Who would have thought?

Well folks, I, Lisa Craft, have been working at The Monett Times for more than 32 years and I am currently at the point that I can retire. In October I began mulling this over in my head and checking on different information pertaining to retirement. This was a hard decision because I have been doing this so long that all I could ask myself was, “what will I do with my time.”

I have heard so many people I know say that they are busier since they retired than they were when they were working full-time. In my case I find that hard to believe that it would be possible to be busier.

There have been a lot of changes in 2022. The newspaper was purchased by CherryRoad Media in March, we moved to a new location and a lot of our software changed, which can be very challenging. The more changes that happened, the closer I got to my decision.

I believe that it was towards the end of October that I started hearing some rumors within the company grapevine that CherryRoad was going to sell some of the newspapers within the group that was purchased in 2022, including the Times and Democrat. I started asking questions and had it confirmed that they were indeed selling the Cassville Democrat, The Monett Times and one other.

Kyle Troutman, the longtime editor for the Democrat and Times, had decided to purchase the Cassville Democrat. He and his family live there. Kyle and his wife, Jordan, have both been working at the Democrat for quite some time and wanted to make it a locally owned paper.

As soon as I heard the news, I called the owner of CherryRoad and asked if they had a buyer for The Monett Times and the owner of CherryRoad, Jeremy Gulban CEO, said no and asked if I was interested.

All I could think was, wow, I had been in the mindset of retiring, and now this gets put in my path. Questions flooded my head over and over. Doubts filled the gaps in between the questions, and I was not sure what I should do.

If I did not buy it, who would? I mean, would they care and love it as much as I feel I have, and try to make sure that it would continue for our community?

Would they even know the community well enough to take the special interest needed to make it a community-minded paper? Should we take a risk of it becoming corporate-owned again or jump at the opportunity to see the paper once again locally owned?

My goodness this was just crazy and why didn’t this opportunity come my way when I was 40 and not ready to retire?

Well, I could not come up with many answers to my questions, except that the newspaper that I had worked at for more than 32 years and had been in existence since 1899 needed someone to take care of it. It needed someone to make sure it continued for the community.

We are not New York or Los Angeles and I believe that our small community newspapers touch people in a way that a big city newspaper does not, and it has been an honor to deliver that to the people of the community all of these years.

So the bottom line is, am I going to retire? Someday I will. But as of January 1, 2023 I am now the current publisher/owner of The Monett Times and Connection Magazine.

There will be some upcoming changes, so I ask for your patience, but the important thing to me is the newspaper and magazine are locally owned and operated for you. We will do our best to serve you with our minds and our hearts. The staff here has served the readership for many years and will continue to do so.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your loyalty and look forward to serving you in the future. As far as retiring? Eventually, but right now I guess I will have to pretend that I am 40-years-old again.

Happy New Year!

Lisa Craft Owner & Publisher, Connection Magazine

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Lisa Craft monettcommunity@gmail.com

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Connection is published monthly and distributed free in Cassville, Monett, Exeter, Washburn, Pierce City, Mt. Vernon, Aurora, Verona, Roaring River, Eagle Rock, Shell Knob, Purdy, Wheaton, Freistatt, Marionville, Seligman, Golden and other surrounding areas.

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8 | MONETT LIBRARY OPENS

A new chapter takes shape as the doors to the new branch opens

20 | BRAILLE OUTREACH

Braille Work Center in Freistatt reaches a 25-year milestone of aiding the cause

27 | TOURING THE HOLY LAND

The Zahn family of Monett share a life’s adventure through modern Israel

Jerusalem

31 | LOCAL ARCHER ON TARGET

Chris Berry earns his 28th national archery championship in 2022

33 | SERIAL STORY: Keeping Secrets

Part six by Annie Lisenby Smith