Speaking Personally: Seven years of newspapers and changes around the bend

Last week, Ron and I published our 350th edition of Howell County News — seven years of newspapers. The past month has brought disasters and developments that would have made the me of seven years ago catatonic with anxiety. These days, we’re balancing it all, finding solutions, and, unfortunately, making some changes.

 

First, a word about these seven years. The opportunity to buy this newspaper came into our lives like a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky — completely unexpected and an absolute revolution in our lifestyle. Newspaper things — deadlines, local politics, industry trends, and the inevitable next story — took over every aspect of our daily lives.

 

Not that we’re complaining. This work has folded us into the communities we cover. It has connected us to the work of preserving an essential industry and pillar of American democracy: independent print news. You, dear readers, have shown unwavering support, making the business side of the newspaper an unqualified success.

 

We are grateful to each one of you for that. As a thank-you gift for seven years in business, we’re offering seven free issues to new and returning subscribers. Current subscribers can get four free issues, too. Email editor@howellcountynews.com, call 417-252-2123, or stop by 110 West Main in Willow Springs to claim your free issues. We’d love to visit with you this summer, especially as we announce some unwelcome changes.

 

As regular readers will have noticed, we began having trouble with our printing facility the last week of June. We promised a permanent solution, but before we found one, an unexpected development forced our hand. Howell County News was one of more than a dozen newspapers across the state printed at the Branson Tri-Lakes News printing plant.

 

On July 16, Branson announced it was shutting down operations completely — no more newspaper and no more printing. Missouri lost a major publication, and many Missouri newspapers lost access to a printing press. We were among them.

 

As we navigated a particularly contentious election season, a fifth pregnancy, a debate, and the death of a beloved uncle, this printing crisis remained in the background. There are fewer than ten printing plants across the state, most with full schedules.

 

For the last three weeks, the paper has been printed in Eldon, Mo., by the Eldon Advertiser. As you have noticed, their color capacity is limited to pages 1 and 12. We have been deeply grateful to Trevor Vernon and his crew in Eldon, who kept us going these last few weeks. They stepped in to help us — and to get this newspaper into your hands — and it’s a kindness we won’t forget. Unfortunately, it cannot be a permanent solution.

 

After much research and prayer, we have chosen a printing press in Oklahoma. Unbelievably, it is the closest and most cost-effective option for continuing to print the paper.

 

Now for the bad news, early birds.

 

Because of the distance, beginning August 4, the paper will arrive in the Willow Springs office on Tuesday afternoons around 1:00 p.m. Newsstand distribution will take place that afternoon instead of in the morning, as it has for the last seven years.

 

Mailed papers will go out on time, with your usual mail delivery on Wednesdays. Subscribers will be largely unaffected by this switch, for which we are grateful.

 

Online subscriptions will also be unaffected. E-editions will be available by noon on Tuesdays, with individual stories uploaded to the website by Wednesday morning.

 

If you’re a newsstand reader, though, you’ll need to start looking for each week’s paper on Tuesday afternoons instead of Tuesday mornings. It’s not ideal, but it’s the solution.

 

Ron and I are working on a long-term goal to return to a morning distribution schedule, but for now, this is the plan.

 

We invite your comments and criticism. Find us in the office at 110 West Main St., call 417-252-2123, or email editor@howellcountynews.com.