Latest News Ninth Judicial District announces court survey Lettenga overcomes stress of taking business to new location Extraordinary Women Con­ference features top-notch speakers New project, budget, gets school year off to fresh start Pondera County junk vehicle program explained Popular Wyatt Stokes charged with embezzlement The news in review for 2006 Top stories that made the news in 2005 Wyatt Stokes pleads guilty in federal court Brady-Dutton superintendent carries weapon into school during basketball function Home News Latest A synopsis of my 40 years as a publisher A synopsis of my 40 years as a publisher Wednesday, 30 April 2008 Article Index A synopsis of my 40 years as a publisher Page 2 Page 1 of 2 By Jack Lee     May 1, 1968—May 1, 2008. Forty years. That’s 2,080 is­sues which have been published since taking over as pub­lisher of the paper and that’s how long I’ve been owner of The Independ­ent-Observer while having the dis­tinct pleas­ure of being the only one to own this establish­ment for as many years. After contacting my good friend Linda Fromm of the Montana Newspaper Association, who did some checking for me, I found that I am also the only living pub­lisher, on the state level, to have owned and continue to be actively engaged in publishing the same weekly newspaper, under the same name, for that length of time. (Don and Betty Coe published the Plainsman newspaper in Plains for 44 years. However, that newspaper was sold many years ago and now operates as the Clark Fork Valley Press.)     Thank you Linda, I know it took up a lot of your pre­cious time.     When I first came here to work for the I-O, I asked my­self: “What am I doing in a city with no paved streets? And who­ever heard of a newspaper office located in the base­ment of the old PCA building which was so small, you could hardly move around?” I couldn’t turn around and take the train back to Min­nesota, that’s for sure. I had to stick with it and my patience paid off.     It wasn’t long however, before fresh, new paved streets were installed. As for the location of the newspaper, I toughed it out until the old post office build­ing owned by Albert Leys and Guy Fogelsong was up for sale. It didn’t take long before every­thing was moved out and down the street where we still are today.     Seems like a long time, but to me, it feels just like yester­day Well, there were times when I felt otherwise, espe­cially when we were on a deadline every week, 52 weeks a year, but then that goes with the territory. Every business has its ups and downs, especially when you’re dealing with the public. And I enjoy working with the public to this day. I’m one of those persons who likes to ask a lot of questions when visiting with people. That’s the only way you can learn how they might think and lis­ten to their opinions on various sub­jects. And after all, isn’t that what a newsman should be do­ing anyway? Prev - Next >>   < Prev   Next > [ Back ]