LET'S CHAT: A parting publisher’s reflections

Ten years and six weeks.

That’s how long I have served as the publisher of The Ritzville Adams County Journal. I took ownership of the newspaper from Dee and Duane Ruser on April 1, 2004.

Becoming a newspaper owner on April Fools day just seemed poetic to me at the time.

Back Then

It seemed so surreal that year when there was a reception at The Journal’s office to welcome me to the community. The Rusers were very gracious and the staff supportive, albeit nervous since they didn’t know what to expect from the new guy.

A more surreal moment was sharing with all of you the news that I had been diagnosed with cancer. While I wanted to hide and privately battle my cancer, something drove me to pen columns and share the experience with you.

Later, when remission finally arrived, I realized there were some readers who truly benefitted from my journey, the fight and the commentary.

Tonight, writing this column is the most surreal moment yet. This will be my last Let’s Chat column as publisher of The Journal. Friday, May 16, 2014, will be my last day. But I’ll come back to that in a few hundred words, or so.

The journey

That evening 10 years ago, Ritzville’s residents made us feel welcome and they asked lots of questions and offered their perspectives and advice about their hometown. There would be a significant learning curve for this transplant. The kind you can’t master in a minute, a month or a year.

I had been through this before, moving to a new town to take the helm of a weekly newspaper. But this time my professional success would also be measured by my financial success as a business owner.

I came here with far more experience as a journalist and a photographer than I did as an advertising salesman or a financial manager. There was plenty to learn.

Let’s face it: 10 years ago I wouldn’t believe you had you told me I would win awards for advertising design and page layout.

The best part of the conversation during that “office warming” came from a high school student who wrote articles that were published in the newspaper. Jarrod Olson wanted assurances that the new guy would continue to offer high school students a venue to be published, a place to exercise their writing before an audience of more than their peers.

The answer was a resounding yes, of course. My career began as a student writer in high school, working as a stringer (apprentice) for two daily newspapers. Jarrod’s concerns didn’t fall on deaf ears.

We have been extremely successful at times in expanding the student contributions. Jarrod, Kyle Heimbigner and Suzanne Gust all had the chance to participate in summer internships with The Journal. They worked hard and wrote informative and entertaining articles that were far outside their comfort zones from when they first began.

I’ll always miss Suzanne’s copy editing skills. While walking the sidelines last winter for a WSU football game, the personal highlight was seeing Kyle working the game, gathering pictures and making social media posts on behalf of the Cougars. My how they have all grown!

Over the years we’ve grown the newspaper too, in terms of total pages and special sections. The one-time special projects, such as the 25th Anniversary section for the Lind Combine Demolition Derby or the recent Undeberg Invitational Program, have been among my favorites.

We’ve also garnered a couple hundred awards given by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for our hard work and dedication to community journalism.

Facial expressions can be priceless. Seeing Lavonne or Jennifer Saunders, Janis Rountree or Katelin Davidson react when their name is called has been as fulfilling, if not more so, than collecting an award with my own name on it.

Twice the newspaper has been given a General Excellence award by WNPA, one of the highest honors bestowed by the association.

For 10 years we’ve tried to be everywhere, we’ve been there for the good and the bad, and expanded our weekly newspaper into a 24-hours-a-day news source when it was necessary via our website and our extremely active Facebook page. Tonight, 1,543 of you have liked our page and followed our “breaking” news coverage.

There’s been tearful coverage and moments of great celebration. I won’t recap all the headlines that leap to mind. But know this, I won’t forget them. ESPECIALLY the state championship titles brought home by our sports teams from LaCrosse-Washtucna and the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos.

Pacing the sidelines or ducking stray basketballs underneath the net, those will be some of my greatest memories as a photographer.

Honestly, it’s hard to narrow it down to just that. Seeing the young ones scatter during Easter egg hunts and the older ones break into laughter as they greet and hug at alumni banquets is equally satisfying.

Reporting on local government and at times asking our elected officials to rethink their decisions or be careful not to violate the public’s trust is a delicate balancing act in a small town. Everyone knows everyone here. I shop in the same stores as the people I write about.

Yes, I live here too. That means not every story is as hard-hitting as they could be. And, sometimes the hard-hitting ones come at a cost because people can be judgmental and harsh.

A wise editor once told me in my fledgling stage as a journalist that it’s okay to write hard-hitting editorials as long as you do so in a way that allows people to retain their humility. I’m not a name caller and I never will be as a result. My harshest opinions haven’t and will never appear in an editorial.

To sum things up, I have loved every minute of this 10 year journey as a journalist. Telling your stories and spreading the word has been fulfilling and my greatest accomplishment thus far.

An opportunity to take the community service work I have done over the past 20 plus years and parlay that into a brand new career direction happened a month ago, when the county commissioners set out to find their next Economic Development Analyst.

If you know me well enough, then you know I have been involved in economic development endeavors here almost since I arrived in Ritzville.

Strengthening the local economy, broadening business and industry here, and improving conditions for the businesses that already exist are all things I have worked for already, almost as hard as I do newspapering.

Last week after a competitive process, the commissioners offered me a chance to prove my passion and my drive to accomplish those things on a bigger scale, in an effort countywide.

June 2 will be my first day in a brand new job, in a brand new profession after 30 years of work as a community journalist.

I have butterflies in my stomach already. The past hour I’ve spent writing this I’ve fought back a few tears too. This work, my craft, is all I have really known for so long. At the same time, this new direction is exciting and exhilarating.

What about The Journal?

I’m leaving it in very capable hands. Free Press Publishing, Inc. and William Ifft own the newspaper now. Ifft and Harlan Shellabarger will make solid choices in the coming weeks to guarantee that your community newspaper remains solid and improves. They will provide plenty of support for Katelin, Jennifer and Anita Neilan as they work through the transition.

They run a successful group of newspapers that includes Cheney, Davenport and Spokane Valley. They have the tools to keep The Journal strong for many years and they deserve your continued support.

The staff members past and present have worked really hard over the years. We all put in long hours and give up our personal time to be at the events and functions important to our community members. How do you show your appreciation for them? The great work they have all done is worth far more than a paycheck. I hope they have enjoyed personal satisfaction from the work we’ve done.

This is a community newspaper and it takes a ton of contributors from the community as well. Folks like Dale Anderson and Michelle Fode-Smith, Marva Schoessler and Karen Baumann have helped us get it done when there wasn’t enough time in the day. I hope you all continue to lend a hand, a column or a photo when you can. If things work out right, I’ll be one of those contributors. My cameras wouldn’t be happy in mothballs.

To Colleen Ruzicka and all the other parents out there who text us sports scores so we can keep everyone else up to date on Facebook, thank you. We know from the comments and posts that so many people appreciate the extra access and updates those Facebook posts provide when they can’t be there.

There are so many people who have helped me up, applauded me, challenged me and stood by the newspaper these past 10 years. I’ll never be able to name them all.

Rather, let me just say this: I am a better person and a better journalist thanks to these past 10 years and all of you. For that, I am eternally grateful.

—Stephen McFadden