The Times joins our family

The big news at our com­pany this week is that we now own the Hering­ton Times and will begin publishing this week after a week without the paper being published. The deal to buy it was put together by our publisher, Joey, in about five days. That kind of time frame is unheard of these days. The previous owner had told everyone the last issue had been printed and he was going to shut it down.

I worked at the Hering­ton Advertiser-Times—as it was called then—51 years ago, in the summer of 1965. I worked in the printing and production department, using hot lead and hand-picked type out of a California job case. I also ran the job presses in the back shop. That was when we worked until noon on Saturday, which is what a lot of businesses did in those days.

I really liked my bosses who owned the paper then. They were brothers Bob and Maury Roberts. I drove to Herington from Hillsboro every day in my ’56 Chev­rolet with my packed lunch that I would usually eat in the park.

That was the summer of the Topeka tornado and I shall not forget listening to the news coverage of that event on the radio as I drove home that day.

One day last week one of our book customers was in our production department and needed some paper. She was given some by a coworker when she said, “You folks would give the paper off your pad for us.”

It’s not the shirt off our back, but close enough.

I am amazed at the number of people who still send faxes rather than scan the item and send via email.

But then, if it is sensitive material, it is pretty hard to hack a fax, which I believe is unlike hackey sack.

I’m humbled when I hear that someone reads and enjoys this column. Actually, I enjoy writing it and each week it seems to get a little easier. It should get easier after 18 years without a miss—not bragging or complaining, but 936 straight as of last week.

The other morning before I headed to the office I told Nancy I was “feeling off, like bug spray.”

Last week, one of my coworkers said her husband loved his Bunn Coffee Maker. I said, “That is Bunnder­ful.”

This past Thursday I left on a road trip at 5 a.m. I hate to get up early now. Not true. I never have liked to get up early.

Anyway, it’s hard to wake up early and I usually have a hard time going to sleep. Then, I usually wake up ahead of the alarm because I hate to hear it go off. And I feel weird for most of the morning, too.

The best part was eating lunch at Mayberry’s in Washington, Kan. They have the best burgers and fries. Wish we could have something like that here or at least close by.

If you wish to share your comments or ideas, my e-mail address is joel@
hillsborofreepress.com.

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