Reflection on buying a newspaper

My daughter called 20 years ago to chat. “What did you do today?” she asked.

“Bought a newspaper,” I answered.

“Um, yeah, OK?” she said.

“No,” I said. “I mean we bought the newspaper, The Star.”

When that revelation sunk in, it elicited considerably more excitement than when she’d thought I’d spent some change at a store for the day’s newspaper.

Those two reactions pretty well sum up the nature of this business. We produce a common, expected product that doesn’t always drum up great excitement, but over the course of decades can make an impact, one that we hope has been positive for the community we serve.

It’s far from perfect, we know, but The Star still strives to serve as a kind of glue to help hold together pushes for progress as well as to affix the rhythms of community life in a record that’s at once enjoyable and authoritative.

Our bound archives of The Star go back to 1945, reflecting the hum of life and death here, as well as the truly momentous. Anyone who comes in to do research gets lost in them, endlessly distracted by each yellowed page. We’re honored to have been able to add a few of those volumes to the shelves.

It’s a team effort to which many have contributed over the years, but two loyal Star stalwarts must be mentioned: Gwen Hilson and Roger Lucas.

Retired (ha!) when he got here, Roger is a true, knowledgeable newspaper man whose natural, endless curiosity lets him enjoy gathering and putting out the news from every corner, week after week.

Gwen might well be the most personable person in town, and one of the most capable. Not only does she lay out the whole paper each week, she’s a veritable encyclopedia of the inner workings of the community.

Along with them, The Star has relied on the steady help of many over the years who have proofread, sold ads, written columns, stuffed advertising fliers, delivered newspapers, developed photos, pasted up layouts, kept the books, taken classifieds, cleaned the office, fixed the waxer and more.

That list is incomplete, not least because it doesn’t include the less obvious support that comes from my wife, Sheri Edwards, without whose understanding and kindness it would not be possible to live a schedule subject to the needs of the community.

And most of all, none of it would be possible, or matter, without you, dear reader. Thank you for participating with us all in the give and take of a community newspaper.

On to the next issue!

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher