Give Me a Brake       
      

   by Keith Brake

NewsLife's print version: Shot at and hit
Dec. 28, 2011

You may have read elsewhere on this site or in the Dec. 28 print issue of Montezuma NewsLife that the print version - the newspaper - has printed its final edition.

That means 1,844 post office box holders will lose what I had hoped would be a vital connection between them and the community.

But if you've been following along, you've noted that there are not nearly as many advertising messages in the paper as when it started nine months ago.

In the last six weeks, the advertisers have fallen away dramatically.

The advertising sales people were hearing words such as:

"not needed,"

"unnecessary,"

and "not wanted" in describing the paper.

I have heard terms such as "stale" and "stagnant" regarding the news content.

I don't know if any of those terms is right on the mark.

But, enough of those had to be at least pretty close to the truth for this to have happened.

Montezuma is my adopted hometown and producing a newspaper was what I thought I could do to help it grow and/or prosper.

I've got another think coming.

I have also heard many nice comments about our editorial content and I've had plenty of personal encouragement and support from individuals. That has kept me going, believing the paper would eventually work.

This website seems to work - but keep in mind, it's overhead is a lot lower than that of a printed newspaper. And it will never reach everybody. For a while, we had that vehicle, right in our hands. But it's gone.

I'm 60 years old and I still believe wholeheartedly in ink on paper. I've thought all along that electronic and print can complement each other.

Over the last three years, I have been stubborn in trying to make the print version happen.

My thanks to the people at The Oskaloosa Herald, who provided the backing, took some risks, and believed enough in Montezuma to take a chance at doing a paper here. Without the use of their facilities, we couldn't have done what we did do for nine months. One person can do a website, but not a paper.

The insurance practice that I've put on the far back burner for nine months - but never really left - is back on the front burner again.

Want to know more about annuities, life insurance, long term care, health and dental insurances? Call me TODAY at 623-3333.

I'm also looking for public relations and writing projects/jobs I can do over a couple of months' time.

Meanwhile, what's the future of newspapering in Montezuma? Well, we still have three of the four papers, even though we just lost the one that went to every local box holder.

Chuck Dunham, owner and publisher of The Record, would like to know and he hosted a meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 28 City Hall.

He called for this meeting long before he knew NewsLife would be gone.

Chuck is still trying to recover from an accident in which he was injured earlier this year, and I know he would like for The Record to be his legacy to the community.

People at the meeting seemed to agree that Montezuma needs a paper. They also felt it should be locally owned and produced.

No conclusions were reached regarding how to fund such a creation, but ideas were put forth. The team approach that kept surfacing was exciting, though, and could be energizing, should it happen.

You may have some thoughts on the matter. If so, please share them.

This community still needs a voice.