NEWS FROM WICK COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY

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2016

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Wick communications is celebrating its 90th year in business. What an amaz-ing feat it is to have served communities we care so deeply about for 90 years. To think, Wick has seen a lot of changes dur-ing that time, from competition of radio and television to today’s quickly evolving digital landscape.Through all this change, our mission has not waivered. At Wick, we strive to in-form, lead and build the communities we serve in a responsible fashion. We held a leadership meeting at the end of April to share benchmarking information about our news-papers and discuss ways we can improve products and performance. When comparing ourselves to other family owned newspaper companies, we see Wick is underperforming by more than 70 percent; that’s ap-ples to apples comparison with companies of similar makeup and profiles. When we realize others are per-forming that well, and Wick is not, it should be clear evidence of the opportunities we have in front of us. HOW DO WE IMPROVE?First, we have to believe in the value and mission of what we do. Our business has seen significant chang-es these past years, yet we still make a difference in the communities we serve. When you believe and care about what you do, others will take note and elevate their performance as well.Secondly, we have to understand the details of our departments and operations. As an example, when looking at the overall picture of circulation in Wick, we found our department profitability is off largely due to the fact we haven’t kept up with best practices. Most small to mid-sized newspaper produce 50 percent gross profit in their circulation departments; this helps offset other departments (such as editorial). Wick, on average, produces 25 percent. That’s a large variance from where we want to be.Next we have to have strong leadership in place. This spring we’ve taken great strides to shore up key man-agement positions. Longtime Nogales International Publisher Manuel Coppola has moved to our flagship newspaper in Sierra Vista, Ariz. Wick veteran publish-ers Rebecca Bradner and Ken Harty have taken ad-ditional duties as group publishers and will be sharing

their experience widely throughout the company. And most recently, we’ve been pleased to announce the addition of Ron Parra, who will serve as the company’s chief financial officer. He brings a wealth of financial management experience with him from his long service to the San Diego Union Tribune.Lastly, we should strive to take calculated risks and capture new products/opportu-

nities. The best ideas will typically avail from the op-erational level. If you have an idea, or believe we’re missing out on an opportunity, notify your publisher and group manager. Our motto for 2016/17 is “Build.” There should be posters hung up around the office and I would ask every employee to take a few minutes each week to question whether you and your operation are achiev-ing the goals set forth below. If not, make an issue of it and notify management.

B-U-I-L-D Believe – In what we do Unique – Provide a new experience

for your customers (readers/advertisers)

Innovate – Our business, the processes and vision

Lead – By example; our people and community

Disciplined – In financial and operational management

As a third-generation Wick family member, I’m proud of the legacy and difference our newspapers mean to their respective communities. The business is dif-ferent day-in and day-out, which is seen by some as uncomfortable and by others as exhilarating. We are in a time of change and opportunity, and our success will be driven by the employees. These employees are the ones who will help Build Wick into a 21st century company we all will be proud of for another 90 years.

Thank you for your continued efforts and support!

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Wick Corporate ...................... 2

Central Design, Wick Digital Media & Daily Territorial ................... 3

The Argus Observer .............4-5

Arizona Range News ............6-7

The Daily Iberian..................8-9

Green Valley News & Sahuarita Sun .................... 10

The Frontiersman ................. 11

Montrose Daily Press ......12-14

Sidney Herald ........................ 15

Nogales International ......16-17

Half Moon Bay Review .....18-19

Lake Havasu, Today’s News Herald ........20-21

The Copper Era & The Eastern Arizona Courier................22-23

Roanoke Rapids, The Daily Herald...............24-25

Capital Journal .................26-27

Wahpeton, Daily News ............................. 28

The Williston Herald ............. 29

Sierra Vista Herald ..........30-32

INDEX

Time to Build WickFrancis Wick, President and CEO

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dcCENTRAL DESIGNWICK COMMUNICATIONS

NEW BUILDING!On Friday, April 15, Central Design, Wick Digital Media and The Daily Territorial moved into their new building.

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EDIACENTRAL DESIGN

AL, JUSTIN & JODI CENTRAL DESIGN

ROXANNE & DUANE - THE DAILY TERRITORIAL

DENISE & ALCENTRAL DESIGN

ANTHONY & ALESSIA - WICK DIGITAL MEDIA

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Samantha Zamago, left, and MacKenzie Jacoby are the first faces

people see when they enter The Argus Observer’s office. They joined the paper in February.

PHOTO CREDIT: KRISTI ALBERTSON | THE ARGUS OBSERVER

ONTARIO, Ore. — Big smiles greet customers when they enter The Argus Observer office, cour-tesy of Samantha Zamago and MacKenzie Jacoby.

Zamago and Jacoby were hired in February to staff the front desk. Zamago sells classified advertising and handles obituaries. Jacoby is the paper’s clas-sified and public notices representative.

Zamago graduated from Ontario High School in 2011, then lived in Eugene, Oregon, for three years. She went to school and had a couple of jobs, including as a caretaker for elderly women.

“I like it,” Zamago said of working at the Argus. “I really like sales. I’m very goal-oriented. It keeps me busy working toward a task.”Jacoby is busy in and out of the office; in addition to her work at the Argus, she is pursuing a bach-elor’s degree in accounting online through Eastern Oregon University.

Like Zamago, Jacoby is from the local area. She graduated in 2014 from Harper High School, about 30 miles west of Ontario.

“I like it,” Jacoby said of working at the Argus.

Zamago said the people have been welcoming.

“It’s a happy place to work,” she said. “I really enjoy it.”

2 NEW FACES AT ARGUS’ FRONT DESKThe Argus Observer

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ONTARIO, Ore. — A new sports reporter has joined the team at The Argus Observer and Independent-Enterprise.

Rob Ruth took the helm of the sports department in mid-February. Ruth came to the paper with many years of journalism experience in magazines and newspapers.

He worked as a writer and editor for a number of magazines and papers for several years, and then earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Idaho. After that, Ruth worked as editor of the Weiser Signal American in Weiser, Idaho, for more than 11 years.

After a hiatus from journalism that included jobs in the trucking and information technology fields, Ruth got back into newspapers in 2010 as a sports and general news reporter at the Lake County Examiner in Lakeview, Oregon. He then was hired as the editor of the Wallowa Coun-ty Chieftain in Enterprise, Oregon, a position he held until September.

Ruth and his wife, Paula, a homemaker, have owned a house in Weiser for 20 years and moved home Oct. 1 to live in it. The couple have two grown sons, Linus, 32, an IT professional who lives in Seattle, and Jeremy, 25, a clarinet player pursuing his doctorate at Arizona State University.

“I look forward to covering sports in the lower Treasure Valley. We have many good programs and lots of good com-petition,” Ruth said.

EXPERIENCED REPORTER MANS SPORTS DESKThe Argus Observer

ARGUS SERVES HUNGRY VOLUNTEERS AFTER COMMUNITY SERVICE EVENTThe Argus ObserverONTARIO, Ore. — The Argus Observer served up hamburgers and hot dogs for hungry volunteers at the annual Community Serve Day event April 30.

The Argus has participated in the valleywide community service event every year since its inception. This year, 19 volunteers — 14 employees and five family members — made up the Argus’ team. They did yardwork for people throughout Ontario who could not do the work themselves.

Serve Day draws hundreds of volun-teers from throughout the Western

Treasure Valley each year for proj-ects that range from graffiti removal to house painting. Argus leaders, who believe in the importance of giving back to the community they serve, have been a part of the event for five years.

This year they took service to an-other level by providing lunch for the volunteers who participated. With help from two local businesses, the Argus barbecued burgers and hot dogs following the event.

Wade Cordes and his daughter, Hannah, grill hamburgers and hot dogs for hungry volunteers at Community Serve Day. PHOTO CREDIT: THE ARGUS OBSERVER

Rob Ruth is the new Argus Observer and Independent-Enterprise sports reporter. He joined the paper in February.PHOTO CREDIT: THE ARGUS OBSERVER

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spread, including their entries and the sponsors

for the contest. About 800 youngsters turned

in entries.

PHOTO CREDIT: ARIZONA RANGE NEWS

Running an age group contest can pose specials problems, as the Arizona Range News found out in April during its annual Easter Coloring Contest.

Our 7-8 year old winner, Neveah Vasquez of Willcox Elementary school, turned 9 before we awarded her a $50 first prize. That wasn’t really a problem, though, as her school had submitted her entry before that ninth birthday, making her still eligible in her younger category, in-stead of having to compete with the 9-10 year olds.

However, our 9-10 year old winner came in to the office and admitted he could not tell a lie. Joey Lyon, born on Washing-ton’s birthday, didn’t exactly chop down a cherry tree, but did confess he was 11 when the school asked for him to color his entry and submit it in early March as a 9-10 year-old competitor.

This presented a special problem, as his con-fession came right after we had published his winning entry and personal photo in the Range News’ March 23 edition. His grand-

father accompanied him as he made the tearful confession on March 25, admitting that he really didn’t understand that he was too old since the school had given him the entry.

We understood that he was past his 11th birth-day when he colored the entry and would have to ask for the return of his $50 winnings. But before we made the final decision and in turn con-tact the runner-up, the Range News brain trust

gathered and researched our eligibility rules in a contest we have run for nearly 20 years with no similar problems.

We found good news and relief when we realized the contest entries were made available Feb. 20, thus marking the official start of eligibility, thus re-lieving little Joey Lyon of culpability. He spent his final two days as a 10-year old as a legal entrant and fully published artistic champion who could keep the $50 award. In our case, we felt it was a $50 reward for his brave honesty.

Range News Spring Coloring Contest winners, from left, Austin Williams (4-6 year-olds); Neveah Vasquez (7-8 year-olds) and Joey Lyon (9-10 - and sometimes 11-year-olds), with their $50 prizes.PHOTO CREDIT: AINSLEE S. WITTIG / ARIZONA RANGE NEWS

“I CANNOT TELL A LIE”Coloring contest proves a challengeSteve Reno

Range newsWILLCOX • SAN SIMON • SUNSITES • BOWIE • COCHISE • DRAGOON

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NEW ADVERTISERS DRAWN IN WITH NEW PAGESmall shops jumping onboardAinslee S. Wittig / Arizona Range NewsIt’s been only two months since the Arizona Range News re-booted its local weekly business guide black and white section at the prompting of Publisher Monica Watson. Wat-son found a unique Local Merchants Guide design through the Newspaper Toolbox and thought it would increase par-ticipation for the the long-running guide.

“Since March 2, we have grown from eight to 18 advertis-ers – from a third of a page to a page and a third,” said advertising representative Steve Reno. ‘It has been rede-signed and we gave advertisers double the size for the same price, plus added a photo card feature that increases the value of the advertisement, as well as the visibility of their ad.”

“Current advertisers are happy because we upgraded their ad at no extra cost, while new advertisers find it a very attractive offer,” Reno said.The Range News is happy with the new Local Merchants Guide because it boosts our contracted advertisers, as well as reader interest in new advertiser products and services.

ARIZONA RANGE NEWS

The April 27 Local Merchants Guide, which actually spills over to a second page with four more local advertisers.PHOTO CREDIT: ARIZONA RANGE NEWS

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‘A Walk With Mama Bear... Wildlife Lagniappe’ by photographer Kim Bayard,

who searched out wildlife in Patterson and was pleasantly surprised to find

a bear with three cubs in the open near a treeline in St. Mary Parish,

placed first in voting by readers of The Daily Iberian for its Eyes on the Teche photo contest.

A photo of a mama bear and her three cubs crossing a gravel road placed first in voting by readers of The Daily Iberian in a photo contest held over the course of a few weeks in March and April.

“A Walk With Mama Bear … Wildlife Lagniappe” by Kim Bayard received the most votes from more than 400 cast for one or more photos submitted to The Daily Iberian’s Eyes on the Teche special section published in late February.

Bayard told Daily Iberian Teche Life editor Vicky Branton that she was hoping to see a bear on a road in nearby Patterson where she had previ-

ously seen one. Instead, she spotted a family of four bears — mama and cubs — out for a walk and stopped to take photos.

“I’ve been told since then that it is extremely rare to find three cubs,” Bayard said. “I think I knew it was rare, but people have told me it is really rare.”Entries to the contest were posted in color on The Daily Iberian’s website, www.iberianet.com, and readers had the chance to vote for their favorites.

Second place went to “Mystic Oak” by Catherine Roy, which featured rays of sunlight streaking through the darkened sky behind a giant oak.

Third place in the voting went to “One More Time,” a portrait of Gracelynn Weisz by her grand-mother Alison Weisz. The photo was actually submitted by Gracelynn’s other grandmother, Marilyn Bourgeois.

First prize was a $250 gift certificate to any of the sponsors of the special section, with second prize a $150 gift certificate

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PHOTO OF BEAR CUBS, MAMA BEAR TAKES PRIZEVoters pick bear family as winner of Eyes on the Teche photo contest

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The Ask Me About Good News Iberia button is shown close up.

PHOTO CREDIT: THE DAILY IBERIAN

Times are tough in the oil patch, but there’s still a lot of good news to share.

That was the point of an effort by The Daily Iberian and local businesses sponsored with a “Good News Iberia!” campaign that includ-ed distributing buttons with “Ask Me About Good News Iberia!” printed on them, and a March special section published in the news-paper, also called Good News Iberia.

“Good News Iberia! is an effort by the newspaper and the local businesses who have sponsored this special section to remind locals that while our community faces real challenges there are still plenty of good things happening locally about which we can feel good … plenty of good things that point to this community having a bright future,” the introduction to the 16-page insert stated.

Daily Iberian publisher Will Chapman addressed the idea in his column as well.

“We attempted to share some positive stories that were good news to remind everyone that while our area faces its share of chal-lenges, there are still good things happening locally.

For sure we don’t think the few stories we included in the section represent all of the good news for our community. Hopefully there were enough to perhaps prime the pump of your thinking, to help you think of other good things that have happened recently or which are set to happen soon.”

Good News Iberia featured stories about people and events in Iberia Parish such as a neighborhood association that helps re-

furbish homes and provide other services for its residents; plans by a local business to employ 900 for projects at the Port of Iberia; and a feature on the community’s thriv-ing theater group.

A thousand of the “Ask Me About Good News Iberia!” lapel buttons were distributed to the sponsors of the special section and at city hall, parish government buildings and the area Chamber of Com-merce office, with Daily Iberian employees among those wearing

the buttons during the week.

The response was good, Chapman said, with at least

two letters to the editor mentioning the Good News initiative, including one promoting the “El Baile del Rey” (King’s Ball) for the the three day El Festival Español de Nueva Ibe-ria during the month of November sponsored by the town’s Spanish heritage association, La Asociación Española de Nueva Iberia.

“… as we continue to promote “Good News, Iberia,” let us all be proud of the many wonderful cultures which make up New Iberia and join us on Saturday night in City Park as we celebrate New Iberia’s 237th birthday! Feliz cumpleaños Nueva Iberia!!!!!” the letter from festival chairman Ebrar J. Reaux concluded.

Daily Iberian Circulation Department Manager Judy Istre works the front desk as she wears an “Ask Me About Good News Iberia!” The buttons were part of a promotion sponsored by the newspaper and local business.PHOTO CREDIT: CHRIS LANDRY / THE DAILY IBERIAN

DAILY IBERIAN HELPS SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT COMMUNITYChris Landry | The Daily Iberian

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Danielle Burleson (center) helps leads efforts to help the

homeless in downtown Tucson.

EFFORTS TO AID THE HOMELESS ARE TAKING OFFDanielle Burleson, who works in market-ing at the Green Valley News and Sahua-rita Sun, has been helping the homeless since 2013.

That’s when she volunteered with a group that headed to downtown Tucson to serve homeless veterans.

“After that first experience I knew this was a calling from my heart to continue and to help anyone I could,” she says.

She started a group, Help Us Feed the Homeless, and in three years has seen more than 400 volunteers feed over 1,000 people in her community and in Tucson. She also organizes a winter collection of “Blessing Bags,” reaching out to the com-

munity for person-al hygiene prod-ucts, clothing and other goods that are delivered to the homeless.

“This year was our most successful, with 200 bags,” she says. “It’s al-ways rewarding to see the commu-nity believe in me enough to stand behind me and support the efforts.”She has been asked to serve on a board in Tucson, and along with her passion she loves to share her call to action: “You do not need a reason to help people — be the reason!”

WE HAVE A WINNER! Jill Carter (left) holds up the new 16GB iPad Mini 3 she won in the Green Valley News Tablet Treasure Hunt. Laura Kurtz, the newspaper’s circulation manager, presented Carter with her prize April 26. Readers looked for a hidden logo in a story.

DEBBIE KELLER joined the Green Valley News, Sahuarita Sun and Nogales International as ad-vertising manager in March.

Debbie was a sales manager at the San Diego Union-Tribune in California and spent most of her career in media sales and management in Southern California, including a position as general manager of three small community pa-pers in San Diego County.

“My husband and I made the decision to live in Sahuarita/Green Valley about a year ago after

several visits to the area to see our daughter,” she said. “We fell in love with the community and felt it would be a great place to live. I’m very happy to be part of Green Valley News & Sahuarita Sun.”

RHONDA KOCIS joined the Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun in advertising sales in April.

She is an Arizona native who spent most of her career in the insurance industry in Willcox and Benson, taking a brief break

ADVERTISING WELCOMES 2 NEW EMPLOYEES

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WASILLA — Just in time for baseball season, there’s a new skipper at the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

In April, Dennis Anderson was named publisher at Wasilla, Alaska, newspaper, accept-ing the job after falling in love with the community during a weeklong visit to the sprawling, mountain-ringed area about 30 miles north of Anchorage.

“The Frontiersman team sold me before I ever stepped foot onto the plane heading this way,” Anderson wrote in an April 29 email to staff after his first week on the job.

Anderson most recently worked as advertising director at the Montrose Daily Press, where he was key to several successful revenue concepts including three yearly editions of the high school sports preview, Val-ley Health, Valley Living magazine, the official visitor guide of Montrose, Visit Montrose, and a TMC product called Montrose County Shopper. Prior to join-ing Wick in 2004, Anderson worked in the retail store in-dustry for 19 years, including 16 in store management. He also served three years in the U.S. Army.

“I am looking forward to working with the great team already in place at the Frontiersman and can not wait to see what the future holds for your community newspaper,” Anderson said when the announcement was made.

EXCITING CHAPTERAnderson and his wife have three children, Jonathon, Matthew and Victoria, as well as two grandchildren,

Landon and Joey. He has been active in local youth sports programs in Delta, Colorado, including starting a youth football program in 2004 that is still active today.

He enjoys gardening and spending time with family and friends.

Anderson replaces Mark Kelsey, who stepped down in March after more than four years as publisher.

Wick CEO Francis Wick said he’s excited to have Anderson leading the Frontiersman, which serves the Matanuska and Susitna Valley region, an area with a population of more than 100,000 people spread over an area the

size of West Virginia.

“We’re excited for this next chapter at the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman and for Dennis Anderson,” Wick said. “Anderson will be a marvel-ous leader helping steward the organization, through dynamic in-

formation that will keep the community engaged and informed, and assisting local merchants in ways to de-velop their brand and message to customers.”

PLAY BALL!Anderson spent a week in Alaska in March familiariz-ing himself with the area and taking in the mountain-ous scenery. After starting work, Anderson immediately started to get involved in “Valley life” as well, attending several local civic events, including a gala fundraiser for his new favorite baseball team, the Mat-Su Min-ers of the collegiate Alaska Baseball League — whose

green and gold col-or scheme just so happens to match that of Anderson’s beloved Green Bay Packers. And he’s already got one of the team’s hats proudly displayed in his office at the newspaper’s Wasil-la headquarters.

“The opportunity to come to the Mat-Su Valley as the publisher of the Frontiersman is quite an honor,” Anderson said. “The area is breathtak-ing and my wife Melissa and I are beyond excited. The people I met in my short visit were very friendly and welcoming.”Anderson said he’s overflowing with enthusiasm for his newly adopted community, the paper’s employees and for the job ahead.

“We will work hard, be professional and have fun on this team,” he wrote to staff. “I’m looking forward to the years to come as publisher of the Frontiersman.”

Wick said he thinks Anderson will be a great fit in the Valley, which is the fastest-growing area of Alaska.

“The Mat-Su Valley is an amazing place, and Wick Communications is excited about the opportunities that exist in the market,” Wick said. “The Frontiersman em-bodies the independence which exists there, and we will continue to foster that spirit in our pages – both news and digital.”

Mat-Su Miners third baseman Ben Price is congratulated by teammates follow-ing a game-winning single during a game in 2011. The Miners represent the Palmer-Wasilla area in the Alaska Baseball League, a prestigious summer league comprised of Division I college baseball players. PHOTO CREDIT: MATT TUNSETH/FRONTIERSMAN

Dennis Anderson poses for a photo while working as Advertising Director at the Montrose Daily Press. In April, Anderson took over as Publisher at the Mat-Su Val-ley Frontiersman in Wasilla, Alaska. PHOTO CREDIT: NATE WICK/MONTROSE DAILY PRESS

A WHOLE NEW BALLGAMEAnderson steps up to the plate as Frontiersman publisherMatt Tunseth

MAT-SU VALLEY FRONTIERSMAN

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The Montrose Daily Press is pleased to introduce our newest team members of our circulation, editorial and press teams:

OSCAR CHAVEZ CASTANEDA joined Circulation as a Customer Service Rep-resentative. He was born somewhere in the Colorado plains and slowly worked his way out to the Western Slope, be-cause his wife grew up out here. He likes it so far. His dream is to fight Godzilla or draw comics for a living. Either one would be fine. Bill Watterson is the reason he likes newspapers.

DIANNA BESHOAR joins our team in our newly created position of Editorial As-sistant. Born in Chicago, she graduated from Niles North High School in Skokie, IL. Dianna holds two BA’s and an MA from the University of Colorado system. She also earned a certificate of fashion design from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. Dianna taught at Cottonwood Elementary, here in Montrose, for an epoch. Working as an editorial assistant is a privilege that is not wasted on Dianna.

JACK GIBSON recently joined the MDP team as an Insert Machine Operator in our press room. Jack grew up in Mon-trose and graduated from Montrose High School. When not working, he likes to go camping (he roughs it in a tent) and

hiking at all the beautiful locations west-ern Colorado has to offer.

IAN JAMESON is our newest classi-fied Customer Service Representative. He moved to Montrose in February from Salt Lake City, Utah. He brings a wealth of knowledge in various fields from forklift operator to baker to call center supervi-sor. He plans to attend Mesa State Uni-versity soon to complete his education. In his free time, he enjoys reading fantasy or science fiction books. He also has an 8-month old pit bull terrier, Wilson, who is the biggest baby he’s ever met.

DEANNE SANDERS comes to us from the Capital Journal in Pierre. She joined our editorial team as a paginator. Her news-paper career began in 2004. Since then, it has taken her from Colorado to South Dakota and now back “home” to Mon-trose. She enjoys spending time with her family, playing with grandkids and being outdoors all summer.

JEFFREY “SCOTT” BROUILLARD joins us as an inserter in our press room. He is a husband, father of four and sports fanatic. He grew up on the front range of Colorado (that’s the Denver area for those non-locals) before moving to Los Angeles. He has been back in Colorado for almost three years. He loves the outdoors and states nothing beats time spent with his family.

IAN JAMESONDIANNA BESHOAR

JACK GIBSON OSCAR CHAVEZ CASTANEDA

HERE WE GROW AGAIN!

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CAROLE ANN MCKELVEYHOLLY MERVIN

JEFFREY “SCOTT” BROUILLARD

DEANNE SANDERS

HOLLY MERVIN has joined our team as a Customer Service Representative. She was born and raised here in Montrose and graduated from Montrose High School. She loves helping people in any way she can. In her spare time, she loves to be around my family and friends. She has a great husband and two amazing children, Josiah and Rylee. They enjoy going camping, fishing and hiking together as a family.

CAROLE ANN MCKELVEY of Montrose, Colorado, has recently joined the Montrose Daily Press as News Editor. Carole brings with her a tremendous font of experience in the news field, having served in the journalism field in California and Colorado for more than 20 years. She has returned to the field of journalism after an absence of several years; she received her Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology and serving for more than 20 years as a licensed clinical mental health counselor. Carole has been working on remod-eling an old Victorian home for more than a year. She has one son and a granddaughter that brought her back to Colorado.

In February of 2016, the Montrose Daily Press hosted a group of about 40 children between the ages of 6 and 11 for a tour of our facilities. Maslow Academy, an inde-pendent, community school in Montrose, offers private education for a variety of students. “When I received the phone call requesting a tour, I jumped at the opportunity to share our exciting industry with these kiddos.

They all call Montrose home, and for most of them, the Montrose Daily Press is a household name” boasted Torrie Moore, Circulation Manager. Students made their way through the main office, learning about each piece of the daily newspaper process. After several great questions, the group took a stroll across the grounds. A short walk turned into an energy burning footrace with starting gates ran by Publisher, Vincent Laboy. After the “great race”, students were greeted with a warm friendly smile from our Pressroom Manager, Denny Haulman. “It’s always great fun to ooh and ahh the kids with information they think they understand.” Denny

expressed with the most genuine grin the team has ever seen. The pressroom was by far the most impres-sive part for the children, and that proof was the results.

The day after the field trip, Montrose Daily Press re-ceived a handmade envelope filled with 41 personal-ized thank you cards, with about 15 different renditions of our press drawn on them. Of course, there were chil-dren who appreciated other aspects of the paper, like the “money room” (or business office), and Paul Wahl, Managing Editor, left an impression on future authors who expressed their thanks and desire to write their own stories one day.

This ever-changing business of bringing news and en-tertainment to our communities is full of deadlines and commitments. This, we all know, can be tedious and stressful. Days like that day can take the edge off of even the grumpiest of adults, and bring a smile to your face knowing that what we do makes a difference.

BEST FIELD TRIP EVER!

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Nothing is as ominous as dead silence in the pressroom when the press should be running at full capacity. “There is a bit of panic in-volved,” said Denny Haulman, Press Manager at the Montrose Daily Press.

Haulman and his crew have had the heart-stopping experience of press failure twice in the past two months.

The first one took place on a Friday night in mid-February. “The main RTF Roller that drives the rolls of paper down into the folder went out,” Haulman said. “And without that, you’re totally down.” A seized bearing was the culprit. Sunday edition made it onto the press with a decidedly retro all-black-and-white look. Fix-ing a broken press isn’t a matter of calling a shop downtown to send out a repairman. For this repair, Haulman was able to work with Mountain States in Tucson, AZ. A repair crew arrived in Montrose Sunday.

“Mostly it was a matter of them hav-ing the correct tools to take it apart and get to the problem,” Haulman said. The press was back up and running the next day. Fast forward to early April. Once again the press stood silent. This time, a clutch on the drive line had gone out. “It’s one of those things where you don’t know it’s going out until it’s gone, and by then, you’re causing further damage,” Haulman said. The drive line was

repaired in-house and in-stead of a clutch repair, “we made a permanent splice.” Around $1,700 in parts were overnighted to Montrose to complete the repair. Production continued with maximum eight-page sections for the Daily Press. Repairs were fully completed in three days.

Haulman said it was somewhat unusual to have two major re-pairs in such a short amount of time. The 15-unit Goss Commu-nity was rebuilt in 2004.

For Haulman, one of the biggest stresses was explaining to com-mercial work customers that the press was down. “Here at the newspaper, we can kind of work around it, but our outside customers don’t want to hear the press can’t run.” He added that the days of having Goss repair guys wait-ing to swoop in are gone. “You have to call and outsource another company and sometimes they’re limited on time,” Haulman said. “Moun-tain States, for instance, wouldn’t have had time for the second repair because they were busy in Texas. Publisher Vincent Laboy com-mented, “It’s critical to have an experienced, problem solver like Denny Haulman running your production facility. His crew should also be commended for their extra efforts in get-

ting our newspapers and commercial print jobs completed under those conditions. “Really everyone in news, advertising and circulation had to also adjust expectation and their work-load. We didn’t miss any publication dates and didn’t have to outsource printing because of either break. That was important for business,” Laboy said.

“Being in Montrose, you’re on an island by yourself,” Haulman added. “You figure you might find a guy in Denver or Salt Lake but there are none… you’re on your own.”

Haulman said he spent a good deal of time on the telephone and also had help from many of his staff members, including Adonis Vialpando, Pressroom Helper.

This damaged shaft was the result of a bad bearing in the Clutch.

Adonis Vialpando works to put back together one of the drive lines on the press.

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SURVIVING PRESS FAILURE TAKES COMMITMENT, INGENUITYPaul Wahl | Montrose Daily Press Managing Editor

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A BOLD NEW SERIESSidney Herald reporter Ashleigh Fox is embarking on a bold series tackling the sensitive issue of suicide, with a four-part series surrounding the death last Novem-ber of state champion wrestler Ryan Chatterton.

Working with Editor Renée Jean, Fox’s series approached the story from the point of view of the young man’s mother and her theories on why it happened, and separately addressed Ryan’s friends and how it has affected the community in a broader sense.

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Still half-convinced there was some sort of mistake,

Murphy Woodhouse shows off his

Community Journalist of the Year award.

PHOTO CREDIT: YOOHYUN JUNG

NI writers win nine awards from Arizona Press Club Reporter Murphy Woodhouse was named Arizona Community Journalist of the Year in the club’s annual contest.

Nogales International Staffers at the Nogales In-ternational won nine prizes in the Arizona Press Club’s 2015 writing contest, including reporter Murphy Woodhouse, who was named Arizona Community Journalist of the Year.

Other prizewinning entries from the NI came in the categories of public safety reporting, human-interest writing, sports beat reporting, personal-ity profiles, short-form and editorial writing. The awards were announced April 30 at the Society of Professional Journalists convention in Phoe-nix. Woodhouse’s nomination packet for journal-ist of the year included stories ranging in theme from drug-smuggling wages and a local short-age of foster families, to advanced placement high school classes and U.S. players on Nogales,

Sonora’s professional basketball team. “In a category with out-standing competition, this portfolio stood out for the strength of its enterprise reporting,” wrote contest judge Cary Aspinall of the The Frontier, an Oklahoma-based digital media company de-voted to investigative and in-depth journalism. “These were well-written stories that a reporter could only get via the difficult work of being a tenacious community journalist.

Judge Laura Sellers, managing editor of The Dai-ly Astorian in Oregon, praised Woodhouse’s “ac-cessible writing on a wide range of topics.” “Re-ally love the breadth of this reporter,” she wrote. “The stories ring clear and point out significant social issues on all fronts.” NI reporter Norma Gonzalez won a second-place prize for sports beat reporting in the community journalism divi-sion with a series of stories from the Little League

Intermediate Divi-sion West Regional Tournament last summer in Nogales. Her reporting in-

cluded game stories as well as features on the long trek made by the team from Alaska, and the role of the snack bar in the local Little League scene. “Really enjoyed the depth of reporting. Humanized Little League and made me want to read about it,” wrote judge Matthew Stanmyre, staff writer at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. “The author found interesting stories in every nook and cranny and wringed everything pos-sible out of the subject matter.”

Gonzalez also won a third-place prize in the community personality profile category with “At 89, local woman continues to feed the hungry in Mexico,” a story about Isabel Leal of Nogales and her regular trips into Nogales, Sonora to distribute food and clothing to homeless deport-

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NI WRITERS WIN NINE AWARDS FROM ARIZONA PRESS CLUB Reporter Murphy Woodhouse was named Arizona Community Journalist of the Year in the club’s annual contest. Nogales International

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Nogales International

reporter Murphy Woodhouse

award winning

photo-graph.

PHOTO CREDIT: MURPHY

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PRIZE-WINNING PHOTO ees. “Good reporting in the field, which makes the story feel real and newly discovered,” wrote judge Sarah Schweitzer, a reporter for the Boston Globe. “Vivid details left me wanting to know more about Isabel Leal and the men she helps (some sleep in a cave?!?).”

Managing editor Jonathan Clark won second place in the community division and third place in the statewide division for editorial writing. In her com-ments, judge Jill Burcum, an editorial writer with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, cited an editorial by Clark that spoke out on local government efforts to require formal public requests before supplying basic public information, and another that criti-cized the Arizona Interscholastic Association for disqualifying three local high school softball play-ers after they played in a national tournament in Mexico. “Bravo for making local government back down when bureaucrats pushed to prevent access to public information!” Burcum wrote. “Also glad to see the editorial page stand up for local softball players who were unfairly penalized by a sporting organization. Terrific watchdog journalism.”

MORE PRIZES: In addition to his Community Jour-nalist of the Year prize, Woodhouse won first place in the community paper division and second place in the statewide competition for short-form writing with his story “Local artist’s catrinas add life to Day of the Dead.” “Woodhouse’s quirky story grabs you with the freak factor and pulls you in to tell a very human story,” judge Carlos Frías of the Florida-based Palm Beach Post wrote of the article, which spotlighted Nogales artist Victor Varela and the folkloric, skeletal figurines he creates. Woodhouse also won a second-place prize in community hu-man-interest writing with his stories for the ongo-ing “Neighborhoods of Nogales” series. “A strong sense of place, immersive storytelling and a sharp eye for intimate details make this group of neigh-borhood stories a delight,” wrote judge Barbara Marshall, also of the Palm Beach Post. In commu-nity public safety reporting, Woodhouse won third place for his stories “From $300 to $50,000 per load, smuggling wages range widely” and “‘Blind mule’ defense can turn fed cases local.”

Contest judge John Ingold, court reporter for The Denver Post, wrote: “In two stories, Wood-house takes an intriguing look into how drugs are smuggled into the U.S., how police work to stop smugglers, and how hapless business owners and desperate migrants are sometimes caught in the middle.”

Nogales International reporter Murphy Woodhouse won a first-place prize for community feature photography from the Arizona Press Club for this shot of the Vasquez family from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico killing time in their car as they waited to cross into the United States through Nogales, Ariz. The distinction was part of the APC’s 2015 Arizona Photojournalism Awards announced March 28.

SHARING HER LOVE OF READINGNogales International reporter Norma Gonzalez reads “Oh, the places you’ll go” March 1 to a sec-ond-grade class at Calabasas Elementary School in Rio Rico, Ariz. Gonzalez volunteered to read to the students for Dr. Seuss Day, part of Read Across America week.

Nogales International reporter Norma Gonzalez reads to students inRio Rico.PHOTO BY CAROL CULLEN

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6 Half Moon Bay Review Publisher Bill Murray was proud to accept the California Newspaper Publish-ers Association award for General Excellence on April 30 in San Francisco.PHOTO CREDIT: CLAY LAMBERT

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The Half Moon Bay Review has won the California Newspaper Publish-ers Association coveted General Excellence award for newspapers in its category. It is the second time in four years the Coastside newspaper has earned one of the organization’s top honors.

The award was presented to Review publisher Bill Murray on April 30 during the CNPA’s annual luncheon, which this year was held at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. The awards ceremony marked the conclu-sion of the three-day gathering of newspaper publishers and editors.

Judges touted the newspaper’s “excellent staff photos and solid report-ing” in a special publication distributed at the convention. The Review competes in the small weekly division for purposes of the CNPA awards.

“Bill and I were truly humbled to accept the state’s top award for journalism on behalf of the entire staff,” said Editor Clay Lambert. “The awards we received from the CNPA are emblematic of the hard work that reporters, the advertising team and the entire staff puts in every day.”In addition to the General Excellence award, the newspaper received first place for Feature Photo for a photo of a breaching whale that was taken by photographer Cat Cutillo.

The Review also took home second-place awards for Editorial Comment, Investigative Reporting, Editorial Cartoon and Sports Feature Photo. The newspaper received honorable mention notices for Education Coverage. Special Sports Section, Informational Graphic, Front Page Layout Broad-sheet, Inside Page Layout and Design.

REVIEW EARNS TOP HONORSPublishers association bestows General ExcellenceFrom Staff Reports

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Participants at the JSK Stanford News Innova-

tion Workshop used whiteboards to

brainstorm questions

and answers to some funda-

mental questions.PHOTO CREDIT: CLAY LAMBERT

Randie Marlow’s photograph of jellyfish caught the eye of judges at the county fair.PHOTO CREDIT: RANDIE MARLOW

HALF MOON BAY REVIEW

Review advertising representative Randie Marlow is also an accomplished photographer. Her work has appeared in the Review’s annual calendar and else-where in our publications.

And now she is a county fair winner!

On April 28, Marlow received word that her photo-graph, which she calls, “The Light Within,” will grace the cover of the San Mateo County Fair’s “Carry the

Light” anthology of local writers. She says it is the fourth year she entered the contest.

“Every other year I finished second,” she said with a laugh upon learning that she had earned the honor.

The San Mateo County Fair is held in June and the book will be presented on the Literary Stage.

RANDIE MARLOW

MARLOW’S PHOTO GRACES COVER OF COUNTY FAIR PUBLICATION‘The Light Within’ captures essence of projectClay Lambert

Half Moon Bay Review Editor Clay Lambert and Green Valley News Editor Dan Shearer attended the JSK Stanford News In-novation Workshop from April 17-20 and both described it as an eye-opening experience. In fact, it spawned a new initiative that Lambert and Shearer hope will bring interesting new projects to company news sites in the coming months.The Knight Foundation covered expenses and participants were chosen on the basis of a newsroom challenge each presented prior to the gathering. Top editors from the Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle and sister publication the San Antonio Express-News, the Associated Press, the Seattle Times, and the Hearst Connecticut Media Group joined Wick editors at Stanford. The workshop was hosted by the JSK Fellowship program and facilitated by Stanford’s famed “d.school,” which applies design thinking to a variety of industries.

Newspaper people think of design as the layout of their product. More broadly, people often think of designers as sketch artists who might draw a new product from scratch. But design think-ing is a process and mindset that can apply to any number of endeavors.For newspapers, design thinking begins with empathy for read-ers and advertisers. Seasoned editors and publishers often think they know what customers want, but their understanding can be incomplete and outmoded as technology brings users information in formats that didn’t exist a decade ago. Design thinking suggests new interactions with customers and then a process for defining their needs, brainstorming solutions and prototyping and testing innovative ways of doing business.During the workshop, editors learned a variety of techniques for gaining empathy and testing solutions, including an audi-

ence mapping exercise that Lambert and Shearer then used to “map” new story ideas for an upcoming Home and Garden special section in Green Valley.The Wick editors began the workshop with a question of how best to structure small newsrooms in the 21st century, and other participants help them evolve that into this fundamental question: “How do we keep our best people fulfilled and maxi-mize their best work while meeting the shifting needs in our very different communities?”The answer is under development. Lambert pledged to create a resource center with all the tips and ideas gathered at Stanford and then to put together a very small group of Wick employees willing and able to spread the gospel of design thinking.Look for updates on this exciting initiative on The Kicker blog in the coming weeks.

WICK EDITORS BENEFIT FROM INNOVATION WORKSHOPHMB editor participates in design thinkingFrom Staff Reports

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1 MILLION PAGE VIEWSThe website for Today’s News-Herald, HavasuNews.com, hit a major milestone in March. It was the first time in the website’s 15-year history that web traffic surpassed 1 million page views.

According to Google Analytics, the site had 1,152,008 page views and 117,233 users. The

gains were thanks in large part to the paper’s increased use of photo galleries, particularly for ongoing events such as spring break.

Thousands of college students flock to Lake Havasu City each year between late February and early April to enjoy spring break on the shores of the lake.

The area was ranked as one of the “trashiest” spring break locations by Coed.com again in 2016, and sure enough, the rite of passage re-sulted in a few stories that caught the attention of a wide audience.

PHOTO CREDIT: HAVASUNEWS.COM

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Lake Havasu City residents were treated to free concert by the U.S. Army Field Band Jazz Ambas-sadors that covered a century of jazz music.

The concert was sponsored by the Today’s News-Herald and the Lake Havasu City Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In addition to patriotic selections, the traveling troupe highlighted early jazz, the swing era, be-bop, cool jazz and modern jazz in a an hour-and-15-minute show at London Bridge Beach stage.

News-Herald publisher Mike Quinn introduced the band to a large audi-ence, and the show included a presen-tation of colors by the local chapter of the Marine Corps League.The Jazz Ambassadors are promoted as the U.S. Army’s premier big band and play concerts across the country and internationally. Recent notable

performances include concerts at the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Ken-nedy Center Honors, the Jazz Education Network Conference, and an ap-pearance on the Colbert Report. Gordon Good-win, Bobby Shew, Ernie Watts, and the Dave Brubeck All-Star Quintet are among the jazz art-ists who have shared the stage with the band.

The jazz ambassadors drew a crowd willing to brave a chill in the air.PHOTO CREDIT: TODAY’S NEWS-HERALD

Today’s News-Herald Publisher Mike Quinn introduced the U.S. Army Field Band Jazz Ambassadors for a patriotic concert.PHOTO CREDIT: TODAY’S NEWS-HERALD

The U.S. Army Field Band Jazz Ambassadors covered the history of jazz during a stop in Lake Havasu.PHOTO CREDIT: TODAY’S NEWS-HERALD

TODAY’S NEWS-HERALD BRINGS JAZZ AMBASSADORS TO TOWNPublisher introduces big bandBrandon Bowers

TODAY’S NEWS-HERALD

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MARES RETIRES FROM COPPER ERACopper Era publisher Monica Watson, left, congratulates Copper Era editor Walter Mares on his retirement, during a ceremony at a Greenlee County Chamber of Commerce mixer.

Walter Mares, the longtime editor of the Copper Era, announced his retirement with the first of the year.

Mares served as freelance reporter for the newspaper, starting in 1983 with coverage of the San Francisco River flood and Phelps Dodge strike. He joined the newspaper full-time in 2001.

During his tenure, he won numerous awards from the Arizona Newspaper Association and National Newspaper Association for his reportage and photography.

“While he describes himself as a dinosaur, I don’t see him as such. He is very much a newsman with a sincere heart, a little rough around the edges at times, but with the Copper Era’s best interest at heart,” said Copper Era Publisher Monica Watson.

“His true nature of being a gentleman will be missed. We know we will see him around, probably with notebook and ink pen in hand. We wish Walter the best in his retirement and, while this page of his life closes, we know another opens for he and wife, Susan, to have the opportunity to enjoy the golden years and the much-needed relaxation of retirement life.

“We wish you the best Walter.”

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6COURIER’S GUAJARDO NOW A LIONEastern Arizona Courier continues to fill out the ranks of the Safford Lions Club, with Courier sportswriter Simon Guajardo, right, the latest to join. He’s shown here with his wife, former Courier sportswriter and fellow Lion, Angela Macala-Guajardo, taking part in the rededication of the memorial to Lions founder Melvin Jones at Jones’ birthplace in Fort Thomas, Ariz.

VALENTINE’S SELFIE A HITEastern Arizona Courier and the Copper Era ran a Valentine’s Day selfie contest, asking couples to post their best romantic selfie to our Facebook page. We had nearly 200 entries, resulting in nearly 3,000 hits on our web page over the four weeks of the contest. Pictured here is Courier publisher Monica Watson, right, presenting the prizes to the grand-prize winning couple.

VOLUNTEER WORKDavid Bell, managing editor of Eastern Arizona Courier

and The Copper Era, crisscrossed the state of Arizona to volunteer this spring. He traveled to the western part of the state, to Lake Havasu City, to serve as the announcer for the Special Olympics track and field games in March. Two weeks later, back in Safford on the eastern side of the state, he was serving pie and ice cream as a member of the Safford Down-town Association governing board, during the Best of Safford awards luncheon.

& THE COPPER ERAEASTERN ARIZONA COURIER

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HERALD STAFF TAKES HOME 24 PRESTIGIOUS NC PRESS AWARDS CHAPEL HILL — The Daily Herald came away with 24 prestigious North Carolina Press As-sociation Awards in February. The Herald’s advertising and editorial departments were among newspaper staff members statewide recognized at the annual ceremony, which was held at the University of North Carolina in Cha-pel Hill.

“I’m extremely proud of our staff and their accomplishments,” Publisher Titus Workman

said. “It is a real testament to them and is a confirmation of how dedicated each of them are to providing our readers and advertisers the best newspaper possible.”

All in all, The Herald won eight first-, nine sec-ond- and six third-place awards in the 2015 contest’s Division D category, which recog-nized newspapers under 12,500 circulation.

The Herald advertising team also earned the General Excellence award for the Division D

category for a fourth-consecutive year. The advertising staff was recognized as a whole several times, but individual honors went to current members Martha Neville, Linda Foster and Rhonda Irby.

The Herald’s newsroom saw an increase in awards, taking home honors for its reporting, design and video efforts. Winners included Managing Editor Matt Lindberg, News Editor Tia Bedwell and Staff Writer Khai Hoang.

The Daily Herald Advertising Director

Baretta Taylor, left, Publisher Titus Workman

and Managing Editor Matt Lindberg

accept the news organization’s North

Carolina Press Association Awards

during a banquet held at the University

of North Carolina.

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HERALD GETS MASSIVE MAKEOVER Matt Lindberg Four B words are on the minds of those at The Daily Herald as of late: Bigger, brighter, bolder and better.

“…which sums it up nicely,” said The Daily Herald Pub-lisher Titus Workman, days before the new and improved Herald launched on May 1.

For about three months, the publisher and his depart-ment head team at the Herald discussed ways to im-prove the product and provide readers with more value.

“We started by examining how we could get color on more pages every day,” Workman recalled. “From there it bubbled up into printing more sections, which in turn gave us the opportunity for some new features.”As of May 1, the Herald prints at least two sections each day it publishes and every page in in full color. Workman said he was excited about the changes.

“I think all of the major metro newspapers still pub-lish at least two sections every day, however, very few smaller community newspapers do it,” Work-man said. “Not many newspapers in the country publish full color on every page. “

The Herald has also changed its logo from the blue square in the left corner to a more classic font across the top of the front page to continue its bold design efforts.

Workman said the changes offer more for readers and ad-vertisers as well.

“Readers will get the benefit of improved content and some new of-ferings like Sports & Outdoors on Fridays and an expanded Diversions on Thursdays. Get to Know will also return on Tuesdays,” Workman said. “Advertisers will benefit from having their ads in full color which increases an ad’s visibility by about 60 percent. The Herald will benefit from about a $50,000 net increase in annual color advertising reve-nue (all display rates were adjusted to include color) after subtracting the increased costs.”

THE DAILY HERALD

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The voice of central South Dakota since 1881CCAPITAL JOURNAL NEWS STAFF

COLLECTS 11 AWARDS AT SDNA CONFERENCEThe Capital Journal’s news staff took 11 awards home from

the annual South Dakota Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest.

The awards were announced this weekend at the SDNA’s conference in Mitchell and were for stories published in 2015.

Former Managing Editor Lance Nixon won two first place awards; one for a series of feature sto-ries on the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Chief Vernon Ashley and another for a feature story on the Basin League baseball league that was centered around Hyde Stadium.

The Capital Journal took home five second place awards. Current Managing Editor Nick Low-rey earned two; one for headline writing and one for his photo series about fly fishing on the Missouri River. Reporter Lee Zion also earned a second place finish for his spot news photo of the Pierre Flower Shop fire. Former Reporter David Rookhuyzen picked up a second place in feature writing for his story about the ancient crow creek massacre.

The entire staff rounded out the Capital Journal’s second place awards with the paper’s series on religion in South Dakota called Landscape of Faith.

Capital Journal staffers collected four third place awards. Summer intern Phu Nguyen earned a third place for his photo series on rodeo at the Stanley County Fairgrounds. Lee Zion earned a third place for his feature photo of Kennedy Elementary stu-dents saying the Pledge of Allegiance before their first day of school in the new building. Finally, former Managing Editor Lance Nixon picked up a third place award for his news series School by the Numbers and for his column 100th Meridian.

The newspaper’s advertising staff collected four awards for their work in 2015. They include a second place for Best Use of Art Service and third place awards for Best Newspaper Promo-tion, Best Classified Section and Best Advertising Special Section.

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CAPITAL JOURNAL LAUNCHES NEW SECTIONNick Lowrey | Managing Editor

The Capital Journal launched a new sec-tion focused on food and entertainment in the Pierre and Fort Pierre community April 28.

Coverage on the area’s nightlife had been nearly non-existent until the newspaper’s new, weekly section, Sa-vor, was launched. The idea is to give the Capital Journal’s readers the only comprehensive coverage of the local food, music and nightlife in the area.

Small though our community may be, there is a vibrant local restaurant scene. We don’t get a whole lot of chains this far from the interstate.

We’ve also got some fairly lively nightlife and we’re seeing a boom in the local music. The Savor section uses local stringers to generate relevant sto-ries on the food, bar and music scene in a way that no one in our community has done before.

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COMMUNITY MIXER The Daily News of Wahpeton was one of the sites that hosted a Com-munity Mixer event in March. For two hours, a number of area busi-nesses opened their doors to residents for an evening of food and vis-iting. The Wahpeton-Breckenridge Area Chamber of Commerce holds these events on a monthly basis, allowing visitors to learn a little more about the businesses in the community. During the March Community Mixer, the Daily News was filled with visitors, sampling our food spread and learning about the departments that make up this newspaper.

A WALK IN THEIR SHOESNorth Dakota State Sen. Larry Luick, R-District 25, has undertaken an extraordinary campaign he calls ‘A Walk in their Shoes.’ Each month he draws a name out of a hat and he spends the day with them, voluntarily submitting himself to whatever task is required. He has spent a day helping at Chahinkapa Zoo in Wahpeton, Red River Human Services and in April, he spent a day at the Daily News of Wahpeton. The first part of the day he spent in the newsroom and was educated on what it takes to publish a community newspaper. He also went on a route with Circulation Manager Rose Olson, filling news-paper racks and delivering papers. In the afternoon, he accompanied reporter Frank Stanko on an interview at the zoo for a story update on a baby kangaroo that has been fostered by one of the zookeepers.

ST. PATTY’S DAY BASH FUNDRAISER The Daily News of Wahpeton has taken part in a number of community events recently. In March, Advertising Manager Tara Klostreich, pictured, and members of her staff were at the St. Patty’s Day Bash fundraiser for an area nursing home. The wheel we use at many of these events allows people to spin for prizes and is a hit wherever it goes. Another recent event the paper took part in was the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. We cover this event each year, but in 2016 the Daily News staff took it even further by forming a team and walking throughout the relay. We used a circulation drive to raise money and are already making plans to raise money for next year’s relay.

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CITY MAN BAN ALL DANCINGThe Williston Herald caused quite an uproar in town on April Fool’s Day with a banner story headlined: “City man ban all dancing.”

The fake story, written by Managing Editor Matt Hickman, was a satire of the powerful city com-mission’s recent heavy handed decisions to shut down man camps, ban signs not approved by city officials and shut down the city’s two downtown strip clubs.

The story held a straight face all the way to the end when it closed with a fake quote from Kevin

Bacon, star of the 1984 movie “Footloose”, wherein a whole town had banned dancing.

“I got your six degrees of Happy April Fool’s Day right here,” he said.Even with sign-off, many thought it was a real story because it seemed, to many, like the kind of authori-tarian maneuver the city would do.

HERALD PARTNERS WITH BUILDERS FOR HOME & GARDEN

The cover of the Home & Garden special section and event program

The Herald’s table at the

Home & Garden Show.

Williston Herald journalists Melissa Krause, left, and Alexa Althoff manning the table at the Home Show.

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REPORTERS, PHOTOGRAPHER RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISMHerald/Review reporter Derek Jordan, sports/entertainment editor Steve Stockmar and photographer Mark Levy were among those honored earlier this spring by the Arizona Press Club in its annual Writing and Design contest and Photojournalism contest, recognizing excellence in Arizona journalism.

Jordan earned first place in the Community Breaking News category for his coverage of the F-16 crash outside of Douglas in June.

“The online and print report on the F-16 crash show a quick, thorough response to a breaking news event,” wrote category judge Richard Wagoner, metro editor for The Se-attle Times. “Military plane crashes are no-toriously hard to cover, as often very little in-formation is released. The reporters worked local officials and eye witnesses to produce a solid report. Also, the regular online updates the night of the crash showed good hustle.”

Stockmar placed second in the Commu-nity Arts Reporting category for a series of stories published in 2015 about the Bisbee music scene.

“Steve Stockmar’s stories on the Bisbee mu-sic scene were a pleasure to read because they were clearly written by a true insider,”

wrote judge Daniel Miller, who covers the film business for the Los Angeles Times. “In particular, he writes with great descriptive details that place the reader right in the mid-dle of the action. Strong ledes, too.”

Levy earned third place in the portrait cate-gory among entries from metro newspapers for his photo titled “Arizona Horseman’s Chal-lenge,” depicting horse trainer Samantha Jepson holding her toddler daughter, Mina Soriano, in Benson. The photo also placed second in the portrait category among com-munity newspaper entries, and in that same category, his photo titled “Illustrated Man” earned an Award of Excellence. Additionally, Levy earned first place in the general news category for his photo titled “Adoption.”

DEREK JORDAN

STEVE STOCKMAR

MARK LEVY

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PHOTO CREDIT:

LIZ MANRING

SIERRA VISTA HERALDMANRING PROMOTED TO MANAGING EDITORLIZ MANRING was recently promoted to interim managing editor of the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review after

Eric Petermann, previously in the position, was named Opinions Editor at the newspaper in 2015.

Manring rejoined the Herald /Review last August after four years as the public information officer at Cochise College. She was previously the news and features editor at the newspaper.

“With Eric’s new focus, we had a void in the editorial structure when I came on board earlier this year,” said Manuel C. Coppola, interim publisher at the newspaper. “It quickly became appar-ent to me that Liz worked feverishly to ensure that vacuum did not reflect on the product. In consultation with Eric and other members of the team, it was an easy call to recruit Liz on an interim basis while we wrap up the search

for a new publisher who ideally will name a managing editor of his or her choice.”

Manring, a University of Missouri journalism graduate, will expand her role in developing content ideas and directing the design of the Herald/Review both in print and online. She has a lifetime of experience in the industry, originating with her extended family’s ownership of a newspaper and continuing with her first professional job when she was hired by the Herald/Review after graduating from college in 2008.

Manring is active in the music community in Sierra Vista as a founding member of the Sierra Vista Community Band and private instructor of tuba.LIZ MANRING

Colonel Johnston Elementary School student Mia Bradford is taking it all in during an early April tour of the Herald/Review pressroom by the kindergarten class. Newspaper Assistant General Manager Pat Wick provided the tour, complete with newsprint hats!

PRESSROOM TOURS

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Team Herald Headliners walked a near-5k around the Cochise College Sierra Vista Cam-pus on April 16 during the National Alliance on Mental Health’s annual March for Mental Health. Pictured, from left, Liz Manring, Betha-ny Strunk, Dana Cole and Beth Hanna.PHOTO CREDIT: ERIC PETERMANN

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ENGAGING THE COMMUNITYPat Wick, Herald/Review assistant general manager, and Sharon Adams, circulation district manager, man a booth at the local farmers market asking for story ideas, giving out newspapers to those unfamiliar with the Herald.

The newspaper was instrumental in the start up of the Sierra Vista Farmers Market when Wick Communications offered free use of a vacant lot for several years. Since the start, the market has grow in size and popularity and is now located in the city’s main park.

HERALD EMPLOYEES MARCH FOR MENTAL HEALTHFive Herald/Review employees joined with dozens of others in the community to raise funds and aware-ness for the mission of the National Alliance on Mental Health’s Southeast Arizona chapter, which supports mental health advocacy and support programs in Co-chise County and surrounding areas.

The fifth annual March for Mental Health took walkers and runners around the roughly 2.5-mile Path to Higher Education fitness loop at the Cochise College Sierra Vista campus the morning of April 16.

The Herald Headliners, thanks to the fundraising efforts of assistant general manager Pat Wick, raised a collective $232 for the cause.

Walking for the team were production supervisor Bethany Strunk, managing editor Liz Manring, opin-ions editor Eric Petermann, reporter Dana Cole, and advertising consultant Beth Hanna.

PAT WICK AND SHARON ADAMS