wasilla/Palmer, Alaska) Photo Editor Robert DeBerry for his work in helping save the life of a man injured in an accident at the newspaper. DeBerry was honored with the Alaska Gover-nor’s Consumer/Citizen Award for 2012. Other employees also helped save the victim’s life. De-tails are on the Wick website.

Best wishes to long-time Tucson Weekly Editor Jimmy Boegle, who leaves at the end of the year to start a website and eventual print product, the Coachella Valley Independent, serving Palm Springs, Calif., and surrounding communities.

As I reflect on 2012, I realize again that the accomplishments of our company are a credit to and the direct result of the hard work, imagination and ingenu-ity of our employees. Best wish-es for a happy holiday season and health and happy 2013.

Phillips welcomed as new Wick board chairmanDear All:

Over t he last 18 months, as a board di-rector of Wick Commu-nications, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know many of the Wick family, non-family board members, and the senior management of Wick Communications.

Earlier this year, Walt and Bob Wick ap-proached me about be-coming chairman of the board of directors as they planned to step down from their roles as co-chairmen. Follow-ing discussions with my fellow board directors, I agreed to my name being put forward and I was honored when the board voted for me to become the new chairman of the board of Wick Communi-cations, for a three-year term, with immediate effect.

My 30 years of busi-ness experience is mostly in the technology sector and I’ll never become as knowledgeable in the newspaper and media business as many of you are. However I’ve learned over those 30 years, that when good people work together, great things can be achieved. And Wick Communications has some very, very good people. I am constantly impressed by the level of

capability, engagement, and commitment that ev-eryone has for this com-pany.

The community news-paper business has a good future, but change will be necessary to cope with the challenges presented by an ever-changing business envi-ronment. My intent is to work together with the board and management in a manner that will meet the Wick family’s desire to maintain a sus-tainable profitable busi-ness that balances the needs of all of our stake-holders: family, served communities, and em-ployees. In particular, I am supportive of the very capable Wick Com-munications senior lead-ership team led by our CEO, John Mathew.

Please join me in thanking Walt and Bob for their years of board service to Wick Com-munications. As a result of their leadership, Wick Communications is well positioned to continue to be a leading family-owned community news company with titles across the USA.

I look forward to meet-ing more Wick employ-ees in the weeks and months ahead.

Sincerely,Steve Phillips

A note from new Wick Board Chairman Steve Phillips

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22 Mat-Su Valley

ALASKA’S MATSU VALLEY HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1947

BY HEATHER A. RESZFrontiersman.com

As part of the celebration of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman’s 65th anniversary, we asked Mat-Su Valley residents to nominate their neighbors as Mat-Su Val-ley Good Neighbors.

We wrote about National Good Neigh-bor Day — celebrated Sept. 28 each year — in an editorial in May and announced our plan to adopt the practice locally.

For the next several months, we collect-ed nominations for Mat-Su Valley Good Neighbors in Individual, Business and Organization categories and announced the winners at our anniversary celebration in October (the actual anniversary of the first publication of the Frontiersman was Sept. 17).

Each nominee was worthy of com-munity recognition for his or her service, and we will included their stories in that Sunday’s edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

As Individual Mat-Su Valley Good Neighbors, we honored a great grand-mother and her granddaughter for the variety of ways they contribute to our community — from mentoring other grandparents raising their grandchildren to organizing an effort to make and give blankets to children in foster care.

The Business category Good Neighbor award went to a group of 55 area busi-nesses that heard about the bare shelves at the Palmer Food Bank and organized a grassroots effort to gather donations that filled the bank to bursting and our hearts with pride. Total, the October effort gave

10,000 individual food items and more than $2,000 in cash to feed our hungry neighbors.

The Organization award went to recog-nize a community work day in July that organized people to paint, rake, mow, clean, share and show love for our com-munity at 29 locations from Houston to Palmer and Wasilla to Knik.

Real Love was a two-month effort put together by the Valley Pastors Prayer

Network. The churches organized hun-dreds of Mat-Su Good Neighbors to work together to fill backpacks with school supplies, volunteer for projects at local schools and senior centers, build sheds for a homeless relief project, make care pack-ages of toiletries, snacks and treats to share with homeless neighbors, repaint Wasilla Wonderland Park, wash windows in downtown Palmer and lead an effort to fill a truck with canned foods for Valley food

banks. Mechanics also performed auto checks and medical professionals donated health screenings and school physicals that day.

On Oct. 26, we invited the whole com-munity to an open house in our press plant. It was a wonderful afternoon of visiting with our readers, longtime adver-tisers and friends in the community while celebrating our 65th anniversary and all of our Mat-Su Valley Good Neighbors.

Frontiersman celebrates 65 years

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman

Mari Jo Parks, ‘Chief Elf Organizer’ for the annual Mat-Su Special Santa Program, presents Frontiersman publisher Mark Kelsey with a plaque during the Frontiersman’s 65th anniversary party in October thanking the newspaper for its continued support of the annual program that provides Christmas gifts to Valley children.

Mat-Su Valley Good Neighbors featured at party

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ALASKA’S MATSU VALLEY HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1947

BY GREG JOHNSONFrontiersman.com

WASILLA — The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman has recorded a lot of local history over the past 65 years.

From personal triumphs to tragedy and all the politicking in between, the Frontiersman has been the source for local news since its first eight-page edi-tion was published Sept. 17, 1947.

For nearly all of those years, one loyal Frontiersman subscriber has shared that journey.

Now 94, Pat Lawton remembers mov-ing to the Valley at age 29. It was one year after the Frontiersman first pub-lished that Lawton became a subscriber in 1948.

More than six decades later, Lawton holds the distinction of being the news-paper’s longest continuous subscriber.

Lawton sat down with Frontiersman staff Oct. 26 prior to a reception to mark the paper’s 65th anniversary and talked about the importance a hometown newspaper holds for a community like the Mat-Su Borough.

Frontiersman: What are some of the more memorable stories or events you read about over the years?

Lawton: Well, there were a lot of sto-ries, but a lot of them weren’t good or were accidents and people being lost and things like that. It kept your attention. I remember when the people from the electric company were lost, the manager and a couple of others. .. And, of course, there’s the earthquake (of 1964). That was something else again.

Meet Pat, our longest continuous subscriber

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman

Managing editor Heather A. Resz with the Frontiersman’s longest continous subscriber, Pat Lawton. Lawton, 94, has been a subscriber since 1948, a year after the newspaper first began publishing on Sept. 17, 1947.

See LAWTON, next page

BY HEATHER A. RESZFrontiersman.com

Sometimes just listening is a reporter’s most powerful tool. We get all kinds of calls asking us to help people with prob-lems.

From a woman who thinks the pet food she bought at a national chain store is kill-ing her chickens to a man who is certain he sees a UFO hovering over head to the old soldier who called asking for help naming an Alaska mountain peak after a battle from the Korean Conflict.

Reporter Andrew Wellner has made a name for himself for generating moun-tains of news copy. He’s well-known and well-respected for his work, but he is never too busy to listen. That he listened when one old soldier called earlier this year is, at least in part, how a mountain peak in Alaska came to be named in their honor.

In brief, 18,000 men from the First Marine Division were sent over the Tae-bek Mountains with a mission to capture the northern end of the peninsula during the Korean Conflict. On Nov. 27, 1950, the Marines found themselves surround-ed by a Chinese force some estimate four or five times larger than their own. With temperatures hovering between minus 20 and minus 40, the Marines fought for two weeks to break the encirclement and make it back to the sea.

Among the veterans of this grueling bat-tle are Richard Lilly of Wasilla and John Beasley of Palmer. These two led a local charge to rename this peak in memory of their brothers — both those who returned and, more importantly, those who did not — Mount Chosin Few.

The peak is 28 miles northeast of

Old soldiers, reporter move

mountains

See MOUNTAIN, next page

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Mat-Su Valley

ALASKA’S MATSU VALLEY HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1947

BY HEATHER A. RESZFrontiersman.com

It’s a standard J school ethical question — are we reporters first or humans first? Do we jump in to save a life? Should we pick up our cameras and notebooks and focus on the news aspect of an event?

During my nearly 20 years of report-ing, no one I knew was ever faced with such a choice, until last December.

We were going about our everyday activities Dec. 22, 2011, at the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman when our paths crossed with John Buckley’s. He was at our offices delivering a load of news-print with American Fast Freight when an accident happened that severed his arm a few inches below his right elbow.

We shared the story in the next edition of the Frontiersman and in a subsequent issue of the Eagle, too.

Doctors and Buckley’s family told us then that if not for the actions of our staff that day, Buckley would have bled to death before emergency services crews could arrive.

That sentiment was seconded nine months later when we crossed paths with Bill Mackreth, the first responder on the scene that day. He contacted our office in August looking for the guy who made his belt into a tourniquet for Buck-ley’s arm that day.

That man is Frontiersman Photo Edi-tor Robert DeBerry. Also on the ground in the snow caring for Buckley were longtime staffers Doris Armstrong and Laura Cox.

“It is extremely rare that a tourniquet is needed, and the vast majority I have seen are ones that bystanders have applied needlessly,” Mackreth wrote in an email. “This was different. Had it

not been promptly applied, Mr. Buckley may well not have survived.”

Based on his life-saving actions, Mack-reth nominated DeBerry for the 2012 Governor’s Consumer/Citizen Award given out annually at the Alaska Emer-gency Medical Services Symposium to “a person who, not in the regular line of duty, performs life-saving, limb-saving or medical techniques in a medical

emergency.” DeBerry was named this year’s award

winner during an Anchorage ceremony Nov. 10 “in recognition of his quick thinking in responding to and applying a tourniquet to a badly-injured truck driver, saving the man’s life.”

In case you are still wondering, DeBer-ry never picked up his camera that day to cover this as news.

Courtesy Emily McKenzie, Southern Region EMS Council

Robert DeBerry with Kerre Fisher, acting director of the Alaska Division of Public Health at the Alaska Emergency Medical Services Symposium Nov. 10.

DeBerry honored with lifesaving

award

F: What do you remember from the early years of the Frontiersman’s opera-tion?

L: At first, we bought them in our office, because they brought them in the office, and that’s where we bought them. … Of course, we didn’t have TV or even radio when I was growing up, so we read (news-papers) and made our own games with my four brothers and three sisters.

F: What would you think if your Fron-tiersman didn’t arrive one day?

L: On my goodness. I don’t know what I’d do, because I’d just miss out terribly because I’m still familiar with so many things in there. I look forward to it. … I wouldn’t be without it, even though a lot of my age group are not here (anymore). I’m going to be 95.

F: What role do you think a newspaper should play in the community?

L: I think it’s an important thing to have and I find that it’s not too biased about anything. It seems very fair, so I really have no complaints. It’s really important that we have the paper and get to know the people involved (in producing it).

LAWTONContinued from previous page

Cordova. We followed the renaming as it wound its way through the process of gathering local support, then a state endorsement and finally a federal name change.

As far as we know, the mountain has been renamed, and much faster than any-one anticipated it would be.

On our end it wasn’t a lot of work, we just wrote a few news stories, Lilly did most of the work. But we love this story because it reminds us that even two old soldiers — with a little help from a report-er — can move mountains. Or at least get them renamed.

MOUNTAINContinued from previous page

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Mat-Su Valley

ALASKA’S MATSU VALLEY HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1947

Editor’s note: Because we’re a small staff at the Mat-Su Val-ley Frontiersman and most of us have young children, sometimes our kids end up accompanying us on interviews and photo shoots. I try to assign stories with these kids in mind. Like when I sent the dynamic father-son duo of Andrew Wellner and Gabe Fish to cover the annual Mat-Su Polar Plunge event.

Fish also has helped with other reporting, such a ride review from the 2012 Alaska State Fair.

After collecting pledges, they jumped together through a hole cut in the ice on Wasilla Lake to raise money for local nonprofit organizations.

Following is a first-person account of this “hard” news assignment:

— Heather A. Resz, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

managing editor

BY ANDREW WELLNER Frontiersman.com

WASILLA — Maybe it’s some lingering effects of the cold, or maybe I stayed up too late cob-bling together a cape and under-pants from newspapers and pack-ing tape.

Either way, traditional news reporting just doesn’t seem to fit with this year’s Mat-Su Polar Plunge. Here, as a reasonable facsimile of a news story, is a list of random thoughts surrounding the icy dip and a few of the better quotes from my partner in plung-ing, my son Gabe Fish:

plunge: “What should I wear to do this? Street clothes aren’t

any fun.” Facebook suggestions included a diaper, butterfly wings and a gorilla suit. Not much help there, is what I’m saying.

plunge: “Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Frontiers-Man! A newspaper superhero, guardian of truth, justice and public infor-mation.”

plunge: “Two rolls of packing tape should be enough to keep it together long enough to jump in the water, right?”

Resort, taking a peek at the thick-ness of the ice: “Hmm. Not so sure about this now.”

register: “This wait may very well wind up being worse than the actual swimming.”

“That’s a sage piece of advice, especially coming from a man in a pink tutu.”

The advice, from the inimitable Les Helfrich: “If your co-workers dare you to do something, say ‘no.’”

front of the line, “The Sertoma folks sure are helpful. And man is this goodie bag heavy!”

in the ice: “My feet sure are cold walking barefoot on this ice ... oh, wait ...”

with my son, Gabe: “I hope Gabe’s foot cleared the edge because mine sure didn’t. Ouch!”

“Where’s Gabe? There he is. I’ll give him a hand up.”

edge: “I should tell the dive team to just grab Gabe. I’d be doing a lot better if I didn’t have to hold him up.”

“Man this hot-tub is nice.”

my wife posted to Facebook while still on the ice: “That seemed a lot longer when I was in the water.”

well-earned lunch: “All told, that wasn’t so bad. I can think of worse ways to raise $100 for Special Olympics and Valley Per-forming Arts.”

Quotes from Gabe:“That was actually kind of fun.”“I want to do this every year.

Can I still jump when I’m 80?”“I’m sorry about the cuts on

your hand. I might have done that with my fingernails when I grabbed you.”

“Next year we should make a costume for me.”

Reporter, son jump into frozen lake for charity

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman

Reporter Andrew Wellner — dressed in his homemade costume as ‘Frontiers-Man’ — and son Gabe Fish at the annual Mat-Su Polar Plunge event.

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26

I n November, the An-

chorage Press pub-

lished special section

for the YWCA’s “Women

of Achievement Award,”

which every year honors 10

women who have fought to

eliminate racism and em-

power other women. The

eight-page special section

profiled women who do

everything from helping

aspiring musicians to ad-

vocating for GLTB rights.

Press celebrates ‘Women of Achievement’ with

special sectionn-

b-

on

en

d,”

10

to

m-

The

on

do

ng

d-

Fresh faces for the new year

Thanksgiving

Press debuts blog about “The Rest”

I n the hustle and bustle of life at a news-

paper and the upcoming holidays, it

seems as if the past few months have dis-

appeared in the blink of an eye. Since the

holiday season is all about giving thanks,

the Anchorage Press wants to give thanks

for some great things that happened in the

recent months.

The Press recently added three new staff

members. Daniella Cortez Alvarez stepped

into the role of entertainment editor, taking

on the fun and exciting task of being in the

know about essentially every event going on

in Anchorage. When she isn’t in the office, she is often out

interviewing local musicians and other talent. Daniella

adds a life to our staff with her charm and sense of humor

and we love having her here.

Diane Karalunas took the position of

graphic designer, designing ads for clients as

well as putting together all of the pages for our

two publications. She has stepped in to this

demanding role with ease and grace and we

are extremely glad she is a part of our team.

Our most recent addition to our staff is Ste-

fanie House, who is our new office manager.

Stefanie does a little bit of everything within

our company, from entering insertion or-

ders, to accounts receivable, to sales. She also

handles all of our phone and foot traffic, for

which we are forever grateful.

The past few months have been full of change here in

Anchorage, and we can’t wait to see what December and

the new year bring.

The Press’s staff food photographer was out of the of-

fice, so readers will need to use their imagination to

get an idea from this underwhelming photograph how

fantastic the annual Thanksgiving office lunch was (de-

spite some obstacles involving an inscrutable electric

carving knife).

I n late September the Anchorage Press launched a blog,

The Rest of the Press. As a weekly paper, the Press print

edition primarily publishes only previews of local

events, but we rarely have occasion to review events after

they’ve happened. The new blog feature supplements cov-

erage in between print issues (and helps get us into con-

certs in return for reviews).

Since September, we’ve averaged about three blog en-

tries a week, with content generated mostly from the small

and dedicated editorial staff at the Press. As the blog gains

more followers though, we’ve been able to add content

from community contributors as well, including concert

reviews, photo slide shows and information about events

that come to our attention after our print deadline.

One of the most popular reoccurring features on the

blog is a play list for readers to listen to, hopefully while

they read content in our print edition. The play lists are

comprised of songs that relate back to our music or arts

pieces. These play lists stream through the website and re-

quire the listener to stay on the website while they listen.

By using various social media outlets to promote the

blog, including Facebook, Twitter and the music service

Spotify, we’ve been able to build a steady readership in

just a few short months. We also use the printed paper to

encourage readers to visit the site after they’ve read their

hard copy.

In October, a journalist visited Anchorage from the na-

tional music magazine SPIN. Jeff Weiss spent several days

hanging out with bands and artists from the local music

community in Anchorage, as well as visiting venues and

concerts while he was in town. Weiss interviewed Press

Entertainment Editor Daniella Cortez Alvarez for the

piece, along with several bands, solo musicians and DJs.

In November, Weiss’s article ran on SPIN’s website and

the Press website and blog received a sudden rush of new

readers who had been directed there by a link on SPIN’s

website.

Capitalizing on those fresh eyes, the staff at the Press

has been working hard to develop new content and ideas

to make the blog Anchorage’s best source for arts and en-

tertainment coverage between print issues of the Anchor-

age Press.

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INTER 20127

HMBReview Updates from the Half Moon Bay Review

in Half Moon Bay, California

T here is no bigger news on the San Mateo County coast than the Mavericks Invita-

tional Surf Contest.

Named for a loveable surfer’s dog, the world-renowned big-wave surf spot has

a bite of its own. It is no place for beginners. When conditions are right, 50-foot waves

crash onto razor-sharp rocks in shark-patrolled, chilly waters. Only the best dare to brave

Mavericks and 24 of them have been invited for next year’s contest, which could take place

anytime between now and March 30, 2013.

Half Moon Bay Review Publisher Bill Murray may not be charging the big wave, but the

longtime surfer is certainly up for hanging with the big boys.

On Nov. 9, Mavericks surf contest organizers held their opening ceremonies. It’s a

chance for invited surfers to come together, renew old acquaintances and honor the sea.

Traditionally, that includes a paddle-out to a spot near the legendary wave. Once there, surf-

ers share thoughts and prayers and consider the coming season.

This year, Murray was among them. He strapped a GoPro camera to his head and

paddled out with household names on the surfi ng circuit. The event — along with props

from the surfi ng community — made for some stunning, only-in-the-Review photographs.

Sometimes you cover the news. Sometimes you are the news.

And, sometimes, worlds collide.That was the case on Dec. 3,

when a half-dozen fi re trucks descended on the Half Moon Bay Review offi ces for an incident that closed two city blocks and forced the evacuation of City Hall and the adjacent Review building.

The fi rst sign of trouble occurred shortly before 3 p.m., on a dead-line day, near the intersection of Miramontes and Main streets in downtown Half Moon Bay. Coastside Fire Protection District fi refi ghters responded to a call of a pole fi re. Simultaneously, smoke fi lled the Re-view break room, which is one block from the initial call.

Two hours later, power remained out to at least some businesses, including the Review. Firefi ghters said that the power surge resulting from the arcing wires a block away somehow “energized” the plumb-ing at the Review, creating intense heat and smoke under the sink in the building’s break room. No one was injured and there was never

any visible fi re in the Review or elsewhere downtown.

The Review missed one print deadline but was on target to publish on time the morning of Dec. 5. The newspaper staff was able to report the news via Twitter and Facebook throughout the incident. It had a story online within two hours of the initial 911 call.

Publisher paddles out with big boysMURRAY JOINS CEREMONIAL CIRCLE PRIOR TO MAVERICKS BIG WAVE CONTEST

O U T A N D A B O U T

Review Publisher Bill Murray joined surfers and community members for the ceremony.

The Review produces a Mavericks special section that has become the unoffi cial program of the event.

Smoke fi lls Review building after power surge downtown

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HMBReview Updates from the Half Moon Bay Review

in Half Moon Bay, California

Review earns national honorHARD NEWS FOCUS NOTED BY JUDGES

T he Half Moon Bay Review has been honored with another national award. This time, the Local Media Association has given the news-

paper third place in its Newspaper of the Year contest for weeklies under 10,000 circulation.

Judges paid respect to all facets of the Review in announcing the awards.“The setting may be idyllic Pacifi c Coast, but the news is anything but

soft,” according to anonymous judges’ comments. “Hard looks at develop-ment, charges of offi cial misconduct, and rate increases fulfi ll the watchdog function while the second section cov-ers community affairs, sports and arts. Layout and presentation are extremely well organized with a classic use of typography. Advertising is clean, easy to read, and colorful.”

Such national awards are a point of pride for the Review, and there is precedent. In 2006, the Inland Press Foundation named the Review the nation’s top small weekly newspaper. In 2010, the Suburban Newspaper As-sociation named Review Editor Clay Lambert its weekly newspaper Editor of the Year.

“The fact that we placed in the top three against competition twice our size is testament to the dedication of the editorial, production and adver-

tising staff,” said Publisher Bill Murray. “We continually look for ways to improve this paper, and I’m extremely proud to be part of this talented group.”

REDACTED BILLS LEAD TO ACTIONNEWSPAPER INTEGRAL TO RELEASE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

The Half Moon Bay Review fulfi lled one of its most sacred trusts with readers in November: It helped keep public information public.

It all began with a public records request to the Coastside Fire Protection District, the taxing authority that provides fi re protection services for miles of California coastline. The request didn’t come from the newspaper, but rather from a private citizen. The lo-cal resident asked for copies of consultant invoices after a months-long effort by the fi re board to dismantle the department and build a new one from scratch.

The fi re district provided the reader with 117 pages of bills, but so much was redacted that entire pages were blacked out. The fi re district’s attorney claimed attorney-client privilege required all that black ink.

That is when the Review got involved. The reader, John Charles Ullom, forwarded the invoices to Editor Clay Lambert. The result was an editorial that called on the fi re board to do the right thing and make the bills public. The editorial included an image of one redacted page and ended like this:

Attorney-client privilege is an extremely important precept in American jurisprudence. Attorneys and their clients must be able to communicate in confi dence in many circumstances. It is absolutely critical. Because the concept is so important, it’s equally important that public agencies and their hired guns not make a mockery of it. Attorney-client privilege was never intended to keep taxpayers from knowing generally how their money is spent.

And attorney-client privilege can be waived. The CFPD could simply consent to disclosure of the description of work by its attorneys over the last year. We’re not asking for deep secrets, just, for example, why an attorney named Malia Labadie charged us $306 for less than two hours of work on June 22.

Regardless of where you stand on the need for a stand-alone fi re department, we hope you will agree that the fi re board owes us an explanation of where our money is going.

Two weeks later a member of the fi re board brought up the redactions during a regular meeting of the board. The board unanimously agreed to make the documents public and waive attorney-client privilege.

A W A R D S P U B L I C I N F O R M A T I O N

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The Daily Herald held a Hal-loween event that staff dubbed ‘Spookalicious’ for the com-munity this year. Starting at 4 and going through 6 p.m., the Herald opened its doors to cos-tumed youth in the Roanoke Valley.

The staff gave out trick or treat bags, seemingly boat-loads of candy and offered a photo to commemorate the oc-casion. The photos were taken by Les Atkins, local PR agency business owner and former reporter, who works for vari-ous area causes including the Boys and Girls Club of Halifax County.

Five dollars was a request for each photo as a donation to the Club, which is in jeopardy of closing due to the economy and lack of funding. The event raised $255. There was a tre-mendous response from the community. Likely next year, we will open our doors for a longer length of time, as well as stock-piling more candy.

‘Spookalicious’ HalloweenKris

Smith | The Daily

Herald

Ryleigh Daniels, 11 months, was

Valley fun on Oct. 31

Kris Smith | The Daily Herald

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The Daily Herald Employees of the Month

August: Hope Callahan, creative services

September: Jonnie Miles,

editorial administrative assistant

October: Stephen Conger, advertising sales

THE DAILY HERALD STAFF REPORT

Hundreds of people enjoyed the smell of good food and took in a sense of excitement at The Taste of Home Cooking School sponsored by The Daily Herald at Halifax Community College’s The Centre Nov. 8.

From folks who have had a sub-scription to the Taste of Home Cooking magazine for years to recipe collectors and others who couldn’t attend shows because they were too far away to consider purchasing a ticket, made up the event attendees.

Elaine Dobay, from Gates Coun-ty, shared she should have eaten before she came out.

“It made me hungry,” she said, commenting on watching Taste of Home Cook Cheryl Cohen pre-pare the recipes. “It’s amazing how easy she makes it look. I love to cook. Can’t you tell?”

Dobay laughed as she pulled at her shirt.

Dobay said she has lost quite a bit of weight and appreciated the fact Cohen was cooking light. “I’m especially interested in the diabetic cookbook and the healthy foods,” Dobay said. “I look for-ward to finding recipes with low sugar or fake sugar so to speak.”

Tammy Crowley-Deloatch, Roanoke Rapids business owner, said, “I learned that if you add flour to chocolate, it doesn’t stick to the pan.” She added she’d like to see the show come back to the Roanoke Valley.

Teenager Allison Butler came to the show with her mom. “I’m the person who’s up baking cookies at 2 a.m.,” she said. “I love to cook.”

Butler was excited about the

cooking tips and getting new reci-pes. This was her first cooking show, but she was confident she is going to attend more of them.

“I came out to see how modern people cook,” said Frankie King, who like other early birds went from booth to booth enjoying sam-ples and buying products. “This is a new experience,” King said. “We like new experiences. I can see this growing.”

Betsy Moncure bought tickets to the show for a girls’ night out in celebration of Bettie Martin, her cousin’s birthday. They both said they were excited about attending as they made their way around the exhibitor booths.

1st cooking show a big hit

Della Rose | The Daily Herald

Della Rose | The Daily Herald

Kris Smith | The Daily Herald

CTP machine installed in pressroom

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Capital Journal’s new look: spruced-up exterior to go with newspaper redesignBuilding houses core of community-minded employees

BY LANCE NIXONLANCE.NIXON@CAPJOURNAL

Not long after the Capital Journal in Pierre, S.D., rolled out a redesign in August that changed the face of its daily newspaper, it is following up by with a spruced-up exterior to its build-ing.

The new look of the newspaper and the new look of the building both have made a good impression on the com-munity. The newspaper continues to get positive feedback on the new brick color of the building’s exterior, chosen by operations manager Melanie Handl. Some landscaping has added three trees outside the building. New signage that has already held up to some of the strongest wind gusts ever recorded in the area tops off the building.

But it isn’t only with by choosing the Cap Journal’s new colors that Mel Handl represents the newspaper well. She has a performing arts bent, and she let it shine this year by playing a role with the community theater group, the Pierre Players, in their production of “The Red Velvet Cake War.”

As a result of her performance in this play and in some previous plays, Handl has now been named to a seat on the board of governors for the Pierre Players. That gives Handl a seat at the table in helping to plan some of the best entertainment the capital city has to offer each year.

“It’s such a great thing for the com-munity,” she said, adding that it’s more

way to sink roots among the people the newspaper covers. “You really get to know your cast and they are from so many different parts of the com-munity. You see issues from a different point of view. You see things from an

arts point of view, you see them from a non-profit point of view and you see their struggles.”

Acting out a story for the communi-ty, for Handl, becomes one more way to represent the newspaper in its efforts

to tell the community’s story.Pierre area residents still are talking

about the Capital Journal’s impact onthe community in another way – the Kids Venture event that advertising director April Thompson orchestrated with the help of her staff and volun-teers from all the other departmentsof the newspaper. The family-friend-ly August event featured inflateables and learning activities for kids. It was so popular that the local area YMCA already has approached the Capital Journal about being involved in theevent next year. Discussions are under way to see if that will work.

Other Capital Journal staffers filling key roles in the community includebusiness manager Ona Arnold, who has been a key volunteer and organizer in the Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op, a fruits and vegetable cooperative thathas just reached central South Dakotain recent months. The food coopera-tive has been a bit hit in the Pierre/Fort Pierre area, but it also involves agreat deal of work. Fortunately, Arnoldhas the organizational skills to makethings smoother by being involved. Shelikes being involved because the payoff from helping families eat more fruits and vegetables is in better health forthe people of the area.

Of course it’s not all fruits andvegetables in the South Dakota diet.Assistant managing editor Justin Joiner has the enviable duty of helping judge the annual pie competition at the state Capitol in December, where state agencies and community offices com-pete for the honor of baking the bestpie. It’s fortunate they turn to a source as fair and impartial as the CapitalJournal to help decide this important question in the South Dakota state-house.

Above, the Capital Journal building is seen after a new coat of paint. Inset the old building’s paint is seen.At left, Capital Journal creative director Melanie Handl, middle, performs in the Pierre Players production of the Red Velvet Cake War.

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Congratulations to several River City Newspapers employees that celebrated anniversaries this fall. October: Serena Elliott, 1 year; Alexis Christensen, 6 years; Dina Goss , 15 years; Ginny Frank, 17 years; Steve Mock,

10 years.November:Kelly Parks, 6 years; David Cook, 2 years; Kimm Nusbaum, 14 years.DecemberJackie Berg , 19 years.

RCN RIVER CITY NEWSPAPERS

Participants in the 2012 Halloween costume contestat the Today’s News-Herald include, from left,Kortney Coiner (Cookie Monster), Dina Goss (vixen),Sarina Elliott (Whoopie Cushion), Alexis Christensen(Zombie Cop), Shannon Engels (convict), AgnesBunch (Spider Woman), and kneeling, Joy Perry (theQueen of Hearts).

Happy Halloweenat RCN office

RCN Milestones

Janet Fotino has joined the Business Office on Oct. 15. Janet is filling the position of Part-time AccountingClerk. Janet comes to RCN with many years of office experience.

Jon Stern has joined the Editorial Department on Nov. 26. Jon is filling the position of reporter. Jon is a jour-nalism grad from Arizona State University. Jon will have his Master of Fine Arts degree in June 2013 in CreativeWriting Nonfiction.

Employee changesCongrats to Kelli Blumm on her promotion to business office supervisor Dec. 3.Congrats to Janet Fotino on her promotion to Fulltime Accounting Clerk on Dec. 3.

RCN welcomes new employees/employee promotions

Hangin’ with the goblins and ghouls

The Today’s News-Herald participatedin the annual FrightNight on McCullochBoulevardHalloween night.Businesses andorganizations lineMain Street duringthis award-winningevent, passing outcandy and goodiesto hundreds of trick-or-treaters. The com-munity turns out tosupport this eventeach year. Manningthe booth in thisshot from left arecirculation managerJim Abdon, advertis-ing managerChristine Hammersand inside salesmanager Dina Goss.

River City Newspapers managing editor BeckyMaxedon and reporter Jayne Hanson participated inCareer Day at Thunderbolt Middle School in LakeHavasu City in October. About 450 students stoppedto talk about journalism and the newspaper.

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immy Boegle, a Wick Communications employee since November 2001, will be leaving the Tucson Weekly editor’s chair at the end of the year to start a publication in California’s Coachella Valley.

Taking Boegle’s place will be a person with a familiar face: former TW/Inside Tucson Business web producer Dan Gibson.

Boegle—who spent a little more than a year at former Wick newsweekly Las Vegas CityLife before joining the Weekly in January 2003—announced on Nov. 12 that he would be mov-ing to the Palm Springs area to launch the Coachella Valley Independent (cvindependent.com) in January.

“Th e decision to leave the Weekly has been, by far, the toughest professional decision I have ever made,” he wrote in his announcement to the staff . “I love this job; I love the paper; I love what we do online; I love what we do in the community. Most of all, I love working with all of you. Wick Communications has treated me and the paper very well in my almost 10 years here in Tucson, and I think the Weekly’s future is incredibly bright.

On Nov. 26, publisher Tom Lee announced that Gibson would take Boegle’s place as editor. Gibson spent almost two years as the Weekly/ITB web producer before joining Clear Channel Radio—briefl y, it turns out—in August as the Tucson digital content director.

“Th is is the opportunity of a lifetime for me,” Gibson said. “I love this city. I’ve lived here on and off for over 30 years, and I’ve read the Weekly as long as I can remember. I’m proud to be back working in the world of alt-weeklies with such a talented group of writers and staff .”

J

Inside Tucson Business honored 20 community Women of Infl uence at a special breakfast in No-vember. The honorees were, front row from left, Carolyn Compton, CEO of Critical Path Institute; Jane Poynter, co-founder and president of Paragon Space Development Corporation; Kelle Maslyn, corporate affairs manager for Comcast; Jeanette Mare, founder of Ben’s Bells kindness project; and Valerie Diaz, sales manager for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s Casino Del Sol Resort. Back row from left, Carmen Bermudez, founder and CEO of Mission Management and Trust; Cindy Parseghian, founder of the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation; Barbi Reuter, principal in Picor Commercial Real Estate Services; Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall; Dr. Lori Mackstaller, an internist at the University of Arizona’s Sarver Heart Center; Linda McNulty, an attorney with the fi rm of Lewis & Roca; Karen Mlawsky, the CEO of the hospital division of the University of Arizona Health Network; Kathleen “Rocky” LaRose, senior associate director of athletics at the University of Arizona; Jane McCollum, general manager of the Marshall Foundation; philanthropist Neelam Sethi; Amber Smith, executive director of the Metropolitan Pima Alliance; Raena Janes, as owner of La Paloma Academy charter schools; and Colleen Edwards, co-owner of Tucson Appliance and Tucson Wholesale Supply. Two honorees are not pictured, Ginny Clements, chairman of Golden Eagle Distributors, and Jacquelyn Jackson, executive director of Tucson Values Teachers.

Inside Tucson Business Women of Infl uence 2012

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‘Weekly’ Editor Departing to Start Palm Springs Publication; Gibson Takes His Place

erritorial Newspapers in November published the premiere issue of Tucson Woman, a glossy magazine aimed at successful, lifestyle-conscious, forward-thinking and active women.

Content is aimed at helping women make the best decisions possible in their day-to-day lives. It is a new source of leadership profi les and lifestyle news for Tucson’s leading women, and a new outlet for savvy advertisers who recognize the segment’s buying power and unique requirements. Th e quarterly magazine has a pressrun of 10,000 and is distributed by mail to select home addresses of women with a house-hold income of $150,000 or more.

Tucson Woman is headed up by general manager Jill A’Hearn, and edited by Linda Ray.

“As we talked to the women in Tucson’s leadership, we found en-thusiasm for an opportunity to share information,” A’Hearn said. “Th e magazine’s style and tone will capture the character of Tucson women, and the issues, ideas and trends that are important to them.”

ul,

e

y y g gythe world of alt-weeklies with such a talented group of writers and staff .”

First Issue of ‘Tucson Woman’ Wows Southern Arizona

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Boy Scouts pose during a tour of the Eastern Arizona Courier office to learn how anewspaper is produced.

Right: At theCourier’s

GrahamCounty Fairbooth, fair-

goers couldpurchase

newspapersubscriptionsand have $11of each sub-

scriptiondonated to

Susan G.Komen for the

CureFoundation.The Courier

donated $535,which includ-ed sales from

advertising.

Left: Advertising rep-resentatives, from left,Donna Burge, TimBaca and Ingrid Graymake goodie bags forSanta to give awayduring Merry MainStreet in Safford.

Right: Santa hands agoodie bag to a littleboy at Merry MainStreet.

THE COPPER ERASAFFORD, AZ CLIFTON, AZ

EA CourierCommunityinvolvement

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RANGE NEWSA R I Z O N A

WILLCOX•SAN S IMON•SUNSITES•BOWIE•COCHISE•DRAGOON

Arizona Range News Photographer Dave Brown received FrontlineEmployee of the Year from the Willcox Chamber of Commerce andAgriculture at its annual banquet Dec. 4. Brown, who has been four-time Arizona Newspaper Association’s Photographer of the Year fornon-daily newspapers (2009-2012), donates his time and photos to theWillcox School District for its Yearbook, district presentations, sportsprograms and more. ARN Managing Editor Ainslee Wittig said, “Davehas been particularly community-oriented in respect to the school dis-trict. He always does his best when taking photos of students becausehe knows that many of these photos end up in scrapbooks for the stu-dents’ future children and grandchildren to see. With kids of his own, heknows how important that can be for families to pass down pieces oftheir younger lives. He is also very meticulous when in comes to layingout the sports pages or a special section that he believes could end upas someone’s keepsake. Dave is often the first person to be on scene ata newsworthy event, be it a groundbreaking or a tragedy. He acts pro-fessionally and is courteous and respectful to people involved in theevent, from dignitaries to law enforcement to victims. He represents thenewspaper well, which is important because the newspaper is a big partof the community. We are very fortunate to have such a professionaland talented person as Dave working at our small newspaper and wecongratulate him on the award.”

AINSLEE S. WITTIG / Arizona Range News

Community recognition

AINSLEE S. WITTIG / Arizona Range News

Frontline employee of 2012

The Broeder Family was honored as Co-Grand Mar-shals in the Willcox Chamber of Commerce and

Agriculture’s Christmas Lighted Parade on Dec. 1.At right, Triss Lane drives Chuck (a former prod-

uct hauler who recently filled in temporarily whenneeded for the Range News) and Carol, a reporterfor 12 years at the Range News, as well as daugh-

ter Elizabeth (unable to attend due to living out oftown in college). They were recognized with the

honor for their constant volunteerism in thecommunity, including organizing and working

events such as the Lighted Parade, SummerFest, Warren Earp Days, Rex Allen Days, and

volunteering at their church . A candlelight vigilwas also held for daughter Sarah Rose Catherine

Broeder, who also volunteered at everything shecould until she died in a tragic car accident on

May 30, 2011, at age 16.

Parade marshals

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Santa Cruz County www.nogalesinternational.com

Named inlandpress association’s 2001 & 2007 ‘Best in the Nation’

NI Christmascoloring bookhad specialmeaningInOctober,Nogales, Ariz., lost Santa Claus to cancer. Every

year, Jacob “Jake” Brownwould put on his Santa suit and go toseveral toy drives in Santa CruzCounty. Alongwith wifeDonna,orMrs. Claus, they visited the infirm, elderly and the youngest ofour community, handing out candy cane and holiday cheer.It was not to be, this year. So theNogales International dedi-

cated its annual ChristmasColoring Book to Jake. The 24-pagetab was handed out to children by “newspaper elves” as theNI’sfloatmade its way through the parade route on Saturday, Dec. 1.The three coloring books judged best will win $100; $50; and

$25 in prizemoney. In addition, about 10 percent of the proceedsfrom ad sales went to buying 125 toys for theNogales FireDepartment’s Fill the Boot toy drive.We’re sure it’s what Jakewould have wanted.

NOGALES INTERNATIONAL

TRIBUTE TO"SANTA JAKE"

Santa's helpersPriscilla Bolanos,Carmen Torres andMaria Castillo wrap

gifboxes.PHOTO/ CURT PRENDERGAST

The NI deliveryvan stands ready

to haul NIChristmas float.PHOTO/ PRISCILLA BOLANOS

NI staffers and firefighters unload 125 new toys purchased with proceeds from coloring book and donated for theFill the Boot toy drive. PHOTOS/ MANNUEL C. COPPOLA

Publisher Manuel Coppolais flanked by staffand friendsduring parade.

PHOTO/ PRISCILLA BOLANOS

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The HeraldSIERRA VISTA

N E W S O N L I N E AT W W W. S V H E R A L D. CO M

Hess named Community Journalist of the Year

Manning the Chamber’s Expo Booth

Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review senior reporter Bill Hess was named the Journalist of the Year during the Arizona Newspapers Association/Arizona Associated Press Managing Editors annual convention on Sept. 29 in Scottsdale.

Hess was honored for his body of work at the Herald/Review which included stories of the aerostat falling from the sky; Monument Fire coverage, as well as samples of his weekly column.

“This is a well-deserved honor for Bill,” said Publisher Phil Vega. “Bill is a stalwart in the newsroom and he consistently goes after and reports on news that our readers are interested in.”

Hess's award was just one of several the newspaper received in the daily newspaper category with circulation under 25,000. The Herald/Review competes in this category against similar sized newspapers in the state including the Yuma Sun, Today's-Herald in Lake Havasu, the Prescott Valley News, the Casa Grande Dispatch and several

others.Photographer Beatrice Richardson

took first place in the Best Feature Photo Layout for her "Ray of Hope" photospread. "Ray of Hope" also enabled reporter Adam Curtis to take a second place in the Best News Feature Story category.

Hess won two other awards for his news reporting. He took second place for Best News Story for "Boom, boom, thud — a story about the aerostat's crash; and first place for Sustained Coverage, for his work in covering last year's Monument Fire.

In the overall staff recognition categories, the newspaper was honored with a first place in the Best Use of Photography category; second place for Community Service/Journalistic Achievement; third place in the Department News/Copy Editing category; second place in Editorial Page Excellence; a third place in Reporting and News Writing Excellence; and a third place for its Health and Fitness section and a second place for its Back to School

section in the Special Sections category.These awards and the ones given

at a luncheon earlier in the day, for advertising excellence, enabled the Herald/Review to earn third place for General Excellence overall.

I n t he ad awa rds seg ment , Herald/Review ad designer Maggie Saunders was honored in three categories.

Her work took a first place in Best Paid Color Ad series for Daniel’s Jewelers ads; second place in the Best Color Ad category for “Ring in the New Year” which also was a Daniel’s Jewelers ad; and third place for Best Newspaper Promotion Ad for “Results”.

The newspaper was honored overall winning a first place for Best Classified Section; first place in Best Public Notice Section and a third place for the annual Business & Service Directory which was titled, "31 Flavors of Sierra Vista".

The ad and news contests were judged by members of the Oregon Press Association.

Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review Ad ve r t i s i n g Re p r e s e n t a t i ve s K a t hy Murray, lef t, and Julie Ramirez man the booth at the Sierra Vista Home and Business Expo held in The Mall at Sierra Vista recently. MARK LEVY • HERALD/REVIEW

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Spooky fun on Halloween

Stair ClimbSierra Vista Herald employees after completing the Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb on Oc tober 20. From lef t, Adam Cur tis, Matt Hickman, Mark Levy and Beatrice Richardson.

Top left: Sierra Vista Herald Circulation Office Manager Judy Schiewe,left, Wick Circulation Director Jeff Scott, and Sierra Vista Herald Circulation Manager Ray Taylor, right, have a scary good time as they man the fishing prize patrol at the Halloween Fall Festival in Veterans’ Memorial Park. Bottom left: Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review Publisher Phil Vega and Advertising Representative Kathy Murray, left, help young Halloween enthusiasts fish for treats at the Herald booth. Above: Janet LaValley was the only Sierra Vista Herald employee who was brave enough to dress up for Halloween this year.

PAT WICK · HERALD/REVIEW

BEATRICE RICHARDSON · HERALD/REVIEW

PHOTOS BY: MARK LEVY · HERALD/REVIEW

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JACOB PETERSEN

SIERRA VISTA — The Annual Taste of Home Cooking School and Expo is a production so unmatched in Sierra Vista that it has become more like the local Super Bowl of food than a simple culinary occasion.

From giveaways, raffles and more than a dozen vendor booths open prior to the show, to the gift bags given to each patron as they enter the auditorium and the prizes handed out during the show itself, the event is packed with extras to the point that the recipes presented on stage seem but a small part of the whole affair.

And with more than 1,000 visitors filling the Buena Performing Arts Center on Thursday night (Nov.1), this year was no different.

“It’s just so fun,” said Sue Moore, who has attended the show for the last five years with her sister Sherri Wooldridge.

“Everybody just hoots an hollers, and you learn a lot about cooking,” she said, adding that her favorite part of the experience is the fun-loving, celebratory atmosphere that has become so synonymous with the event.

“We never win anything,” she said of the many prizes given out both before and during the event.

“But it is still wonderful. It’s just a lot of fun to sit on the edge and think ‘I’m going to get this?’ ” she said.

Hosted by Herald/Review Publisher Phil Vega and Senior Reporter Bill Hess, the show featured the talents of Taste of Home Culinary Specialist Jamie Dunn, who hails from Oklahoma.

“This is a fabulous show because the attendance is always great and the audience always has a lot of fun,” Dunn said.

Recipes detailed during the show are brought together by culinary experts across the country and each visitor gets copies of all of the recipes, Dunn said.

“That is really what this show is all about, just sharing recipes. We share recipes from across the nation and we produce a magazine with all of those recipes exclusively for people that come to the show,” she said.

“Food brings people together,” she said, adding that

“when you cook for people and have all your friends over, people just open up and communicate and share time together and, really, they share life.”

For Nancy Clark and her sister Mary Knotts, attending the show was more about helping out the local food bank while having fun learning new recipes.

“We brought in some food and we got a raffle ticket for that,” Clark said, adding that she had already won a $10 gift card to the mall and Knotts had won a candy bar on a prize wheel.

“When I heard about the food drive, I wanted to come along and bring in some cans,” said Clark’s husband, J.D.

And as the cook of the family, Knotts’ husband Mike also came along.

“He does most of the cooking,” Knotts’ said, while J.D. interjected that, in his family, “I do most of the eating.”

And though nobody in the group had a favorite recipe, Dunn, who covers about 40,000 miles doing about 50 shows

per year, said her favorite recipe of the evening was the Upside Down Apple Pie.

“It’s like sticky buns meet apple pie,” she said, adding that the pie is baked upright and then flipped onto the plate.

Asked about her favorite part of the show, Dunn responded that “for me, it’s when you actually get on stage and inspire people to cook. When people get together to eat during the day, it gives them time to get to know each other and spend time together and talk.”

And asked about attending the event next year, Dunn, Nancy and J.D. Clark, Mary and Mike Knotts, and Sue Moore and her sister Sherri all agreed.

“We will definitely be back,” each of them said.

Cooking Show a big hitAbout 1,000 attend special event sponsored by Herald/Review

Taste of Home Cooking School Culinary Specialist Jamie Dunn prepares stuffed mushrooms during her show at Buena Performing Arts Center.

PHOTOS BY: BEATRICE RICHARDSON • HERALD/REVIEWSierra Vista Herald / Bisbee Daily Review senior reporter Bill Hess, left, and publisher Phil Vega enjoy their time on stage during the annual Taste of Home Cooking School and Expo at the Buena Performing Arts Center on Nov. 1st.

Left: Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review employees Vanessa

Wingerter, Circulation District Manager, and Ray

Taylor, Circulation Manager, are waiting for customers

at the annual Taste of Home Cooking School

and Expo at Buena High School in November. In the

background is Ray’s wife, Elaine

Right: Ray Taylor, Circulation Manager, and

Joan Hancock, Business Manager, are cleaning up

behind the scenes during the Taste of Home Cooking School and Expo

at Buena High School.

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Douglas Dispatch

Top left: Tom Riebock, Director of Human Resources for Wick Com-munications, was the guest speaker for the Douglas Chamber of Commerce luncheon Nov. 1. Riebock’s topic was “Providing Excel-lent Customer Service”.

Above: Douglas Dispatch Managing Editor Bruce Whetten and re-porter Trisha Maldonado spoke to a group of students in the Doug-las High School yearbook class Nov. 8 about what it takes to put out a newspaper each week. Whetten shared his experiences of being in journalism for close to 30 years while Maldonado talked about why she chose to start writing. She emphasized how important it is to learn as much as you can with today’s changing technology.

Left: Douglas Dispatch Circulation Manager Francisco Barrios, who is a part-time music instructor at Cochise College, was one of 34 entries in Douglas’ annual Christmas Parade Nov. 24. Barrios has been with the Dispatch for seven years. He has been teaching music part-time at Cochise College for two years and plays saxophone.

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REGINA FORD | GREEN VALLEY NEWS & SUN

He’s a giverLOU NAVE of Green Valley, Ariz., is surrounded by loads of stuffed toys he donated to the Marine Corps Reserves Toys for Tots program. The Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun hosted one of the many Toys for Tots collection boxes in the community, and Nave helps fill it up every year.

G R E E N V A L L E Y

A N D S U N

MAGAZINEInside Green Valley

Sahuarita, the annual Chamber magazine,

is a big hit

MAGAZINEDiscover Southern Arizona 2012-13

hits the streets

www.gvnews.com Serving Green Valley, Sahuarita, Amado, Arivaca, Tumacácori, Tubac www.sahuaritasun.com

SOUTHERN ARIZONADISCOVER

HERITAGE, HISTORY & HIGH SONORAN DESERT

A PUBLICATION OF THE GREEN VALLEY NEWS & THE NOGALES INTERNATIONAL

2012—2013

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Advertising, newsroom rack up awards

It takes a team effort: VIP soars beyond goals

The Green Valley News and Sahua-rita Sun held its second VIP program in November and it was a smashing suc-cess.

Presentation week started with $132,072.04 in re-signs and 29 con-tracts for an amazing 92 percent, and a regular goal of $72,221.88, with a stretch goal of $82,221.88 — and only 73 appoint-ments to make it hap-pen. And that’s not even the final number.

“We were a little ap-prehensive this year due to lagging sales,” Pub-lisher Pam Mox said, “but the commitment of our ad staff exceeded our expectations. With a limited staff, it took everyone going above and beyond to make VIP such a success. We couldn’t

be more pleased.”“This is a team organization,” pre-

senter Bill Kennon said. “The paper is involved in the commu-nity and many of the guests were aware of that.”

Advertisers in Green Valley were very re-ceptive to the program with 30 new advertisers bringing in $110,954.83 in new annualized year-ly contracts.

Not only did the regu-lar goal get blown out of the water, but the stretch goal got smashed under a showing of support for the VIP program.

“Pam does an excel-lent job on overseeing the project and her reps deliver,” Kennon said.

“With a limited staff, it took

everyone going above and beyond

to make VIP such a success. We couldn’t be more pleased.”

Pam MoxPublisher

The Green Valley News won sev-eral awards in the Arizona News-papers Association “Better News-papers Contest” and “Excellence in Advertising.” The newspaper won the following awards in its circulation category.

•First place for Special Section/Newspaper Supplement or Maga-zine for “Discover Southern Arizo-na,” edited by Karen Walenga and designed by Graham Har-rington.

•First place, “Best Feature Photo-graph,” titled “Snake bite!” by

Kitty Bottemiller, of GVFD’s Fire Corps snake-removal team (pictured right).

•First place for “Best Feature Photo Layout,” by Eric To-bias, titled “She will be missed.”

•Second place for “Best Sports Story,” “Fish tale,” by reporter Karen Walenga, the story of 93-year-old La Posada resident Lenore Groundwater win-ning a fishing derby in Alaska.

•Second place for “Best Sports Column,” “A letter to ESPN,” by

sports editor Kevin Duke.•Second place for “Best Column/

Feature/Criticism,” “Santa Cruz county sheriff calls it like he sees

it,” by freelance writer Scott Dyke. •Third place for “Best News Photograph,” titled “She will be missed,” by freelance photographer Scott A. Taras.

•Third place for Enterprise Report-ing, “Domestic violence,” by Kitty Bottemiller.

•Third place for Best Online Site/Web Page.

Advertising•First place for “Best Black & White

Ad,” by Graham Harrington for “Congrats, Jennifer.”

•First place for “Best Pro Bono or Public Service Ad,” by Graham Harrington for “Valley Assis-tance Services.”

•First place for “Best Newspaper Ad, Series or Section,” by Eric Tobias, “Any way you want it.”

•Second place for “Best Color Ad,” by Sarah Keith, for “Empower Physical Therapy.”

•Third place for General Excel-lence.

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As the Sidney Herald’s new sports reporter, I wanted to introduce myself to the readers, fans, and to the coaches and athletes of the area. As a newcomer to the Sidney area from over 2,000 miles away in New Jersey, I wanted to thank

everyone in town for being so warm and welcoming to me.

About a month ago, little did I know that I was about to move across the country, and that I would be on my way to starting my sports

journalism career. I am thankful to the Sidney Herald, both Libby Berndt and Bill Vander Weele, and the rest of the Herald employees, for giving me a chance and allowing me to gain experi-ence in the fi eld.

I graduated from Ramapo College of New Jersey with a bachelors of contem-porary arts, where I focused in sports journalism.

I knew I wanted to pursue a career in sports journalism because I have always had a passion for sports and was always interested in the way sports have be-come rooted in our society and history.

Coming to Sidney, I was not sure what to expect. As soon as I got here though, I fell in love with all of the people in this town. It is a bit of a culture shock com-ing from New Jersey, but not to worry, real Jersey girls are nothing like MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” as I already assured fellow Sidney Herald reporter and avid watcher of the “Jersey Shore,” Louisa Barber.

I am thrilled to be a sports reporter for the Sidney Herald and honored to be a part of this community.

I look forward to meeting every single one of you in the near future at the many games I plan on attending in the area.

You can always reach me at the Sidney Herald or email me, as I want to get to know each and every one of you more.

Sidney’s new sportsreporter comesfrom New Jersey

BILL VANDER WEELE | SIDNEY HERALD

Successful promotionSidney Herald circulation manager Dawn Steinbeisser, left, presents food donations to the Richland County Food Bank. The Herald offered residents a reduced rate for a subscription if they brought in canned goods for the food bank.

Kiwanis directorSidney Herald managing editor Bill Vander Weele, second from right in back row, was re-elected as a Sidney Kiwanis Club director. He is a past president of the club.

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Ebersole honored for investigative reporting

Williston, ND

BY JERRY BURNESWILLISTON HERALD REPORTER

Jenna Ebersole, along with two other Boston University students, was awarded with the David S. Barr Award over the weekend in Baltimore.

The award, given by the Newspaper Guild, Communications Workers of America, recognized journalistic achievement and encouraged young journalists looking at social justice issues. The three reporters worked on the story not only through BU but also the non-profit New England Center for Investigative Reporting.

“It was exciting to be recognized for something that took us a lot of time,” Ebersole said. “We’re really appreciative of the honor.”

Ebersole, along with Sarah Favot and Kirsten Berg, tackled the issue of mandatory life sentences in Maryland for juveniles found guilty of first degree murder. The expose was entitled “Our Young Killers” and started in the spring of 2011.

The six-month-plus recording process involved hours in the courthouse in Boston and later prison interviews. After going through all the information, the three found there were inequities in the system where some were offered plea deals as opposed to life sentences. The Massachusetts law was later ruled unconstitutional.

“Above all, the NECIR is doing profound work for training a new generation of investigative reporters,” Ebersole added. “I owe a lot of what I know about investigative reporting to my editor Maggie Mulvihill.”

Jenna Ebersole

Burnes joins Herald staff as reporterBY PAYTON WILLEYWILLISTON HERALD REPORTER

Jerry Burnes, a young man who has come from Willmington, Ill. with hopes of applying his knowledge and experience from several areas, has joined the Williston Herald staff as its newest reporter.

Burnes recently graduated with his masters degree in communication studies with an emphasis on social media, sports and business communication from Northern Illinois University where he also received his bachelors degree in journalism in 2009.

No rookie to sports news, Burnes has previously held positions at Northern Star, NIU’s student newspaper, Free Press Newspapers in Willmington and an internship with the Chicago Bandits, a professional softball team. Burnes previous titles include sports writer, photographer, photo editor, sports editor, campus writer and public relations intern.

In his spare time, Burnes enjoys reading nonfiction, playing golf and photography, a passion that stemmed from the

workplace.“When I worked for the Willmington paper, it was a lot like

the Herald where you had to take your own photos, so when I went back to graduate school, I decided to challenge myself more,” Burnes said. “Working as a photographer and photo editor doing NIU sports, I kind of grew to love photography and got halfway decent at it.”

Burnes said his most memorable story during his career so far in the journalism field was the opportunity to cover the February 14 shooting which occurred in 2008 and involved a former NIU student who waled into a lecture hall and killed five students.

Burnes also covered two Mid-American Conference Championships; NIU vs. Miami of Ohio, and NIU vs. Ohio University, as well as the godaddy.com bowl game this year with NIU vs. Arkansas State.

Burnes said his favorite thing to write about is sports, and he hopes to have a great learning experience during his time at the Williston Herald.

Jerry Burnes

Joint potluck

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Williston, ND

Holidays

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Liedke joins the newsroom at Daily NewsNew reporter said it feels like he is destined to live in border towns

BY MATTHEW LIEDKE • DAILY NEWSmattl@wahpetondailynews.com

It seems like I’m destined to live in border towns.

I grew up in International Falls, Minn., a town that re-sides on the border of Canada. I decided on being a journalist back in the 10th grade and de-cided I wanted to study journal-ism at Minnesota State Univer-sity Moorhead in 11th grade. After high school I attended Rainy River Community Col-lege to get my associate in arts degree, that was followed by my transfer to MSUM. At that point I was once again living in a border area. I completed my degree in mass communica-tions in May of 2012

While I attended both Rainy River and MSUM, I became very passionate about film and started up a movie review website, “After The Movie Re-views.” Since I started the site, I’ve written more than 300 re-views and learned most of the ins and outs of the film indus-try and box office. My favorite film would be “The Godfather: Part II,” and others I love are “Metropolis,” “Tombstone” and “The Dark Knight.”

When I’m not watching mov-ies in my downtime, I am more than likely watching sports. Growing up in International Falls, a town that has won sev-en Minnesota state high school hockey championships, it was practically in my blood to get into the sport, and I watch both college and professional games frequently.

The same can be said about football. I’ll most likely watch a game no matter who is play-ing. Since I’m from Minnesota, the teams I root for are the Minnesota Vikings, The Uni-versity of Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Minnesota Wild.

When I found out that I would be working here in Wah-peton, I was ecstatic, as I see it as a very great opportunity for my career and the town is very welcoming. For a third time I’m also living in a border area and that is something I fully embrace.

Matthew Liedke, the Richland County reporter for the Daily News is also the paper’s new film critic. About twice a month he critiques films, giving readers a taste of one of his loves, watching movies. His movie blog can be found at www.afterthemoviereviews.com.

Eric Grover, sports editor of the Daily News, is willing to dye his hair pink if two girls basketball teams can raise $3,000 or more to combat cancer.

Sports Editor willing to go ‘pink’ for a good cause

BY ERIC GROVER • DAILY NEWSsports@wahpetondailynews.com

OK, so here’s the deal. I’m teaming up with the Wahpeton and Breckenridge girls bas-ketball teams who are raising money for breast cancer re-search. They came to me with an idea they called “The Gro-ver Challenge.” How could I resist that?

Here’s how it works. They are selling bracelets and Tupper-ware at basketball games and there are also going to be dona-tion boxes at each school. If we can raise enough money, I’ve agreed to color my hair pink,

live, in front of everyone, dur-ing halftime of the Wahpeton-Breckenridge basketball game at NDSCS on Dec. 15. Yes, you read that correctly.

Hold on now, my head isn’t cheap. I’ve set the goal at $3,000. It’s a lot of money, but it’s for a great cause.

All money raised will di-rectly go to the Susan G. Ko-men Foundation. According to breastcancer.org, 1 out of every 8 women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in their lives. I’m thinking that’s got to stop. So let’s team up and fight this disease. See you on the 15th of December.

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Val Sanders joins staff of the News-MonitorBY ROBYN ROHDE

newsmonitor@midconetwork.com

There is a new bright, smil-ing face in the News-Monitor office.

Val Sanders has taken over the office manager position since Aug. 21 and is looking forward to keeping the public updated on upcoming events, church schedules and local news.

“I enjoy working with the public and all the local people who stop in the office,” Sand-ers said.

Sanders’ previous work his-tory includes 10 years at 3M/Imation, Wahpeton, and three years with Dr. Kenneth (KJ) Weidman, Breckenridge.

Most recently you would have noticed her pleasant dis-position behind the desk at Mark Sand and Gravel, Han-kinson.

Beginning last week the Hankinson native will now be your contact for any subscrip-tion questions or advertising needs. She can be reached Tuesday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 701-242-7696.

Compiling the news from the past section has quickly be-come her favorite duty in the office.

Sanders is married to Mike and together they have one son, Rylan.

Val Sanders is the new staff member at the News-Monitor in Hankinson, N.D. She brings a ready smile to her position as office manager. She has become a good addition to the paper.

‘I enjoy working with the public and all the local people who stop in the office.’

ROBYN ROHDE | NEWS-MONITOR

Donkey ball fundraiserThe Hankinson Washington, D.C., Close Up group held a donkey basketball fundraiser for an upcoming trip. The evening proved to be a hilarious experi-ence for audience and participants alike. The Lidgerwood Fire Department took on the Hankinson Fire Department in the opening act, followed by the boys basketball team taking on the girls. Above: Hankinson firefighter Arnie Lovdokken tries to turn his donkey around toward the basket. There were bucks, spills and good-natured teasing as the donkeys got the best of the par-ticipants in this family event.

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Local news you need, information you want.Local news you need, information you want.Your community-involved newspaper.Your community-involved newspaper. www.argusobserver.comwww.argusobserver.comOntario, OROntario, OR

PROMOTION

ARGUS OBSERVER STAFFONTARIO

Ontario’s holiday kickoff,“Festival of Trees,” had itslargest opening ever inNovember as the annual eventbegan its three-day run at theClarion Inn in Ontario.

The Argus Observer is a spon-sor and major supporter of theevent.

This year, there were 37 trees,

the majority of which are spon-sored. The trees were decoratedby the festival committee, andfive businesses decorated theirown.

The trees, wreaths, center-pieces and other craft items arefor sale, and the event raises ap-proximately $18,000 to $20,000,with 70 percent going to Mealson Wheels and 30 percent toHelp Them To Hope.

Help Them To Hope was start-ed 47 years ago with the help ofFran McLean, who was the firstWick publisher of the ArgusObserver.

Bill McCarver had been appointed the new circulation man-ager of the Argus Observer and Independent-Enterprise.McCarver replaces former Circulation Manager JoeRodriguez, who retired this summer. McCarver started hisnew position Oct. 1.McCarver, an Ontario native, previously worked at the Argusin high school and while attending Treasure ValleyCommunity College as a sports stringer. He left the Argus toattend Oregon State University, where he majored in jour-nalism and theater.After college, he owned his own retail business for 22 years

before returning to the Argus in October 2010, when he was hired as circulation dis-trict manager. The circulation district manager’s primary duties focused on circu-lation route management and newspaper delivery.As circulation manager, McCarver now oversees all aspects of Argus Observer cir-culation department, including marketing, sales and promotion of the newspaper.McCarver has been married to his wife, Kathy, for 31 years. They have one son.

On Oct. 22, Scott McIntosh started work as the new editor ofthe Argus Observer and Independent-Enterprise, oversee-ing operations of the editorial department.McIntosh, 42, has been a newspaper journalist for 18 years.Most recently, he was the owner and editor of the KunaMelba News, a weekly, in Kuna, for five years, from 2006 to2011. During that time, he won 27 awards from theNational Newspaper Association and the Idaho Press Club.Prior to that, McIntosh was an assistant metro editor at the

Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., he was the managing editor at the SanMateo (Calif.) County Times, was a copy editor at the News-Herald in Willoughby,Ohio, and started his career as a reporter and copy editor at the Current-Argus inCarlsbad, N.M.McIntosh holds bachelor’s degrees in newspaper journalism and English fromSyracuse University.He and his wife, Nicola, have been married for 15 years and have two sons, Luke,10, and Robert, 7.

The Argus Observer welcomes Sports EditorJordan Schultz to the Editorial Department.Jordan Schultz spent most of his time growing upin Payette, Idaho. He graduated from PayetteHigh School, where he played basketball, base-ball and football. His senior year, he earned all-conference awards in basketball and baseballand was picked to play in the Senior All-Star bas-ketball game. After high school, Schultz spentone year as a member of the Treasure Valley

Community College mens basketball team. “My passion growing up was always sports, and a few years ago I reallystarted to like writing, so I decided that I needed to get into a career thatwould combine the two,” according to Schultz. Schultz started off blogging online and eventually became a freelancesports writer for the Idaho State Journal in Pocatello, Idaho, before be-ing selected as the Argus Observer sports editor.

LARRY MEYER | ARGUS OBSERVER

Argus Observer advertising account executive Jo Ogburn, right, was spotted early at the opening of the annual Festival of Trees event inOntario.

Argus Observer celebrates the seasonwith Festival of Trees

Festival of Treesbenefits Help

Them To Hope

Coffee ConnectIn a partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the

Argus Observer hosted a Coffee Connect event on the morning ofNov. 13. A couple of dozen business people and community mem-bers had a cup of coffee with McIntosh and McCarver.

NEW FACES

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BOGALUSA-FRANKLINTON, LOUISIANA

The Daily NewsHelping to make the

‘Magic City’ shineThe city of Bogalusa has a

community tradition of com-ing together on Thanksgivingevening to kindle the magic ofthe Christmas season.

A family-friendly paraderolls at 5 p.m., powerfully set-ting the mood as the partici-pating individuals and theirmodes of transport arewrapped in colorful strings oflights.

The Parade of Lights endsup at Cassidy Park where mil-lions of additional lights arebrought to life with the offi-cial opening of the Christmasin the Park extravaganza.

Earlier, Mayor CharlesMizell and the City Councilasked local home and busi-ness owners, schools, church-es and civic organizations tohelp transform the city into alife-sized, living Christmasvillage to let the spirit of the“Magic City” radiate in timefor the official opening of theseason.

City leaders encouragedeveryone to “start the seasonright, right here at home” bylighting their houses, vehi-cles and businesses to help“make this the biggestChristmas season ever” in

Bogalusa.People were encouraged to

string Christmas lights and toalso hang wreaths, put upmanger scenes and any otherdecorations to make the land-scape merry and magicalboth night and day.

Artists and anyone else whowanted to help with the trans-formation of Columbia StreetSquare for the holiday wereinvited to join MainstreetProgram Manager Robin Day.The old Farmer’s Marketbuilding was slated to becomea gingerbread house.

Within days, volunteers

were pounding nails, paintingdecorations and hanginglights, and soon the metamor-phosis was complete. Theonce drab and unpaintedstructure has become a gin-gerbread-colored haven forarea children to enjoy.

’Tis the season for all thecitizens of Bogalusa to pauseand remember the reason forthe season — the birth ofJesus Christ — and to alsoremember His admonish-ment: “Inasmuch as you havedone it to one of the least ofthese my brothers, you havedone it to me.”

Merry Christmas to all.

DAILY NEWS PHOTOS/Marcelle Hanemann

LEFT: Columbia Street Square, which had been adorned with a giant pumpkin, spider and more in advance of Bogalusa’s Harvest Fes-tival, underwent a change for the Christmas holidays. Joshua Crosby, left, helps Gary Magee with the transformation of the old Farmer’sMarket structure into a festive “gingerbread house,” under the direction of Mainstreet Program Manager Robin Day and the observationof Joe Michael Giordano. At right, Daily News Business Office Manager Vicki Schilling poses in front of the completed gingerbreadhouse. The Columbia Street Square is located directly in front of The Daily News office.

Ouch!

Each year, The Daily Newsgenerously pays for all of itsemployees, including PNPrinting, to receive immu-nization from the flu. Noteveryone agrees to get one, butmost are willing to wait theirturn and get “shot” in order toward off a debilitating flu.

This year, the Centers forDisease Control is predictingone of the worst flu seasons ina decade, with cases alreadybeing reported in five South-ern states, including Louis-iana. The 2003-04 outbreak, oneof the most lethal seasonsrecorded in the past 35 years,killed more than 48,000 people.

Daily Newsstaffers get theirannual flu shot

DAILY NEWS PHOTO/Jan Gibson

Le’Ann Williams, Daily Newsadvertising rep, is a bitsqueamish about getting herflu shot.

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St. John the Baptist Parish,where L’Observateur’s offices arelocated, had a tough August as itfaced two separate tragedies.

On the morning of Aug. 16,local residents as well as thenewspaper staff awoke to news ofa shooting that left two sheriff’sdeputies dead and two morewounded.

The alleged perpetrators wereanti-government activists whofirst shot Deputy Michael Scott

Boyington as he sat in a car whileworking an off-duty traffic detail.Then, when officers were investi-gating the incident at a LaPlacetrailer park, an ambush occurredin which Deputies Jeremy Tricheand Brandon Nielsen were killedand Deputy Jason Triche wasseverely wounded.

And, of course, L’Observateurwas there to not only report onthe initial incident but also to doc-ument the outpouring of compas-

sion and support from the localcommunity that followed thetragedy.

Then, less than two weekslater, a slow-moving, category onehurricane called Isaac made land-fall on the coast of Louisiana. Thestorm subjected the area to highwinds and torrential rains for twofull days, and this combinationproduced unprecedented flood-ing in St. John the Baptist Parish,where people had to be rescuedfrom their flooded homes by boat.

Although L’Observateur’s of-fices escaped relatively un-scathed, two staff members’ hous-es were not so lucky. The stormalso forced the newspaper to skipits Saturday, Sept. 1, edition, asdelivery would have been impos-sible.

Nonetheless, dedicated staffmembers committed themselvesto bringing the latest news to itsreaders via the Internet, despitehaving no power and limitedresources.

In the days that followed,L’Observateur remained steadfast

in its mission, keeping the publicinformed through reports andphotos, and put out a print editionone week after the storm hit. Staffmembers even brought the news-

papers to storm-affected resi-dents as they waited in lines foremergency food stamps and otherassistance and even while theygutted their damaged homes.

BBeesstt AAlloonngg tthhee RRiivveerr SSiinnccee 11991133

L‘ OBSERVATEUR

Pagination Department expandsThe Pagination Department for the Pontchartrain Newspaper Group, housed in theoffices of L’Observateur and headed by L’Observateur General Manager/Managing

Editor David Vitrano, brought another new face to LaPlace in October when it hiredAshley Sentimore as its newest paginator. The addition will help the department

take on even more pagination duties as it strives to eventually handle all layout forthe three newspapers. Coming from a graphic design background, Ashley had totake a little time at first to learn the ins and outs of the newspaper business, butshe is sure to be a big help as Pontchartrain Newspapers prepares to convert to

Indesign software and a new workflow system at the beginning of 2013.

L’Observateur weathers the storm

L’Observateur General Manager/Managing Editor David Vitranoworks on a generator-powered laptop set up in the home ofGraphic Designer Rhett Triche in the days after Hurricane Isaacflooded large portions of St. John the Baptist Parish.

From left, L’Observateur Publisher Sandy Cunningham,Advertising Support Monique Narcisse, Graphic Designer RhettTriche and Advertising Representative Regina Burrell wait forthe funeral procession for Deputy Jeremy Triche.

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NEW IBERIA, LOUISIANA

New editorial system installedWhen a new editorial system is

installed at a newspaper, and no one gets the idea that retirement should be hastened, it has to be a success.

At least that’s what Daily Iberian Managing Editor Jeff Zeringue be-lieves.

“Anytime you introduce change in the newsroom, you kind of hold your breath,” Zeringue quipped.

Although many are getting used to the new system and minor bugs have to be worked out, the change has been good.

The new Workfl ow system is a simi-lar version to what the Sierra Vista Herald has been using for some time. Reporters work on an Internet-browser based system that is easy to maneuver.

The new editorial system also allows reporters to fi le easily from the fi eld, even having the ability to upload pho-tos as well.

Workfl ow was developed by Sierra Vista Herald IT Manager and Wick IT Support Don Judd, who spent two weeks in Louisiana installing the Workfl ow system.

“It was an excellent installation,” Judd said. “The team in New Iberia re-ally invested themselves in the installa-tion, and in learning the new Workfl ow system, and made it a wildly successful project.”

No change is without its challenges, but the news staff was determined to learn the new programs.

“I’m really proud of the news staff here,” Zeringue said. “They stuck with

it and were determined to learn as much as they could in the short time that Don Judd was here.

“And the learning is continuing. Teche Life Editor Karma Champagne probably had the biggest challenge because she only paginates twice per week, on a regular basis, although she does produce several special sections

during the year.”Learning the pagination software

InDesign was one of the more diffi cult challenges, Zeringue said. There are several similarities to the old Quark program.

“The diffi culty was that doing things, such as making a drop-cap letter at the beginning of a paragraph, ends up the

same, you just have to learn the differ-ent way to get there.”

Judd’s Workfl ow program is a work in progress, but the system is up an running in New Iberia, La.

“It was the most positive project I have been involved with in Wick to date,” Judd said. “Well done to every-one in New Iberia.”

And it wasn’t just the newsroom. Upgrading to InDesign necessitated an upgrade in AdForce in advertising and production, in the way the ads are put into the system and pages are built.

Although the process of dummying the paper and creating the pages has changed, that process, too, is getting better as the new system is learned bythe staff in advertising and produc-tion.

LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Daily Iberian Managing Editor Jeff Zeringue, from left, Production Manager Jerry Sex-ton and Sierra Vista Herald IT Manager and Wick IT Support Don Judd work together to install the new computer system and new editing software.

LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Teche Life Editor Karma Champagneteasingly pulls her hair out of her headas she learns the new editing software.

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LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Just a cute little kitty, right?Daily Iberian reporter Hope Rurik feeds one of two Golden Bengal tigers recently acquired by the Zoo of Acadiana in nearbyBroussard, La. ‘Golden Bengal tigers, like these cubs, are a cross between the white tiger, like the zoo’s Jolie, and a regular Bengaltiger, like LSU’s mascot Mike the Tiger,’ Rurik wrote in a story published Oct. 31. Following the interview with the animals’ keep-ers, Rurik was able to feed the last bit of bottle to ‘tyke.’ The new acquisitions were only about two weeks from the zoo staff,and anyone else, having such close contact with the wild animal.

DI editor participates in balcony performance

It was off Broadway, some 2,000 miles off Broadway, but was an enjoyable acting experience, said Daily Iberian Managing Editor Jeff Zeringue.

“It” was the Beneath the Balconies, an annual series of theatrical and musical performances held in October on several balconies in downtown New Iberia.

“I did a little radio announcing, once upon a time, and a couple of plays in col-lege, but this was defi nitely a lot easier, much less pressure,” Zeringue said.

The role was a sports announcer who introduced four short performances in the characters of LSU head football coach Les Miles, Notre Dame legendary coach Knute Rockney, the late Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry and NFL legend and former Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi.

LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Daily Iberian Managing Editor Jeff Zeri-ngue in October performs the role of a sports announcer during ‘Beneath the Balconies,’ a series of performances by actors and singers on balconies in down-town New Iberia.

Reporters have to be quick on their toes, which is what Daily Iberian re-porter Jessica Goff was on Dec. 4 when two vehicles crashed in front of her car.

“It was crazy,” Goff said. “I just saw this woman drive right through the intersection and crash right into a man’s SUV.

“I was just on my lunch break.”Goff had her pocket knife in her

purse, a gift from her father, and was able to cut the seatbelt strap, freeing

the crash victim, while she was on the phone with a 911 operator.

She had to cut the strap in two places to free the man, Paul Camacho Jr., of New Iberia.

The driver of the second vehicle, Pamela Thompson, also of New Iberia was cited in the crash for running a red light and causing the wreck.

Goff said Iberia Parish Fire Dis-trict No. 1 Chief Guy Bonin arrived on the scene first and asked her if

she was reporting on the wreck. When she said she had witnessed the crash he responded, “Wow, you really get up close with your report-ing, huh?”

Hours after the wreck, Goff still marveled at her unexpected response of assisting the crash victim.

Both victims were not injured badly, Goff said. They were taken to a local hospital where they were treated and released.

Reporter frees trapped driver after wreck

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ST. TAMMANYST. TAMMANY

NEWSTHE Heart OF ST. TAMMANY www.thesttammanynews.com

SlidellSentry News BannerST. TAMMANYST. TAMMANY

NEWS

Members of the St. Tammany News advertising department,from left, Amanda Flathers, Shane Maddox, MelanieMaddox, Shelia Allemand, Holly Flattmann, Jay Kemp, BillCranford, Felder O’Rourke, Michelle Wallis-Croas, DeaneBerke and Barbara Eckert, presented a plaque to thedeparting Jay Kemp, digital media manager. The plaquereads “Official Member – Who Dat Nation.” Kemp left theSt. Tammany News after accepting another job with HalifaxMedia Group in Daytona, Fla. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel)

Once a Who Dat, Always a Who Dat

‘Northshore Sports’ making an impact in St. Tammany

St. Tammany News sports edi-tor Mike Pervel, a 30-year Armyveteran, who worked in militarybroadcasting throughout hiscareer, and Jay Jay Richardson,the Voice of the Northshore, haveestablished a long standing broad-cast bond when it comes to localradio coverage here on theNorthshore.

The duo has hit the airwavesfor the past eight years, hostingNorthshore Sports, a weekly seg-ment on The Lake 94.7 WYLK.

The radio show airs onThursday nights from 6:30-8:00p.m., broadcasting from WowCafé and Wingery’s new locationin the Clarion Inn and Suites onHighway 190 in Covington.

Northshore Sports is an outletto recognize the tireless effort andcommitment made by student-athletes here on the Northshore.Upcoming shows will be featur-ing boys’ and girls’ basketball and

soccer as the program is sched-uled to run through the month ofMarch.

During the Nov. 29th showNorthlake Christian School first-year head boys’ basketball coachSean Englert and two of his play-ers senior guard Dane Landry andjunior Riley Risher appearedalong with varsity LadyWolverines’ first-year head coachAaron Agresta and senior guardsJolie Chaubert and KatinaLaGamba.

Each week the show promotesdeserving high school student-athletes and their schools high-lighting their accomplishmentsduring the respective sports sea-sons.

Richardson also handles livefootball play-by-play during theseason along with color analyst

“Dynamite” Dave Hardy onFriday nights with Pervel han-dling halftime interviews and sta-tistics during certain broadcasts.

Northshore Sports had a newlook this football season this year

with the addition of formerSaints’ All-pro receiver BooWilliams and Antonio Marshall, a1995 Mandeville High graduate,who played football for theSkippers and at USM, handling

the EX5 Ultimate Sports Drinksideline reports during the foot-ball season. Both former playersalso made appearances on theweekly radio show adding theirexpertise.

Highlighting student-athletes, their accomplishments is the name of the game for broadcast duo

ST. TAMMANY NEWSSPORTS EDITOR

MIKE PERVEL

St. Tammany News Sports Editor Mike Pervel (Mikee P), seated at left, shares a monent with JayJay Richardson, the Voice of the Northshore, during a recent airing of Northshore Sports featur-ing Northlake Christian School. Lady Wolverines’ varsity players seated from left, JolieChaubert and Katina LaGamba, were interviewed. The weekly local high school radio sportsshow airs on The Lake 94.7 WYLK taking place at Wow Café and Wingery in its new location atClarion Inn and Suites in Covington, La. (Staff Photo by Suzanne LeBreton)

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22 Mat-Su Valley

ALASKA’S MATSU VALLEY HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1947

BY HEATHER A. RESZFrontiersman.com

As part of the celebration of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman’s 65th anniversary, we asked Mat-Su Valley residents to nominate their neighbors as Mat-Su Val-ley Good Neighbors.

We wrote about National Good Neigh-bor Day — celebrated Sept. 28 each year — in an editorial in May and announced our plan to adopt the practice locally.

For the next several months, we collect-ed nominations for Mat-Su Valley Good Neighbors in Individual, Business and Organization categories and announced the winners at our anniversary celebration in October (the actual anniversary of the first publication of the Frontiersman was Sept. 17).

Each nominee was worthy of com-munity recognition for his or her service, and we will included their stories in that Sunday’s edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

As Individual Mat-Su Valley Good Neighbors, we honored a great grand-mother and her granddaughter for the variety of ways they contribute to our community — from mentoring other grandparents raising their grandchildren to organizing an effort to make and give blankets to children in foster care.

The Business category Good Neighbor award went to a group of 55 area busi-nesses that heard about the bare shelves at the Palmer Food Bank and organized a grassroots effort to gather donations that filled the bank to bursting and our hearts with pride. Total, the October effort gave

10,000 individual food items and more than $2,000 in cash to feed our hungry neighbors.

The Organization award went to recog-nize a community work day in July that organized people to paint, rake, mow, clean, share and show love for our com-munity at 29 locations from Houston to Palmer and Wasilla to Knik.

Real Love was a two-month effort put together by the Valley Pastors Prayer

Network. The churches organized hun-dreds of Mat-Su Good Neighbors to work together to fill backpacks with school supplies, volunteer for projects at local schools and senior centers, build sheds for a homeless relief project, make care pack-ages of toiletries, snacks and treats to share with homeless neighbors, repaint Wasilla Wonderland Park, wash windows in downtown Palmer and lead an effort to fill a truck with canned foods for Valley food

banks. Mechanics also performed auto checks and medical professionals donated health screenings and school physicals that day.

On Oct. 26, we invited the whole com-munity to an open house in our press plant. It was a wonderful afternoon of visiting with our readers, longtime adver-tisers and friends in the community while celebrating our 65th anniversary and all of our Mat-Su Valley Good Neighbors.

Frontiersman celebrates 65 years

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman

Mari Jo Parks, ‘Chief Elf Organizer’ for the annual Mat-Su Special Santa Program, presents Frontiersman publisher Mark Kelsey with a plaque during the Frontiersman’s 65th anniversary party in October thanking the newspaper for its continued support of the annual program that provides Christmas gifts to Valley children.

Mat-Su Valley Good Neighbors featured at party

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INTER 20123Mat-Su Valley

ALASKA’S MATSU VALLEY HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1947

BY GREG JOHNSONFrontiersman.com

WASILLA — The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman has recorded a lot of local history over the past 65 years.

From personal triumphs to tragedy and all the politicking in between, the Frontiersman has been the source for local news since its first eight-page edi-tion was published Sept. 17, 1947.

For nearly all of those years, one loyal Frontiersman subscriber has shared that journey.

Now 94, Pat Lawton remembers mov-ing to the Valley at age 29. It was one year after the Frontiersman first pub-lished that Lawton became a subscriber in 1948.

More than six decades later, Lawton holds the distinction of being the news-paper’s longest continuous subscriber.

Lawton sat down with Frontiersman staff Oct. 26 prior to a reception to mark the paper’s 65th anniversary and talked about the importance a hometown newspaper holds for a community like the Mat-Su Borough.

Frontiersman: What are some of the more memorable stories or events you read about over the years?

Lawton: Well, there were a lot of sto-ries, but a lot of them weren’t good or were accidents and people being lost and things like that. It kept your attention. I remember when the people from the electric company were lost, the manager and a couple of others. .. And, of course, there’s the earthquake (of 1964). That was something else again.

Meet Pat, our longest continuous subscriber

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman

Managing editor Heather A. Resz with the Frontiersman’s longest continous subscriber, Pat Lawton. Lawton, 94, has been a subscriber since 1948, a year after the newspaper first began publishing on Sept. 17, 1947.

See LAWTON, next page

BY HEATHER A. RESZFrontiersman.com

Sometimes just listening is a reporter’s most powerful tool. We get all kinds of calls asking us to help people with prob-lems.

From a woman who thinks the pet food she bought at a national chain store is kill-ing her chickens to a man who is certain he sees a UFO hovering over head to the old soldier who called asking for help naming an Alaska mountain peak after a battle from the Korean Conflict.

Reporter Andrew Wellner has made a name for himself for generating moun-tains of news copy. He’s well-known and well-respected for his work, but he is never too busy to listen. That he listened when one old soldier called earlier this year is, at least in part, how a mountain peak in Alaska came to be named in their honor.

In brief, 18,000 men from the First Marine Division were sent over the Tae-bek Mountains with a mission to capture the northern end of the peninsula during the Korean Conflict. On Nov. 27, 1950, the Marines found themselves surround-ed by a Chinese force some estimate four or five times larger than their own. With temperatures hovering between minus 20 and minus 40, the Marines fought for two weeks to break the encirclement and make it back to the sea.

Among the veterans of this grueling bat-tle are Richard Lilly of Wasilla and John Beasley of Palmer. These two led a local charge to rename this peak in memory of their brothers — both those who returned and, more importantly, those who did not — Mount Chosin Few.

The peak is 28 miles northeast of

Old soldiers, reporter move

mountains

See MOUNTAIN, next page

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Mat-Su Valley

ALASKA’S MATSU VALLEY HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1947

BY HEATHER A. RESZFrontiersman.com

It’s a standard J school ethical question — are we reporters first or humans first? Do we jump in to save a life? Should we pick up our cameras and notebooks and focus on the news aspect of an event?

During my nearly 20 years of report-ing, no one I knew was ever faced with such a choice, until last December.

We were going about our everyday activities Dec. 22, 2011, at the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman when our paths crossed with John Buckley’s. He was at our offices delivering a load of news-print with American Fast Freight when an accident happened that severed his arm a few inches below his right elbow.

We shared the story in the next edition of the Frontiersman and in a subsequent issue of the Eagle, too.

Doctors and Buckley’s family told us then that if not for the actions of our staff that day, Buckley would have bled to death before emergency services crews could arrive.

That sentiment was seconded nine months later when we crossed paths with Bill Mackreth, the first responder on the scene that day. He contacted our office in August looking for the guy who made his belt into a tourniquet for Buck-ley’s arm that day.

That man is Frontiersman Photo Edi-tor Robert DeBerry. Also on the ground in the snow caring for Buckley were longtime staffers Doris Armstrong and Laura Cox.

“It is extremely rare that a tourniquet is needed, and the vast majority I have seen are ones that bystanders have applied needlessly,” Mackreth wrote in an email. “This was different. Had it

not been promptly applied, Mr. Buckley may well not have survived.”

Based on his life-saving actions, Mack-reth nominated DeBerry for the 2012 Governor’s Consumer/Citizen Award given out annually at the Alaska Emer-gency Medical Services Symposium to “a person who, not in the regular line of duty, performs life-saving, limb-saving or medical techniques in a medical

emergency.” DeBerry was named this year’s award

winner during an Anchorage ceremony Nov. 10 “in recognition of his quick thinking in responding to and applying a tourniquet to a badly-injured truck driver, saving the man’s life.”

In case you are still wondering, DeBer-ry never picked up his camera that day to cover this as news.

Courtesy Emily McKenzie, Southern Region EMS Council

Robert DeBerry with Kerre Fisher, acting director of the Alaska Division of Public Health at the Alaska Emergency Medical Services Symposium Nov. 10.

DeBerry honored with lifesaving

award

F: What do you remember from the early years of the Frontiersman’s opera-tion?

L: At first, we bought them in our office, because they brought them in the office, and that’s where we bought them. … Of course, we didn’t have TV or even radio when I was growing up, so we read (news-papers) and made our own games with my four brothers and three sisters.

F: What would you think if your Fron-tiersman didn’t arrive one day?

L: On my goodness. I don’t know what I’d do, because I’d just miss out terribly because I’m still familiar with so many things in there. I look forward to it. … I wouldn’t be without it, even though a lot of my age group are not here (anymore). I’m going to be 95.

F: What role do you think a newspaper should play in the community?

L: I think it’s an important thing to have and I find that it’s not too biased about anything. It seems very fair, so I really have no complaints. It’s really important that we have the paper and get to know the people involved (in producing it).

LAWTONContinued from previous page

Cordova. We followed the renaming as it wound its way through the process of gathering local support, then a state endorsement and finally a federal name change.

As far as we know, the mountain has been renamed, and much faster than any-one anticipated it would be.

On our end it wasn’t a lot of work, we just wrote a few news stories, Lilly did most of the work. But we love this story because it reminds us that even two old soldiers — with a little help from a report-er — can move mountains. Or at least get them renamed.

MOUNTAINContinued from previous page

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Mat-Su Valley

ALASKA’S MATSU VALLEY HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1947

Editor’s note: Because we’re a small staff at the Mat-Su Val-ley Frontiersman and most of us have young children, sometimes our kids end up accompanying us on interviews and photo shoots. I try to assign stories with these kids in mind. Like when I sent the dynamic father-son duo of Andrew Wellner and Gabe Fish to cover the annual Mat-Su Polar Plunge event.

Fish also has helped with other reporting, such a ride review from the 2012 Alaska State Fair.

After collecting pledges, they jumped together through a hole cut in the ice on Wasilla Lake to raise money for local nonprofit organizations.

Following is a first-person account of this “hard” news assignment:

— Heather A. Resz, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

managing editor

BY ANDREW WELLNER Frontiersman.com

WASILLA — Maybe it’s some lingering effects of the cold, or maybe I stayed up too late cob-bling together a cape and under-pants from newspapers and pack-ing tape.

Either way, traditional news reporting just doesn’t seem to fit with this year’s Mat-Su Polar Plunge. Here, as a reasonable facsimile of a news story, is a list of random thoughts surrounding the icy dip and a few of the better quotes from my partner in plung-ing, my son Gabe Fish:

plunge: “What should I wear to do this? Street clothes aren’t

any fun.” Facebook suggestions included a diaper, butterfly wings and a gorilla suit. Not much help there, is what I’m saying.

plunge: “Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Frontiers-Man! A newspaper superhero, guardian of truth, justice and public infor-mation.”

plunge: “Two rolls of packing tape should be enough to keep it together long enough to jump in the water, right?”

Resort, taking a peek at the thick-ness of the ice: “Hmm. Not so sure about this now.”

register: “This wait may very well wind up being worse than the actual swimming.”

“That’s a sage piece of advice, especially coming from a man in a pink tutu.”

The advice, from the inimitable Les Helfrich: “If your co-workers dare you to do something, say ‘no.’”

front of the line, “The Sertoma folks sure are helpful. And man is this goodie bag heavy!”

in the ice: “My feet sure are cold walking barefoot on this ice ... oh, wait ...”

with my son, Gabe: “I hope Gabe’s foot cleared the edge because mine sure didn’t. Ouch!”

“Where’s Gabe? There he is. I’ll give him a hand up.”

edge: “I should tell the dive team to just grab Gabe. I’d be doing a lot better if I didn’t have to hold him up.”

“Man this hot-tub is nice.”

my wife posted to Facebook while still on the ice: “That seemed a lot longer when I was in the water.”

well-earned lunch: “All told, that wasn’t so bad. I can think of worse ways to raise $100 for Special Olympics and Valley Per-forming Arts.”

Quotes from Gabe:“That was actually kind of fun.”“I want to do this every year.

Can I still jump when I’m 80?”“I’m sorry about the cuts on

your hand. I might have done that with my fingernails when I grabbed you.”

“Next year we should make a costume for me.”

Reporter, son jump into frozen lake for charity

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman

Reporter Andrew Wellner — dressed in his homemade costume as ‘Frontiers-Man’ — and son Gabe Fish at the annual Mat-Su Polar Plunge event.

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I n November, the An-

chorage Press pub-

lished special section

for the YWCA’s “Women

of Achievement Award,”

which every year honors 10

women who have fought to

eliminate racism and em-

power other women. The

eight-page special section

profiled women who do

everything from helping

aspiring musicians to ad-

vocating for GLTB rights.

Press celebrates ‘Women of Achievement’ with

special sectionn-

b-

on

en

d,”

10

to

m-

The

on

do

ng

d-

Fresh faces for the new year

Thanksgiving

Press debuts blog about “The Rest”

I n the hustle and bustle of life at a news-

paper and the upcoming holidays, it

seems as if the past few months have dis-

appeared in the blink of an eye. Since the

holiday season is all about giving thanks,

the Anchorage Press wants to give thanks

for some great things that happened in the

recent months.

The Press recently added three new staff

members. Daniella Cortez Alvarez stepped

into the role of entertainment editor, taking

on the fun and exciting task of being in the

know about essentially every event going on

in Anchorage. When she isn’t in the office, she is often out

interviewing local musicians and other talent. Daniella

adds a life to our staff with her charm and sense of humor

and we love having her here.

Diane Karalunas took the position of

graphic designer, designing ads for clients as

well as putting together all of the pages for our

two publications. She has stepped in to this

demanding role with ease and grace and we

are extremely glad she is a part of our team.

Our most recent addition to our staff is Ste-

fanie House, who is our new office manager.

Stefanie does a little bit of everything within

our company, from entering insertion or-

ders, to accounts receivable, to sales. She also

handles all of our phone and foot traffic, for

which we are forever grateful.

The past few months have been full of change here in

Anchorage, and we can’t wait to see what December and

the new year bring.

The Press’s staff food photographer was out of the of-

fice, so readers will need to use their imagination to

get an idea from this underwhelming photograph how

fantastic the annual Thanksgiving office lunch was (de-

spite some obstacles involving an inscrutable electric

carving knife).

I n late September the Anchorage Press launched a blog,

The Rest of the Press. As a weekly paper, the Press print

edition primarily publishes only previews of local

events, but we rarely have occasion to review events after

they’ve happened. The new blog feature supplements cov-

erage in between print issues (and helps get us into con-

certs in return for reviews).

Since September, we’ve averaged about three blog en-

tries a week, with content generated mostly from the small

and dedicated editorial staff at the Press. As the blog gains

more followers though, we’ve been able to add content

from community contributors as well, including concert

reviews, photo slide shows and information about events

that come to our attention after our print deadline.

One of the most popular reoccurring features on the

blog is a play list for readers to listen to, hopefully while

they read content in our print edition. The play lists are

comprised of songs that relate back to our music or arts

pieces. These play lists stream through the website and re-

quire the listener to stay on the website while they listen.

By using various social media outlets to promote the

blog, including Facebook, Twitter and the music service

Spotify, we’ve been able to build a steady readership in

just a few short months. We also use the printed paper to

encourage readers to visit the site after they’ve read their

hard copy.

In October, a journalist visited Anchorage from the na-

tional music magazine SPIN. Jeff Weiss spent several days

hanging out with bands and artists from the local music

community in Anchorage, as well as visiting venues and

concerts while he was in town. Weiss interviewed Press

Entertainment Editor Daniella Cortez Alvarez for the

piece, along with several bands, solo musicians and DJs.

In November, Weiss’s article ran on SPIN’s website and

the Press website and blog received a sudden rush of new

readers who had been directed there by a link on SPIN’s

website.

Capitalizing on those fresh eyes, the staff at the Press

has been working hard to develop new content and ideas

to make the blog Anchorage’s best source for arts and en-

tertainment coverage between print issues of the Anchor-

age Press.

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HMBReview Updates from the Half Moon Bay Review

in Half Moon Bay, California

T here is no bigger news on the San Mateo County coast than the Mavericks Invita-

tional Surf Contest.

Named for a loveable surfer’s dog, the world-renowned big-wave surf spot has

a bite of its own. It is no place for beginners. When conditions are right, 50-foot waves

crash onto razor-sharp rocks in shark-patrolled, chilly waters. Only the best dare to brave

Mavericks and 24 of them have been invited for next year’s contest, which could take place

anytime between now and March 30, 2013.

Half Moon Bay Review Publisher Bill Murray may not be charging the big wave, but the

longtime surfer is certainly up for hanging with the big boys.

On Nov. 9, Mavericks surf contest organizers held their opening ceremonies. It’s a

chance for invited surfers to come together, renew old acquaintances and honor the sea.

Traditionally, that includes a paddle-out to a spot near the legendary wave. Once there, surf-

ers share thoughts and prayers and consider the coming season.

This year, Murray was among them. He strapped a GoPro camera to his head and

paddled out with household names on the surfi ng circuit. The event — along with props

from the surfi ng community — made for some stunning, only-in-the-Review photographs.

Sometimes you cover the news. Sometimes you are the news.

And, sometimes, worlds collide.That was the case on Dec. 3,

when a half-dozen fi re trucks descended on the Half Moon Bay Review offi ces for an incident that closed two city blocks and forced the evacuation of City Hall and the adjacent Review building.

The fi rst sign of trouble occurred shortly before 3 p.m., on a dead-line day, near the intersection of Miramontes and Main streets in downtown Half Moon Bay. Coastside Fire Protection District fi refi ghters responded to a call of a pole fi re. Simultaneously, smoke fi lled the Re-view break room, which is one block from the initial call.

Two hours later, power remained out to at least some businesses, including the Review. Firefi ghters said that the power surge resulting from the arcing wires a block away somehow “energized” the plumb-ing at the Review, creating intense heat and smoke under the sink in the building’s break room. No one was injured and there was never

any visible fi re in the Review or elsewhere downtown.

The Review missed one print deadline but was on target to publish on time the morning of Dec. 5. The newspaper staff was able to report the news via Twitter and Facebook throughout the incident. It had a story online within two hours of the initial 911 call.

Publisher paddles out with big boysMURRAY JOINS CEREMONIAL CIRCLE PRIOR TO MAVERICKS BIG WAVE CONTEST

O U T A N D A B O U T

Review Publisher Bill Murray joined surfers and community members for the ceremony.

The Review produces a Mavericks special section that has become the unoffi cial program of the event.

Smoke fi lls Review building after power surge downtown

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HMBReview Updates from the Half Moon Bay Review

in Half Moon Bay, California

Review earns national honorHARD NEWS FOCUS NOTED BY JUDGES

T he Half Moon Bay Review has been honored with another national award. This time, the Local Media Association has given the news-

paper third place in its Newspaper of the Year contest for weeklies under 10,000 circulation.

Judges paid respect to all facets of the Review in announcing the awards.“The setting may be idyllic Pacifi c Coast, but the news is anything but

soft,” according to anonymous judges’ comments. “Hard looks at develop-ment, charges of offi cial misconduct, and rate increases fulfi ll the watchdog function while the second section cov-ers community affairs, sports and arts. Layout and presentation are extremely well organized with a classic use of typography. Advertising is clean, easy to read, and colorful.”

Such national awards are a point of pride for the Review, and there is precedent. In 2006, the Inland Press Foundation named the Review the nation’s top small weekly newspaper. In 2010, the Suburban Newspaper As-sociation named Review Editor Clay Lambert its weekly newspaper Editor of the Year.

“The fact that we placed in the top three against competition twice our size is testament to the dedication of the editorial, production and adver-

tising staff,” said Publisher Bill Murray. “We continually look for ways to improve this paper, and I’m extremely proud to be part of this talented group.”

REDACTED BILLS LEAD TO ACTIONNEWSPAPER INTEGRAL TO RELEASE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

The Half Moon Bay Review fulfi lled one of its most sacred trusts with readers in November: It helped keep public information public.

It all began with a public records request to the Coastside Fire Protection District, the taxing authority that provides fi re protection services for miles of California coastline. The request didn’t come from the newspaper, but rather from a private citizen. The lo-cal resident asked for copies of consultant invoices after a months-long effort by the fi re board to dismantle the department and build a new one from scratch.

The fi re district provided the reader with 117 pages of bills, but so much was redacted that entire pages were blacked out. The fi re district’s attorney claimed attorney-client privilege required all that black ink.

That is when the Review got involved. The reader, John Charles Ullom, forwarded the invoices to Editor Clay Lambert. The result was an editorial that called on the fi re board to do the right thing and make the bills public. The editorial included an image of one redacted page and ended like this:

Attorney-client privilege is an extremely important precept in American jurisprudence. Attorneys and their clients must be able to communicate in confi dence in many circumstances. It is absolutely critical. Because the concept is so important, it’s equally important that public agencies and their hired guns not make a mockery of it. Attorney-client privilege was never intended to keep taxpayers from knowing generally how their money is spent.

And attorney-client privilege can be waived. The CFPD could simply consent to disclosure of the description of work by its attorneys over the last year. We’re not asking for deep secrets, just, for example, why an attorney named Malia Labadie charged us $306 for less than two hours of work on June 22.

Regardless of where you stand on the need for a stand-alone fi re department, we hope you will agree that the fi re board owes us an explanation of where our money is going.

Two weeks later a member of the fi re board brought up the redactions during a regular meeting of the board. The board unanimously agreed to make the documents public and waive attorney-client privilege.

A W A R D S P U B L I C I N F O R M A T I O N

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The Daily Herald held a Hal-loween event that staff dubbed ‘Spookalicious’ for the com-munity this year. Starting at 4 and going through 6 p.m., the Herald opened its doors to cos-tumed youth in the Roanoke Valley.

The staff gave out trick or treat bags, seemingly boat-loads of candy and offered a photo to commemorate the oc-casion. The photos were taken by Les Atkins, local PR agency business owner and former reporter, who works for vari-ous area causes including the Boys and Girls Club of Halifax County.

Five dollars was a request for each photo as a donation to the Club, which is in jeopardy of closing due to the economy and lack of funding. The event raised $255. There was a tre-mendous response from the community. Likely next year, we will open our doors for a longer length of time, as well as stock-piling more candy.

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August: Hope Callahan, creative services

September: Jonnie Miles,

editorial administrative assistant

October: Stephen Conger, advertising sales

THE DAILY HERALD STAFF REPORT

Hundreds of people enjoyed the smell of good food and took in a sense of excitement at The Taste of Home Cooking School sponsored by The Daily Herald at Halifax Community College’s The Centre Nov. 8.

From folks who have had a sub-scription to the Taste of Home Cooking magazine for years to recipe collectors and others who couldn’t attend shows because they were too far away to consider purchasing a ticket, made up the event attendees.

Elaine Dobay, from Gates Coun-ty, shared she should have eaten before she came out.

“It made me hungry,” she said, commenting on watching Taste of Home Cook Cheryl Cohen pre-pare the recipes. “It’s amazing how easy she makes it look. I love to cook. Can’t you tell?”

Dobay laughed as she pulled at her shirt.

Dobay said she has lost quite a bit of weight and appreciated the fact Cohen was cooking light. “I’m especially interested in the diabetic cookbook and the healthy foods,” Dobay said. “I look for-ward to finding recipes with low sugar or fake sugar so to speak.”

Tammy Crowley-Deloatch, Roanoke Rapids business owner, said, “I learned that if you add flour to chocolate, it doesn’t stick to the pan.” She added she’d like to see the show come back to the Roanoke Valley.

Teenager Allison Butler came to the show with her mom. “I’m the person who’s up baking cookies at 2 a.m.,” she said. “I love to cook.”

Butler was excited about the

cooking tips and getting new reci-pes. This was her first cooking show, but she was confident she is going to attend more of them.

“I came out to see how modern people cook,” said Frankie King, who like other early birds went from booth to booth enjoying sam-ples and buying products. “This is a new experience,” King said. “We like new experiences. I can see this growing.”

Betsy Moncure bought tickets to the show for a girls’ night out in celebration of Bettie Martin, her cousin’s birthday. They both said they were excited about attending as they made their way around the exhibitor booths.

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Capital Journal’s new look: spruced-up exterior to go with newspaper redesignBuilding houses core of community-minded employees

BY LANCE NIXONLANCE.NIXON@CAPJOURNAL

Not long after the Capital Journal in Pierre, S.D., rolled out a redesign in August that changed the face of its daily newspaper, it is following up by with a spruced-up exterior to its build-ing.

The new look of the newspaper and the new look of the building both have made a good impression on the com-munity. The newspaper continues to get positive feedback on the new brick color of the building’s exterior, chosen by operations manager Melanie Handl. Some landscaping has added three trees outside the building. New signage that has already held up to some of the strongest wind gusts ever recorded in the area tops off the building.

But it isn’t only with by choosing the Cap Journal’s new colors that Mel Handl represents the newspaper well. She has a performing arts bent, and she let it shine this year by playing a role with the community theater group, the Pierre Players, in their production of “The Red Velvet Cake War.”

As a result of her performance in this play and in some previous plays, Handl has now been named to a seat on the board of governors for the Pierre Players. That gives Handl a seat at the table in helping to plan some of the best entertainment the capital city has to offer each year.

“It’s such a great thing for the com-munity,” she said, adding that it’s more

way to sink roots among the people the newspaper covers. “You really get to know your cast and they are from so many different parts of the com-munity. You see issues from a different point of view. You see things from an

arts point of view, you see them from a non-profit point of view and you see their struggles.”

Acting out a story for the communi-ty, for Handl, becomes one more way to represent the newspaper in its efforts

to tell the community’s story.Pierre area residents still are talking

about the Capital Journal’s impact onthe community in another way – the Kids Venture event that advertising director April Thompson orchestrated with the help of her staff and volun-teers from all the other departmentsof the newspaper. The family-friend-ly August event featured inflateables and learning activities for kids. It was so popular that the local area YMCA already has approached the Capital Journal about being involved in theevent next year. Discussions are under way to see if that will work.

Other Capital Journal staffers filling key roles in the community includebusiness manager Ona Arnold, who has been a key volunteer and organizer in the Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op, a fruits and vegetable cooperative thathas just reached central South Dakotain recent months. The food coopera-tive has been a bit hit in the Pierre/Fort Pierre area, but it also involves agreat deal of work. Fortunately, Arnoldhas the organizational skills to makethings smoother by being involved. Shelikes being involved because the payoff from helping families eat more fruits and vegetables is in better health forthe people of the area.

Of course it’s not all fruits andvegetables in the South Dakota diet.Assistant managing editor Justin Joiner has the enviable duty of helping judge the annual pie competition at the state Capitol in December, where state agencies and community offices com-pete for the honor of baking the bestpie. It’s fortunate they turn to a source as fair and impartial as the CapitalJournal to help decide this important question in the South Dakota state-house.

Above, the Capital Journal building is seen after a new coat of paint. Inset the old building’s paint is seen.At left, Capital Journal creative director Melanie Handl, middle, performs in the Pierre Players production of the Red Velvet Cake War.

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Congratulations to several River City Newspapers employees that celebrated anniversaries this fall. October: Serena Elliott, 1 year; Alexis Christensen, 6 years; Dina Goss , 15 years; Ginny Frank, 17 years; Steve Mock,

10 years.November:Kelly Parks, 6 years; David Cook, 2 years; Kimm Nusbaum, 14 years.DecemberJackie Berg , 19 years.

RCN RIVER CITY NEWSPAPERS

Participants in the 2012 Halloween costume contestat the Today’s News-Herald include, from left,Kortney Coiner (Cookie Monster), Dina Goss (vixen),Sarina Elliott (Whoopie Cushion), Alexis Christensen(Zombie Cop), Shannon Engels (convict), AgnesBunch (Spider Woman), and kneeling, Joy Perry (theQueen of Hearts).

Happy Halloweenat RCN office

RCN Milestones

Janet Fotino has joined the Business Office on Oct. 15. Janet is filling the position of Part-time AccountingClerk. Janet comes to RCN with many years of office experience.

Jon Stern has joined the Editorial Department on Nov. 26. Jon is filling the position of reporter. Jon is a jour-nalism grad from Arizona State University. Jon will have his Master of Fine Arts degree in June 2013 in CreativeWriting Nonfiction.

Employee changesCongrats to Kelli Blumm on her promotion to business office supervisor Dec. 3.Congrats to Janet Fotino on her promotion to Fulltime Accounting Clerk on Dec. 3.

RCN welcomes new employees/employee promotions

Hangin’ with the goblins and ghouls

The Today’s News-Herald participatedin the annual FrightNight on McCullochBoulevardHalloween night.Businesses andorganizations lineMain Street duringthis award-winningevent, passing outcandy and goodiesto hundreds of trick-or-treaters. The com-munity turns out tosupport this eventeach year. Manningthe booth in thisshot from left arecirculation managerJim Abdon, advertis-ing managerChristine Hammersand inside salesmanager Dina Goss.

River City Newspapers managing editor BeckyMaxedon and reporter Jayne Hanson participated inCareer Day at Thunderbolt Middle School in LakeHavasu City in October. About 450 students stoppedto talk about journalism and the newspaper.

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immy Boegle, a Wick Communications employee since November 2001, will be leaving the Tucson Weekly editor’s chair at the end of the year to start a publication in California’s Coachella Valley.

Taking Boegle’s place will be a person with a familiar face: former TW/Inside Tucson Business web producer Dan Gibson.

Boegle—who spent a little more than a year at former Wick newsweekly Las Vegas CityLife before joining the Weekly in January 2003—announced on Nov. 12 that he would be mov-ing to the Palm Springs area to launch the Coachella Valley Independent (cvindependent.com) in January.

“Th e decision to leave the Weekly has been, by far, the toughest professional decision I have ever made,” he wrote in his announcement to the staff . “I love this job; I love the paper; I love what we do online; I love what we do in the community. Most of all, I love working with all of you. Wick Communications has treated me and the paper very well in my almost 10 years here in Tucson, and I think the Weekly’s future is incredibly bright.

On Nov. 26, publisher Tom Lee announced that Gibson would take Boegle’s place as editor. Gibson spent almost two years as the Weekly/ITB web producer before joining Clear Channel Radio—briefl y, it turns out—in August as the Tucson digital content director.

“Th is is the opportunity of a lifetime for me,” Gibson said. “I love this city. I’ve lived here on and off for over 30 years, and I’ve read the Weekly as long as I can remember. I’m proud to be back working in the world of alt-weeklies with such a talented group of writers and staff .”

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Inside Tucson Business honored 20 community Women of Infl uence at a special breakfast in No-vember. The honorees were, front row from left, Carolyn Compton, CEO of Critical Path Institute; Jane Poynter, co-founder and president of Paragon Space Development Corporation; Kelle Maslyn, corporate affairs manager for Comcast; Jeanette Mare, founder of Ben’s Bells kindness project; and Valerie Diaz, sales manager for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s Casino Del Sol Resort. Back row from left, Carmen Bermudez, founder and CEO of Mission Management and Trust; Cindy Parseghian, founder of the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation; Barbi Reuter, principal in Picor Commercial Real Estate Services; Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall; Dr. Lori Mackstaller, an internist at the University of Arizona’s Sarver Heart Center; Linda McNulty, an attorney with the fi rm of Lewis & Roca; Karen Mlawsky, the CEO of the hospital division of the University of Arizona Health Network; Kathleen “Rocky” LaRose, senior associate director of athletics at the University of Arizona; Jane McCollum, general manager of the Marshall Foundation; philanthropist Neelam Sethi; Amber Smith, executive director of the Metropolitan Pima Alliance; Raena Janes, as owner of La Paloma Academy charter schools; and Colleen Edwards, co-owner of Tucson Appliance and Tucson Wholesale Supply. Two honorees are not pictured, Ginny Clements, chairman of Golden Eagle Distributors, and Jacquelyn Jackson, executive director of Tucson Values Teachers.

Inside Tucson Business Women of Infl uence 2012

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‘Weekly’ Editor Departing to Start Palm Springs Publication; Gibson Takes His Place

erritorial Newspapers in November published the premiere issue of Tucson Woman, a glossy magazine aimed at successful, lifestyle-conscious, forward-thinking and active women.

Content is aimed at helping women make the best decisions possible in their day-to-day lives. It is a new source of leadership profi les and lifestyle news for Tucson’s leading women, and a new outlet for savvy advertisers who recognize the segment’s buying power and unique requirements. Th e quarterly magazine has a pressrun of 10,000 and is distributed by mail to select home addresses of women with a house-hold income of $150,000 or more.

Tucson Woman is headed up by general manager Jill A’Hearn, and edited by Linda Ray.

“As we talked to the women in Tucson’s leadership, we found en-thusiasm for an opportunity to share information,” A’Hearn said. “Th e magazine’s style and tone will capture the character of Tucson women, and the issues, ideas and trends that are important to them.”

ul,

e

y y g gythe world of alt-weeklies with such a talented group of writers and staff .”

First Issue of ‘Tucson Woman’ Wows Southern Arizona

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Boy Scouts pose during a tour of the Eastern Arizona Courier office to learn how anewspaper is produced.

Right: At theCourier’s

GrahamCounty Fairbooth, fair-

goers couldpurchase

newspapersubscriptionsand have $11of each sub-

scriptiondonated to

Susan G.Komen for the

CureFoundation.The Courier

donated $535,which includ-ed sales from

advertising.

Left: Advertising rep-resentatives, from left,Donna Burge, TimBaca and Ingrid Graymake goodie bags forSanta to give awayduring Merry MainStreet in Safford.

Right: Santa hands agoodie bag to a littleboy at Merry MainStreet.

THE COPPER ERASAFFORD, AZ CLIFTON, AZ

EA CourierCommunityinvolvement

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RANGE NEWSA R I Z O N A

WILLCOX•SAN S IMON•SUNSITES•BOWIE•COCHISE•DRAGOON

Arizona Range News Photographer Dave Brown received FrontlineEmployee of the Year from the Willcox Chamber of Commerce andAgriculture at its annual banquet Dec. 4. Brown, who has been four-time Arizona Newspaper Association’s Photographer of the Year fornon-daily newspapers (2009-2012), donates his time and photos to theWillcox School District for its Yearbook, district presentations, sportsprograms and more. ARN Managing Editor Ainslee Wittig said, “Davehas been particularly community-oriented in respect to the school dis-trict. He always does his best when taking photos of students becausehe knows that many of these photos end up in scrapbooks for the stu-dents’ future children and grandchildren to see. With kids of his own, heknows how important that can be for families to pass down pieces oftheir younger lives. He is also very meticulous when in comes to layingout the sports pages or a special section that he believes could end upas someone’s keepsake. Dave is often the first person to be on scene ata newsworthy event, be it a groundbreaking or a tragedy. He acts pro-fessionally and is courteous and respectful to people involved in theevent, from dignitaries to law enforcement to victims. He represents thenewspaper well, which is important because the newspaper is a big partof the community. We are very fortunate to have such a professionaland talented person as Dave working at our small newspaper and wecongratulate him on the award.”

AINSLEE S. WITTIG / Arizona Range News

Community recognition

AINSLEE S. WITTIG / Arizona Range News

Frontline employee of 2012

The Broeder Family was honored as Co-Grand Mar-shals in the Willcox Chamber of Commerce and

Agriculture’s Christmas Lighted Parade on Dec. 1.At right, Triss Lane drives Chuck (a former prod-

uct hauler who recently filled in temporarily whenneeded for the Range News) and Carol, a reporterfor 12 years at the Range News, as well as daugh-

ter Elizabeth (unable to attend due to living out oftown in college). They were recognized with the

honor for their constant volunteerism in thecommunity, including organizing and working

events such as the Lighted Parade, SummerFest, Warren Earp Days, Rex Allen Days, and

volunteering at their church . A candlelight vigilwas also held for daughter Sarah Rose Catherine

Broeder, who also volunteered at everything shecould until she died in a tragic car accident on

May 30, 2011, at age 16.

Parade marshals

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Santa Cruz County www.nogalesinternational.com

Named inlandpress association’s 2001 & 2007 ‘Best in the Nation’

NI Christmascoloring bookhad specialmeaningInOctober,Nogales, Ariz., lost Santa Claus to cancer. Every

year, Jacob “Jake” Brownwould put on his Santa suit and go toseveral toy drives in Santa CruzCounty. Alongwith wifeDonna,orMrs. Claus, they visited the infirm, elderly and the youngest ofour community, handing out candy cane and holiday cheer.It was not to be, this year. So theNogales International dedi-

cated its annual ChristmasColoring Book to Jake. The 24-pagetab was handed out to children by “newspaper elves” as theNI’sfloatmade its way through the parade route on Saturday, Dec. 1.The three coloring books judged best will win $100; $50; and

$25 in prizemoney. In addition, about 10 percent of the proceedsfrom ad sales went to buying 125 toys for theNogales FireDepartment’s Fill the Boot toy drive.We’re sure it’s what Jakewould have wanted.

NOGALES INTERNATIONAL

TRIBUTE TO"SANTA JAKE"

Santa's helpersPriscilla Bolanos,Carmen Torres andMaria Castillo wrap

gifboxes.PHOTO/ CURT PRENDERGAST

The NI deliveryvan stands ready

to haul NIChristmas float.PHOTO/ PRISCILLA BOLANOS

NI staffers and firefighters unload 125 new toys purchased with proceeds from coloring book and donated for theFill the Boot toy drive. PHOTOS/ MANNUEL C. COPPOLA

Publisher Manuel Coppolais flanked by staffand friendsduring parade.

PHOTO/ PRISCILLA BOLANOS

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The HeraldSIERRA VISTA

N E W S O N L I N E AT W W W. S V H E R A L D. CO M

Hess named Community Journalist of the Year

Manning the Chamber’s Expo Booth

Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review senior reporter Bill Hess was named the Journalist of the Year during the Arizona Newspapers Association/Arizona Associated Press Managing Editors annual convention on Sept. 29 in Scottsdale.

Hess was honored for his body of work at the Herald/Review which included stories of the aerostat falling from the sky; Monument Fire coverage, as well as samples of his weekly column.

“This is a well-deserved honor for Bill,” said Publisher Phil Vega. “Bill is a stalwart in the newsroom and he consistently goes after and reports on news that our readers are interested in.”

Hess's award was just one of several the newspaper received in the daily newspaper category with circulation under 25,000. The Herald/Review competes in this category against similar sized newspapers in the state including the Yuma Sun, Today's-Herald in Lake Havasu, the Prescott Valley News, the Casa Grande Dispatch and several

others.Photographer Beatrice Richardson

took first place in the Best Feature Photo Layout for her "Ray of Hope" photospread. "Ray of Hope" also enabled reporter Adam Curtis to take a second place in the Best News Feature Story category.

Hess won two other awards for his news reporting. He took second place for Best News Story for "Boom, boom, thud — a story about the aerostat's crash; and first place for Sustained Coverage, for his work in covering last year's Monument Fire.

In the overall staff recognition categories, the newspaper was honored with a first place in the Best Use of Photography category; second place for Community Service/Journalistic Achievement; third place in the Department News/Copy Editing category; second place in Editorial Page Excellence; a third place in Reporting and News Writing Excellence; and a third place for its Health and Fitness section and a second place for its Back to School

section in the Special Sections category.These awards and the ones given

at a luncheon earlier in the day, for advertising excellence, enabled the Herald/Review to earn third place for General Excellence overall.

I n t he ad awa rds seg ment , Herald/Review ad designer Maggie Saunders was honored in three categories.

Her work took a first place in Best Paid Color Ad series for Daniel’s Jewelers ads; second place in the Best Color Ad category for “Ring in the New Year” which also was a Daniel’s Jewelers ad; and third place for Best Newspaper Promotion Ad for “Results”.

The newspaper was honored overall winning a first place for Best Classified Section; first place in Best Public Notice Section and a third place for the annual Business & Service Directory which was titled, "31 Flavors of Sierra Vista".

The ad and news contests were judged by members of the Oregon Press Association.

Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review Ad ve r t i s i n g Re p r e s e n t a t i ve s K a t hy Murray, lef t, and Julie Ramirez man the booth at the Sierra Vista Home and Business Expo held in The Mall at Sierra Vista recently.

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Spooky fun on Halloween

Stair ClimbSierra Vista Herald employees after completing the Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb on Oc tober 20. From lef t, Adam Cur tis, Matt Hickman, Mark Levy and Beatrice Richardson.

Top left: Sierra Vista Herald Circulation Office Manager Judy Schiewe,left, Wick Circulation Director Jeff Scott, and Sierra Vista Herald Circulation Manager Ray Taylor, right, have a scary good time as they man the fishing prize patrol at the Halloween Fall Festival in Veterans’ Memorial Park. Bottom left: Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review Publisher Phil Vega and Advertising Representative Kathy Murray, left, help young Halloween enthusiasts fish for treats at the Herald booth. Above: Janet LaValley was the only Sierra Vista Herald employee who was brave enough to dress up for Halloween this year.

PAT WICK · HERALD/REVIEW

BEATRICE RICHARDSON · HERALD/REVIEW

PHOTOS BY: MARK LEVY · HERALD/REVIEW

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JACOB PETERSEN

SIERRA VISTA — The Annual Taste of Home Cooking School and Expo is a production so unmatched in Sierra Vista that it has become more like the local Super Bowl of food than a simple culinary occasion.

From giveaways, raffles and more than a dozen vendor booths open prior to the show, to the gift bags given to each patron as they enter the auditorium and the prizes handed out during the show itself, the event is packed with extras to the point that the recipes presented on stage seem but a small part of the whole affair.

And with more than 1,000 visitors filling the Buena Performing Arts Center on Thursday night (Nov.1), this year was no different.

“It’s just so fun,” said Sue Moore, who has attended the show for the last five years with her sister Sherri Wooldridge.

“Everybody just hoots an hollers, and you learn a lot about cooking,” she said, adding that her favorite part of the experience is the fun-loving, celebratory atmosphere that has become so synonymous with the event.

“We never win anything,” she said of the many prizes given out both before and during the event.

“But it is still wonderful. It’s just a lot of fun to sit on the edge and think ‘I’m going to get this?’ ” she said.

Hosted by Herald/Review Publisher Phil Vega and Senior Reporter Bill Hess, the show featured the talents of Taste of Home Culinary Specialist Jamie Dunn, who hails from Oklahoma.

“This is a fabulous show because the attendance is always great and the audience always has a lot of fun,” Dunn said.

Recipes detailed during the show are brought together by culinary experts across the country and each visitor gets copies of all of the recipes, Dunn said.

“That is really what this show is all about, just sharing recipes. We share recipes from across the nation and we produce a magazine with all of those recipes exclusively for people that come to the show,” she said.

“Food brings people together,” she said, adding that

“when you cook for people and have all your friends over, people just open up and communicate and share time together and, really, they share life.”

For Nancy Clark and her sister Mary Knotts, attending the show was more about helping out the local food bank while having fun learning new recipes.

“We brought in some food and we got a raffle ticket for that,” Clark said, adding that she had already won a $10 gift card to the mall and Knotts had won a candy bar on a prize wheel.

“When I heard about the food drive, I wanted to come along and bring in some cans,” said Clark’s husband, J.D.

And as the cook of the family, Knotts’ husband Mike also came along.

“He does most of the cooking,” Knotts’ said, while J.D. interjected that, in his family, “I do most of the eating.”

And though nobody in the group had a favorite recipe, Dunn, who covers about 40,000 miles doing about 50 shows

per year, said her favorite recipe of the evening was the Upside Down Apple Pie.

“It’s like sticky buns meet apple pie,” she said, adding that the pie is baked upright and then flipped onto the plate.

Asked about her favorite part of the show, Dunn responded that “for me, it’s when you actually get on stage and inspire people to cook. When people get together to eat during the day, it gives them time to get to know each other and spend time together and talk.”

And asked about attending the event next year, Dunn, Nancy and J.D. Clark, Mary and Mike Knotts, and Sue Moore and her sister Sherri all agreed.

“We will definitely be back,” each of them said.

Cooking Show a big hitAbout 1,000 attend special event sponsored by Herald/Review

Taste of Home Cooking School Culinary Specialist Jamie Dunn prepares stuffed mushrooms during her show at Buena Performing Arts Center.

Sierra Vista Herald / Bisbee Daily Review senior reporter Bill Hess, left, and publisher Phil Vega enjoy their time on stage during the annual Taste of Home Cooking School and Expo at the Buena Performing Arts Center on Nov. 1st.

Left: Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review employees Vanessa

Wingerter, Circulation District Manager, and Ray

Taylor, Circulation Manager, are waiting for customers

at the annual Taste of Home Cooking School

and Expo at Buena High School in November. In the

background is Ray’s wife, Elaine

Right: Ray Taylor, Circulation Manager, and

Joan Hancock, Business Manager, are cleaning up

behind the scenes during the Taste of Home Cooking School and Expo

at Buena High School.

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Douglas Dispatch

Top left: Tom Riebock, Director of Human Resources for Wick Com-munications, was the guest speaker for the Douglas Chamber of Commerce luncheon Nov. 1. Riebock’s topic was “Providing Excel-lent Customer Service”.

Above: Douglas Dispatch Managing Editor Bruce Whetten and re-porter Trisha Maldonado spoke to a group of students in the Doug-las High School yearbook class Nov. 8 about what it takes to put out a newspaper each week. Whetten shared his experiences of being in journalism for close to 30 years while Maldonado talked about why she chose to start writing. She emphasized how important it is to learn as much as you can with today’s changing technology.

Left: Douglas Dispatch Circulation Manager Francisco Barrios, who is a part-time music instructor at Cochise College, was one of 34 entries in Douglas’ annual Christmas Parade Nov. 24. Barrios has been with the Dispatch for seven years. He has been teaching music part-time at Cochise College for two years and plays saxophone.

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REGINA FORD | GREEN VALLEY NEWS & SUN

He’s a giverLOU NAVE of Green Valley, Ariz., is surrounded by loads of stuffed toys he donated to the Marine Corps Reserves Toys for Tots program. The Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun hosted one of the many Toys for Tots collection boxes in the community, and Nave helps fill it up every year.

G R E E N V A L L E Y

A N D S U N

MAGAZINEInside Green Valley

Sahuarita, the annual Chamber magazine,

is a big hit

MAGAZINEDiscover Southern Arizona 2012-13

hits the streets

www.gvnews.com Serving Green Valley, Sahuarita, Amado, Arivaca, Tumacácori, Tubac www.sahuaritasun.com

SOUTHERN ARIZONADISCOVER

HERITAGE, HISTORY & HIGH SONORAN DESERT

A PUBLICATION OF THE GREEN VALLEY NEWS & THE NOGALES INTERNATIONAL

2012—2013

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Advertising, newsroom rack up awards

It takes a team effort: VIP soars beyond goals

The Green Valley News and Sahua-rita Sun held its second VIP program in November and it was a smashing suc-cess.

Presentation week started with $132,072.04 in re-signs and 29 con-tracts for an amazing 92 percent, and a regular goal of $72,221.88, with a stretch goal of $82,221.88 — and only 73 appoint-ments to make it hap-pen. And that’s not even the final number.

“We were a little ap-prehensive this year due to lagging sales,” Pub-lisher Pam Mox said, “but the commitment of our ad staff exceeded our expectations. With a limited staff, it took everyone going above and beyond to make VIP such a success. We couldn’t

be more pleased.”“This is a team organization,” pre-

senter Bill Kennon said. “The paper is involved in the commu-nity and many of the guests were aware of that.”

Advertisers in Green Valley were very re-ceptive to the program with 30 new advertisers bringing in $110,954.83 in new annualized year-ly contracts.

Not only did the regu-lar goal get blown out of the water, but the stretch goal got smashed under a showing of support for the VIP program.

“Pam does an excel-lent job on overseeing the project and her reps deliver,” Kennon said.

“With a limited staff, it took

everyone going above and beyond

to make VIP such a success. We couldn’t be more pleased.”

Pam MoxPublisher

The Green Valley News won sev-eral awards in the Arizona News-papers Association “Better News-papers Contest” and “Excellence in Advertising.” The newspaper won the following awards in its circulation category.

•First place for Special Section/Newspaper Supplement or Maga-zine for “Discover Southern Arizo-na,” edited by Karen Walenga and designed by Graham Har-rington.

•First place, “Best Feature Photo-graph,” titled “Snake bite!” by

Kitty Bottemiller, of GVFD’s Fire Corps snake-removal team (pictured right).

•First place for “Best Feature Photo Layout,” by Eric To-bias, titled “She will be missed.”

•Second place for “Best Sports Story,” “Fish tale,” by reporter Karen Walenga, the story of 93-year-old La Posada resident Lenore Groundwater win-ning a fishing derby in Alaska.

•Second place for “Best Sports Column,” “A letter to ESPN,” by

sports editor Kevin Duke.•Second place for “Best Column/

Feature/Criticism,” “Santa Cruz county sheriff calls it like he sees

it,” by freelance writer Scott Dyke. •Third place for “Best News Photograph,” titled “She will be missed,” by freelance photographer Scott A. Taras.

•Third place for Enterprise Report-ing, “Domestic violence,” by Kitty Bottemiller.

•Third place for Best Online Site/Web Page.

Advertising•First place for “Best Black & White

Ad,” by Graham Harrington for “Congrats, Jennifer.”

•First place for “Best Pro Bono or Public Service Ad,” by Graham Harrington for “Valley Assis-tance Services.”

•First place for “Best Newspaper Ad, Series or Section,” by Eric Tobias, “Any way you want it.”

•Second place for “Best Color Ad,” by Sarah Keith, for “Empower Physical Therapy.”

•Third place for General Excel-lence.

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As the Sidney Herald’s new sports reporter, I wanted to introduce myself to the readers, fans, and to the coaches and athletes of the area. As a newcomer to the Sidney area from over 2,000 miles away in New Jersey, I wanted to thank

everyone in town for being so warm and welcoming to me.

About a month ago, little did I know that I was about to move across the country, and that I would be on my way to starting my sports

journalism career. I am thankful to the Sidney Herald, both Libby Berndt and Bill Vander Weele, and the rest of the Herald employees, for giving me a chance and allowing me to gain experi-ence in the fi eld.

I graduated from Ramapo College of New Jersey with a bachelors of contem-porary arts, where I focused in sports journalism.

I knew I wanted to pursue a career in sports journalism because I have always had a passion for sports and was always interested in the way sports have be-come rooted in our society and history.

Coming to Sidney, I was not sure what to expect. As soon as I got here though, I fell in love with all of the people in this town. It is a bit of a culture shock com-ing from New Jersey, but not to worry, real Jersey girls are nothing like MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” as I already assured fellow Sidney Herald reporter and avid watcher of the “Jersey Shore,” Louisa Barber.

I am thrilled to be a sports reporter for the Sidney Herald and honored to be a part of this community.

I look forward to meeting every single one of you in the near future at the many games I plan on attending in the area.

You can always reach me at the Sidney Herald or email me, as I want to get to know each and every one of you more.

Sidney’s new sportsreporter comesfrom New Jersey

BILL VANDER WEELE | SIDNEY HERALD

Successful promotionSidney Herald circulation manager Dawn Steinbeisser, left, presents food donations to the Richland County Food Bank. The Herald offered residents a reduced rate for a subscription if they brought in canned goods for the food bank.

Kiwanis directorSidney Herald managing editor Bill Vander Weele, second from right in back row, was re-elected as a Sidney Kiwanis Club director. He is a past president of the club.

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Ebersole honored for investigative reporting

Williston, ND

BY JERRY BURNESWILLISTON HERALD REPORTER

Jenna Ebersole, along with two other Boston University students, was awarded with the David S. Barr Award over the weekend in Baltimore.

The award, given by the Newspaper Guild, Communications Workers of America, recognized journalistic achievement and encouraged young journalists looking at social justice issues. The three reporters worked on the story not only through BU but also the non-profit New England Center for Investigative Reporting.

“It was exciting to be recognized for something that took us a lot of time,” Ebersole said. “We’re really appreciative of the honor.”

Ebersole, along with Sarah Favot and Kirsten Berg, tackled the issue of mandatory life sentences in Maryland for juveniles found guilty of first degree murder. The expose was entitled “Our Young Killers” and started in the spring of 2011.

The six-month-plus recording process involved hours in the courthouse in Boston and later prison interviews. After going through all the information, the three found there were inequities in the system where some were offered plea deals as opposed to life sentences. The Massachusetts law was later ruled unconstitutional.

“Above all, the NECIR is doing profound work for training a new generation of investigative reporters,” Ebersole added. “I owe a lot of what I know about investigative reporting to my editor Maggie Mulvihill.”

Jenna Ebersole

Burnes joins Herald staff as reporterBY PAYTON WILLEYWILLISTON HERALD REPORTER

Jerry Burnes, a young man who has come from Willmington, Ill. with hopes of applying his knowledge and experience from several areas, has joined the Williston Herald staff as its newest reporter.

Burnes recently graduated with his masters degree in communication studies with an emphasis on social media, sports and business communication from Northern Illinois University where he also received his bachelors degree in journalism in 2009.

No rookie to sports news, Burnes has previously held positions at Northern Star, NIU’s student newspaper, Free Press Newspapers in Willmington and an internship with the Chicago Bandits, a professional softball team. Burnes previous titles include sports writer, photographer, photo editor, sports editor, campus writer and public relations intern.

In his spare time, Burnes enjoys reading nonfiction, playing golf and photography, a passion that stemmed from the

workplace.“When I worked for the Willmington paper, it was a lot like

the Herald where you had to take your own photos, so when I went back to graduate school, I decided to challenge myself more,” Burnes said. “Working as a photographer and photo editor doing NIU sports, I kind of grew to love photography and got halfway decent at it.”

Burnes said his most memorable story during his career so far in the journalism field was the opportunity to cover the February 14 shooting which occurred in 2008 and involved a former NIU student who waled into a lecture hall and killed five students.

Burnes also covered two Mid-American Conference Championships; NIU vs. Miami of Ohio, and NIU vs. Ohio University, as well as the godaddy.com bowl game this year with NIU vs. Arkansas State.

Burnes said his favorite thing to write about is sports, and he hopes to have a great learning experience during his time at the Williston Herald.

Jerry Burnes

Joint potluck

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Liedke joins the newsroom at Daily NewsNew reporter said it feels like he is destined to live in border towns

BY MATTHEW LIEDKE • DAILY NEWSmattl@wahpetondailynews.com

It seems like I’m destined to live in border towns.

I grew up in International Falls, Minn., a town that re-sides on the border of Canada. I decided on being a journalist back in the 10th grade and de-cided I wanted to study journal-ism at Minnesota State Univer-sity Moorhead in 11th grade. After high school I attended Rainy River Community Col-lege to get my associate in arts degree, that was followed by my transfer to MSUM. At that point I was once again living in a border area. I completed my degree in mass communica-tions in May of 2012

While I attended both Rainy River and MSUM, I became very passionate about film and started up a movie review website, “After The Movie Re-views.” Since I started the site, I’ve written more than 300 re-views and learned most of the ins and outs of the film indus-try and box office. My favorite film would be “The Godfather: Part II,” and others I love are “Metropolis,” “Tombstone” and “The Dark Knight.”

When I’m not watching mov-ies in my downtime, I am more than likely watching sports. Growing up in International Falls, a town that has won sev-en Minnesota state high school hockey championships, it was practically in my blood to get into the sport, and I watch both college and professional games frequently.

The same can be said about football. I’ll most likely watch a game no matter who is play-ing. Since I’m from Minnesota, the teams I root for are the Minnesota Vikings, The Uni-versity of Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Minnesota Wild.

When I found out that I would be working here in Wah-peton, I was ecstatic, as I see it as a very great opportunity for my career and the town is very welcoming. For a third time I’m also living in a border area and that is something I fully embrace.

Matthew Liedke, the Richland County reporter for the Daily News is also the paper’s new film critic. About twice a month he critiques films, giving readers a taste of one of his loves, watching movies. His movie blog can be found at www.afterthemoviereviews.com.

Eric Grover, sports editor of the Daily News, is willing to dye his hair pink if two girls basketball teams can raise $3,000 or more to combat cancer.

Sports Editor willing to go ‘pink’ for a good cause

BY ERIC GROVER • DAILY NEWSsports@wahpetondailynews.com

OK, so here’s the deal. I’m teaming up with the Wahpeton and Breckenridge girls bas-ketball teams who are raising money for breast cancer re-search. They came to me with an idea they called “The Gro-ver Challenge.” How could I resist that?

Here’s how it works. They are selling bracelets and Tupper-ware at basketball games and there are also going to be dona-tion boxes at each school. If we can raise enough money, I’ve agreed to color my hair pink,

live, in front of everyone, dur-ing halftime of the Wahpeton-Breckenridge basketball game at NDSCS on Dec. 15. Yes, you read that correctly.

Hold on now, my head isn’t cheap. I’ve set the goal at $3,000. It’s a lot of money, but it’s for a great cause.

All money raised will di-rectly go to the Susan G. Ko-men Foundation. According to breastcancer.org, 1 out of every 8 women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in their lives. I’m thinking that’s got to stop. So let’s team up and fight this disease. See you on the 15th of December.

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Val Sanders joins staff of the News-MonitorBY ROBYN ROHDE

newsmonitor@midconetwork.com

There is a new bright, smil-ing face in the News-Monitor office.

Val Sanders has taken over the office manager position since Aug. 21 and is looking forward to keeping the public updated on upcoming events, church schedules and local news.

“I enjoy working with the public and all the local people who stop in the office,” Sand-ers said.

Sanders’ previous work his-tory includes 10 years at 3M/Imation, Wahpeton, and three years with Dr. Kenneth (KJ) Weidman, Breckenridge.

Most recently you would have noticed her pleasant dis-position behind the desk at Mark Sand and Gravel, Han-kinson.

Beginning last week the Hankinson native will now be your contact for any subscrip-tion questions or advertising needs. She can be reached Tuesday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 701-242-7696.

Compiling the news from the past section has quickly be-come her favorite duty in the office.

Sanders is married to Mike and together they have one son, Rylan.

Val Sanders is the new staff member at the News-Monitor in Hankinson, N.D. She brings a ready smile to her position as office manager. She has become a good addition to the paper.

‘I enjoy working with the public and all the local people who stop in the office.’

ROBYN ROHDE | NEWS-MONITOR

Donkey ball fundraiserThe Hankinson Washington, D.C., Close Up group held a donkey basketball fundraiser for an upcoming trip. The evening proved to be a hilarious experi-ence for audience and participants alike. The Lidgerwood Fire Department took on the Hankinson Fire Department in the opening act, followed by the boys basketball team taking on the girls. Above: Hankinson firefighter Arnie Lovdokken tries to turn his donkey around toward the basket. There were bucks, spills and good-natured teasing as the donkeys got the best of the par-ticipants in this family event.

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Local news you need, information you want.Local news you need, information you want.Your community-involved newspaper.Your community-involved newspaper. www.argusobserver.comwww.argusobserver.comOntario, OROntario, OR

PROMOTION

ARGUS OBSERVER STAFFONTARIO

Ontario’s holiday kickoff,“Festival of Trees,” had itslargest opening ever inNovember as the annual eventbegan its three-day run at theClarion Inn in Ontario.

The Argus Observer is a spon-sor and major supporter of theevent.

This year, there were 37 trees,

the majority of which are spon-sored. The trees were decoratedby the festival committee, andfive businesses decorated theirown.

The trees, wreaths, center-pieces and other craft items arefor sale, and the event raises ap-proximately $18,000 to $20,000,with 70 percent going to Mealson Wheels and 30 percent toHelp Them To Hope.

Help Them To Hope was start-ed 47 years ago with the help ofFran McLean, who was the firstWick publisher of the ArgusObserver.

Bill McCarver had been appointed the new circulation man-ager of the Argus Observer and Independent-Enterprise.McCarver replaces former Circulation Manager JoeRodriguez, who retired this summer. McCarver started hisnew position Oct. 1.McCarver, an Ontario native, previously worked at the Argusin high school and while attending Treasure ValleyCommunity College as a sports stringer. He left the Argus toattend Oregon State University, where he majored in jour-nalism and theater.After college, he owned his own retail business for 22 years

before returning to the Argus in October 2010, when he was hired as circulation dis-trict manager. The circulation district manager’s primary duties focused on circu-lation route management and newspaper delivery.As circulation manager, McCarver now oversees all aspects of Argus Observer cir-culation department, including marketing, sales and promotion of the newspaper.McCarver has been married to his wife, Kathy, for 31 years. They have one son.

On Oct. 22, Scott McIntosh started work as the new editor ofthe Argus Observer and Independent-Enterprise, oversee-ing operations of the editorial department.McIntosh, 42, has been a newspaper journalist for 18 years.Most recently, he was the owner and editor of the KunaMelba News, a weekly, in Kuna, for five years, from 2006 to2011. During that time, he won 27 awards from theNational Newspaper Association and the Idaho Press Club.Prior to that, McIntosh was an assistant metro editor at the

Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., he was the managing editor at the SanMateo (Calif.) County Times, was a copy editor at the News-Herald in Willoughby,Ohio, and started his career as a reporter and copy editor at the Current-Argus inCarlsbad, N.M.McIntosh holds bachelor’s degrees in newspaper journalism and English fromSyracuse University.He and his wife, Nicola, have been married for 15 years and have two sons, Luke,10, and Robert, 7.

The Argus Observer welcomes Sports EditorJordan Schultz to the Editorial Department.Jordan Schultz spent most of his time growing upin Payette, Idaho. He graduated from PayetteHigh School, where he played basketball, base-ball and football. His senior year, he earned all-conference awards in basketball and baseballand was picked to play in the Senior All-Star bas-ketball game. After high school, Schultz spentone year as a member of the Treasure Valley

Community College mens basketball team. “My passion growing up was always sports, and a few years ago I reallystarted to like writing, so I decided that I needed to get into a career thatwould combine the two,” according to Schultz. Schultz started off blogging online and eventually became a freelancesports writer for the Idaho State Journal in Pocatello, Idaho, before be-ing selected as the Argus Observer sports editor.

LARRY MEYER | ARGUS OBSERVER

Argus Observer advertising account executive Jo Ogburn, right, was spotted early at the opening of the annual Festival of Trees event inOntario.

Argus Observer celebrates the seasonwith Festival of Trees

Festival of Treesbenefits Help

Them To Hope

Coffee ConnectIn a partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the

Argus Observer hosted a Coffee Connect event on the morning ofNov. 13. A couple of dozen business people and community mem-bers had a cup of coffee with McIntosh and McCarver.

NEW FACES

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BOGALUSA-FRANKLINTON, LOUISIANA

The Daily NewsHelping to make the

‘Magic City’ shineThe city of Bogalusa has a

community tradition of com-ing together on Thanksgivingevening to kindle the magic ofthe Christmas season.

A family-friendly paraderolls at 5 p.m., powerfully set-ting the mood as the partici-pating individuals and theirmodes of transport arewrapped in colorful strings oflights.

The Parade of Lights endsup at Cassidy Park where mil-lions of additional lights arebrought to life with the offi-cial opening of the Christmasin the Park extravaganza.

Earlier, Mayor CharlesMizell and the City Councilasked local home and busi-ness owners, schools, church-es and civic organizations tohelp transform the city into alife-sized, living Christmasvillage to let the spirit of the“Magic City” radiate in timefor the official opening of theseason.

City leaders encouragedeveryone to “start the seasonright, right here at home” bylighting their houses, vehi-cles and businesses to help“make this the biggestChristmas season ever” in

Bogalusa.People were encouraged to

string Christmas lights and toalso hang wreaths, put upmanger scenes and any otherdecorations to make the land-scape merry and magicalboth night and day.

Artists and anyone else whowanted to help with the trans-formation of Columbia StreetSquare for the holiday wereinvited to join MainstreetProgram Manager Robin Day.The old Farmer’s Marketbuilding was slated to becomea gingerbread house.

Within days, volunteers

were pounding nails, paintingdecorations and hanginglights, and soon the metamor-phosis was complete. Theonce drab and unpaintedstructure has become a gin-gerbread-colored haven forarea children to enjoy.

’Tis the season for all thecitizens of Bogalusa to pauseand remember the reason forthe season — the birth ofJesus Christ — and to alsoremember His admonish-ment: “Inasmuch as you havedone it to one of the least ofthese my brothers, you havedone it to me.”

Merry Christmas to all.

DAILY NEWS PHOTOS/Marcelle Hanemann

LEFT: Columbia Street Square, which had been adorned with a giant pumpkin, spider and more in advance of Bogalusa’s Harvest Fes-tival, underwent a change for the Christmas holidays. Joshua Crosby, left, helps Gary Magee with the transformation of the old Farmer’sMarket structure into a festive “gingerbread house,” under the direction of Mainstreet Program Manager Robin Day and the observationof Joe Michael Giordano. At right, Daily News Business Office Manager Vicki Schilling poses in front of the completed gingerbreadhouse. The Columbia Street Square is located directly in front of The Daily News office.

Ouch!

Each year, The Daily Newsgenerously pays for all of itsemployees, including PNPrinting, to receive immu-nization from the flu. Noteveryone agrees to get one, butmost are willing to wait theirturn and get “shot” in order toward off a debilitating flu.

This year, the Centers forDisease Control is predictingone of the worst flu seasons ina decade, with cases alreadybeing reported in five South-ern states, including Louis-iana. The 2003-04 outbreak, oneof the most lethal seasonsrecorded in the past 35 years,killed more than 48,000 people.

Daily Newsstaffers get theirannual flu shot

DAILY NEWS PHOTO/Jan Gibson

Le’Ann Williams, Daily Newsadvertising rep, is a bitsqueamish about getting herflu shot.

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St. John the Baptist Parish,where L’Observateur’s offices arelocated, had a tough August as itfaced two separate tragedies.

On the morning of Aug. 16,local residents as well as thenewspaper staff awoke to news ofa shooting that left two sheriff’sdeputies dead and two morewounded.

The alleged perpetrators wereanti-government activists whofirst shot Deputy Michael Scott

Boyington as he sat in a car whileworking an off-duty traffic detail.Then, when officers were investi-gating the incident at a LaPlacetrailer park, an ambush occurredin which Deputies Jeremy Tricheand Brandon Nielsen were killedand Deputy Jason Triche wasseverely wounded.

And, of course, L’Observateurwas there to not only report onthe initial incident but also to doc-ument the outpouring of compas-

sion and support from the localcommunity that followed thetragedy.

Then, less than two weekslater, a slow-moving, category onehurricane called Isaac made land-fall on the coast of Louisiana. Thestorm subjected the area to highwinds and torrential rains for twofull days, and this combinationproduced unprecedented flood-ing in St. John the Baptist Parish,where people had to be rescuedfrom their flooded homes by boat.

Although L’Observateur’s of-fices escaped relatively un-scathed, two staff members’ hous-es were not so lucky. The stormalso forced the newspaper to skipits Saturday, Sept. 1, edition, asdelivery would have been impos-sible.

Nonetheless, dedicated staffmembers committed themselvesto bringing the latest news to itsreaders via the Internet, despitehaving no power and limitedresources.

In the days that followed,L’Observateur remained steadfast

in its mission, keeping the publicinformed through reports andphotos, and put out a print editionone week after the storm hit. Staffmembers even brought the news-

papers to storm-affected resi-dents as they waited in lines foremergency food stamps and otherassistance and even while theygutted their damaged homes.

Best Along the River Since 1913

L‘ OBSERVATEUR

Pagination Department expandsThe Pagination Department for the Pontchartrain Newspaper Group, housed in theoffices of L’Observateur and headed by L’Observateur General Manager/Managing

Editor David Vitrano, brought another new face to LaPlace in October when it hiredAshley Sentimore as its newest paginator. The addition will help the department

take on even more pagination duties as it strives to eventually handle all layout forthe three newspapers. Coming from a graphic design background, Ashley had totake a little time at first to learn the ins and outs of the newspaper business, butshe is sure to be a big help as Pontchartrain Newspapers prepares to convert to

Indesign software and a new workflow system at the beginning of 2013.

L’Observateur weathers the storm

L’Observateur General Manager/Managing Editor David Vitranoworks on a generator-powered laptop set up in the home ofGraphic Designer Rhett Triche in the days after Hurricane Isaacflooded large portions of St. John the Baptist Parish.

From left, L’Observateur Publisher Sandy Cunningham,Advertising Support Monique Narcisse, Graphic Designer RhettTriche and Advertising Representative Regina Burrell wait forthe funeral procession for Deputy Jeremy Triche.

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NEW IBERIA, LOUISIANA

New editorial system installedWhen a new editorial system is

installed at a newspaper, and no one gets the idea that retirement should be hastened, it has to be a success.

At least that’s what Daily Iberian Managing Editor Jeff Zeringue be-lieves.

“Anytime you introduce change in the newsroom, you kind of hold your breath,” Zeringue quipped.

Although many are getting used to the new system and minor bugs have to be worked out, the change has been good.

The new Workfl ow system is a simi-lar version to what the Sierra Vista Herald has been using for some time. Reporters work on an Internet-browser based system that is easy to maneuver.

The new editorial system also allows reporters to fi le easily from the fi eld, even having the ability to upload pho-tos as well.

Workfl ow was developed by Sierra Vista Herald IT Manager and Wick IT Support Don Judd, who spent two weeks in Louisiana installing the Workfl ow system.

“It was an excellent installation,” Judd said. “The team in New Iberia re-ally invested themselves in the installa-tion, and in learning the new Workfl ow system, and made it a wildly successful project.”

No change is without its challenges, but the news staff was determined to learn the new programs.

“I’m really proud of the news staff here,” Zeringue said. “They stuck with

it and were determined to learn as much as they could in the short time that Don Judd was here.

“And the learning is continuing. Teche Life Editor Karma Champagne probably had the biggest challenge because she only paginates twice per week, on a regular basis, although she does produce several special sections

during the year.”Learning the pagination software

InDesign was one of the more diffi cult challenges, Zeringue said. There are several similarities to the old Quark program.

“The diffi culty was that doing things, such as making a drop-cap letter at the beginning of a paragraph, ends up the

same, you just have to learn the differ-ent way to get there.”

Judd’s Workfl ow program is a work in progress, but the system is up an running in New Iberia, La.

“It was the most positive project I have been involved with in Wick to date,” Judd said. “Well done to every-one in New Iberia.”

And it wasn’t just the newsroom. Upgrading to InDesign necessitated an upgrade in AdForce in advertising and production, in the way the ads are put into the system and pages are built.

Although the process of dummying the paper and creating the pages has changed, that process, too, is getting better as the new system is learned bythe staff in advertising and produc-tion.

LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Daily Iberian Managing Editor Jeff Zeringue, from left, Production Manager Jerry Sex-ton and Sierra Vista Herald IT Manager and Wick IT Support Don Judd work together to install the new computer system and new editing software.

LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Teche Life Editor Karma Champagneteasingly pulls her hair out of her headas she learns the new editing software.

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LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Just a cute little kitty, right?Daily Iberian reporter Hope Rurik feeds one of two Golden Bengal tigers recently acquired by the Zoo of Acadiana in nearbyBroussard, La. ‘Golden Bengal tigers, like these cubs, are a cross between the white tiger, like the zoo’s Jolie, and a regular Bengaltiger, like LSU’s mascot Mike the Tiger,’ Rurik wrote in a story published Oct. 31. Following the interview with the animals’ keep-ers, Rurik was able to feed the last bit of bottle to ‘tyke.’ The new acquisitions were only about two weeks from the zoo staff,and anyone else, having such close contact with the wild animal.

DI editor participates in balcony performance

It was off Broadway, some 2,000 miles off Broadway, but was an enjoyable acting experience, said Daily Iberian Managing Editor Jeff Zeringue.

“It” was the Beneath the Balconies, an annual series of theatrical and musical performances held in October on several balconies in downtown New Iberia.

“I did a little radio announcing, once upon a time, and a couple of plays in col-lege, but this was defi nitely a lot easier, much less pressure,” Zeringue said.

The role was a sports announcer who introduced four short performances in the characters of LSU head football coach Les Miles, Notre Dame legendary coach Knute Rockney, the late Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry and NFL legend and former Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi.

LEE BALL / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Daily Iberian Managing Editor Jeff Zeri-ngue in October performs the role of a sports announcer during ‘Beneath the Balconies,’ a series of performances by actors and singers on balconies in down-town New Iberia.

Reporters have to be quick on their toes, which is what Daily Iberian re-porter Jessica Goff was on Dec. 4 when two vehicles crashed in front of her car.

“It was crazy,” Goff said. “I just saw this woman drive right through the intersection and crash right into a man’s SUV.

“I was just on my lunch break.”Goff had her pocket knife in her

purse, a gift from her father, and was able to cut the seatbelt strap, freeing

the crash victim, while she was on the phone with a 911 operator.

She had to cut the strap in two places to free the man, Paul Camacho Jr., of New Iberia.

The driver of the second vehicle, Pamela Thompson, also of New Iberia was cited in the crash for running a red light and causing the wreck.

Goff said Iberia Parish Fire Dis-trict No. 1 Chief Guy Bonin arrived on the scene first and asked her if

she was reporting on the wreck. When she said she had witnessed the crash he responded, “Wow, you really get up close with your report-ing, huh?”

Hours after the wreck, Goff still marveled at her unexpected response of assisting the crash victim.

Both victims were not injured badly, Goff said. They were taken to a local hospital where they were treated and released.

Reporter frees trapped driver after wreck

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NEWSTHE Heart OF ST. TAMMANY www.thesttammanynews.com

SlidellSentry News BannerST. TAMMANYST. TAMMANY

NEWS

Members of the St. Tammany News advertising department,from left, Amanda Flathers, Shane Maddox, MelanieMaddox, Shelia Allemand, Holly Flattmann, Jay Kemp, BillCranford, Felder O’Rourke, Michelle Wallis-Croas, DeaneBerke and Barbara Eckert, presented a plaque to thedeparting Jay Kemp, digital media manager. The plaquereads “Official Member – Who Dat Nation.” Kemp left theSt. Tammany News after accepting another job with HalifaxMedia Group in Daytona, Fla. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel)

Once a Who Dat, Always a Who Dat

‘Northshore Sports’ making an impact in St. Tammany

St. Tammany News sports edi-tor Mike Pervel, a 30-year Armyveteran, who worked in militarybroadcasting throughout hiscareer, and Jay Jay Richardson,the Voice of the Northshore, haveestablished a long standing broad-cast bond when it comes to localradio coverage here on theNorthshore.

The duo has hit the airwavesfor the past eight years, hostingNorthshore Sports, a weekly seg-ment on The Lake 94.7 WYLK.

The radio show airs onThursday nights from 6:30-8:00p.m., broadcasting from WowCafé and Wingery’s new locationin the Clarion Inn and Suites onHighway 190 in Covington.

Northshore Sports is an outletto recognize the tireless effort andcommitment made by student-athletes here on the Northshore.Upcoming shows will be featur-ing boys’ and girls’ basketball and

soccer as the program is sched-uled to run through the month ofMarch.

During the Nov. 29th showNorthlake Christian School first-year head boys’ basketball coachSean Englert and two of his play-ers senior guard Dane Landry andjunior Riley Risher appearedalong with varsity LadyWolverines’ first-year head coachAaron Agresta and senior guardsJolie Chaubert and KatinaLaGamba.

Each week the show promotesdeserving high school student-athletes and their schools high-lighting their accomplishmentsduring the respective sports sea-sons.

Richardson also handles livefootball play-by-play during theseason along with color analyst

“Dynamite” Dave Hardy onFriday nights with Pervel han-dling halftime interviews and sta-tistics during certain broadcasts.

Northshore Sports had a newlook this football season this year

with the addition of formerSaints’ All-pro receiver BooWilliams and Antonio Marshall, a1995 Mandeville High graduate,who played football for theSkippers and at USM, handling

the EX5 Ultimate Sports Drinksideline reports during the foot-ball season. Both former playersalso made appearances on theweekly radio show adding theirexpertise.

Highlighting student-athletes, their accomplishments is the name of the game for broadcast duo

ST. TAMMANY NEWSSPORTS EDITOR

MIKE PERVEL

St. Tammany News Sports Editor Mike Pervel (Mikee P), seated at left, shares a monent with JayJay Richardson, the Voice of the Northshore, during a recent airing of Northshore Sports featur-ing Northlake Christian School. Lady Wolverines’ varsity players seated from left, JolieChaubert and Katina LaGamba, were interviewed. The weekly local high school radio sportsshow airs on The Lake 94.7 WYLK taking place at Wow Café and Wingery in its new location atClarion Inn and Suites in Covington, La. (Staff Photo by Suzanne LeBreton)