Jacksonville News 75 Years

The Jacksonville News Celebrates

75 Years

And we are still Dedicated to the growth and development of Jacksonville and Calhoun County

2 Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Celebrating 75 Years

The Jacksonville News

Sanguinetti proud of News’ role in community SHERRY KUGHN skughn@oxfordnews.com

Former publisher of The Jacksonville News, Phillip Sanguinetti, said its motto sums up the way he and his staff tried to serve Jacksonville’s residents, “Dedicated to the growth and development of Jacksonville and Calhoun County.”

“We always tried to be a civic leader,” said Sanguinetti, who now serves The News as a consultant. “We supported Jacksonville State University and the town.”

Sanguinetti was one of the decision makers for the purchase of The Jacksonville News for Consolidated Publishing Company. The newspaper, which was formerly located in Jacksonville just north of the square, moved its office to CPC in 2008. The company still serves Jacksonville with a publisher, a reporter, a photographer and a layout staff.

The Jacksonville News, known first as The Jacksonville Republican, began in the late 19th century by its founder, Dr. Thomas W. Ayers, grandfather of the current president of The Anniston Star. At that time, Jacksonville was the county seat. That particular company later moved to Anniston, went through several name changes and, eventually, became The Anniston Star.

Today’s Jacksonville News began in 1936 by Fred Hume. A married couple, R.K. (he) and Clifford (she) Coffee, purchased it next. Clifford also worked at Jacksonville State University and gave students writing and job opportunities at The News. R.K. was publisher

File photo

Phil Sanguinetti looks over Jacksonville News issues. In 1963, he worked to purchase the paper.

and writer.

In 1963, a company owned by The Anniston Star, Calhoun Publishing Company, purchased the newspaper from The Coffees.

“The Jacksonville News was the first weekly newspaper we purchased,” said Sanguinetti. They went on to purchase other weeklies, in this order, The Piedmont Journal, The Daily Home, The Cleburne News and the Oxford paper. Afterward, they consolidated all of the weeklies into one company, was Consolidated Publishing.

An Anniston printer, Ralph Higginbotham, was also coowner of The Jacksonville News. Consolidated Publishing Co. later bought him out.

The Jacksonville News can claim a close tie with the Pulitzer Prize. Popular autobiographical writer Rick Bragg started his career there. He went on to win a Pulitzer in 1996 for newspaper journalism when he worked for The New York Times.

“I gave Bragg his first job as a writer,” said Sanguinetti.

He is proud that The Jacksonville News gave jobs to many Jacksonville residents, a win-win situation for both.

“Also, the Jacksonville community has always been a supporter of The News,” said Sanguinetti.

The Jacksonville News has a history of winning many awards for its various stories, photographs, layout projects, and excellence in writing, all from the Alabama Press Association. During a recent interview, Sanguinetti pointed to an award certificate from 2000 on his office wall for outstanding editorial writing. He remembers years past when The News kept him extremely busy.

“I even had to sell ads for them when we first owned it,” he said. “I had to write and help out in all areas.”

Eventually, Sanguinetti said The Jacksonville News hired more staff members.

Sanguinetti has a long association with Jacksonville’s largest civic group, The Exchange Club. He has the longest tenure of any other club member, and he is proud that The News still covers club news.

Brock guided Jacksonville News into the computer age EDDIE BURKHALTER eburkhalter@thepiedmontjournal.com

For Julia Brock, her 27 years at The Jacksonville News was spent learning and loving the community she was born in. A 1972 graduate of Jacksonville High School, Brock attended JSU and Ayers Trade School before working as a medical transcriptionist at Jacksonville Hospital for about a year, then later working at Bama Pool Company.

She got her start in the news business in an unexpected way when, in 1978, a reporter from The News stopped by her work at the Bama Pool to write a feature. Brock asked about possible openings and she applied.

“When I started was the very beginning of the computer age,” Brock said from her Jacksonville home.

“Desktop publishing totally revolutionized the newspaper industry. Everything changed.”

With the right software anyone can become a publisher now, she said, but before the endeavor required specialized skills. Computers have

replaced the labor-intensive, messy task of designing a newspaper by hand. Brock began her work at the News in production, laying out ads and designing pages.

She said she came to work with a desire to learn everything, and that’s something that helped her rise through the ranks to general manager in 1984.

She left the paper in 2006 as editor.

Learning all there is to know about her community is something Brock said she was most fond of while working at the paper. Born and raised in Jacksonville, she knew most everyone, and her job meant she could apply that knowledge in a positive way.

As an editor, Brock says she spent a great deal of energy making sure the product the paper put out was up to standards. Hours of proofing copy and fact-checking went into the final product, she said.

“I really did enjoy all my years at the Jacksonville News,” Brock said. “And I really enjoyed being associated with Mr. (Phil) Sanguinetti (president of Consolidated Publishing). He’s one of the finest men probably that I’ve ever known.”

File photo

Julia Brock, left, and Anne Knight in 1984 when Knight stepped down as manager and Brock took over.

The Jacksonville News

Celebrating 75 Years

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Current News staff

//Photo By Trent Penny/Consolidated News Service Meet the current Jacksonville News Staff; From left are, Phil Sanquinetti, John Alred, Anita Kilgore David Jennings, Sherry Kughn and Eddie Burkhalter.The Jacksonville News has always been an award winning newspaper.

Throughout the years, many people have been involved with the making of The Jacksonville News. They have been your friends and neighbors.

And, although the faces have changed throughout the years, the passion behind The Jacksonville News remains the same. We are still “Your Hometown Paper� and we are still dedicated to the growth and development of Jacksonville and Calhoun County.

It is an honor for us to “carry the torch� on this, our 75th anniversary. We strive to carry on the goals that were originally set out for our paper – to focus on our hometown, to give a voice to those in need and to show why your lives are important.

Leading the team is editor/publisher John Alred, who has more than 38 years of newspaper experience.

Anita Kilgore, is more than just a photographer.

She is the heart and soul of the paper. Like the city we cover, she has seen The News grow over time, growing better and better.

David Jennings serves as the paper’s news editor. Covering the good times and the bad, Jennings reaches out to the community to tell the stories that need telling.

Eddie Burkhalter and Sherry Kuhn may not be seen in the community in person, but they are still a major part of The Jacksonville News. Burkhalter and Kughn are news editors of The Piedmont Journal and The Oxford Sun, but they also help edit and layout pages for The News.

75

years of excellence

Charley “C.N� Thompson

When you’ve been around for generations, you know your community well. You’ve seen it all: the successes and failures, the joys and the heartaches that are community life. When The Jacksonville News made its debut under editor Fred Hume, Jr. on Thursday, November 12, 1936, Farmers & Merchants bank was here under CEO Charley “C.N.� Thompson. For 96 years, F&M Bank has been privileged to provide financial solutions for families and business owners while for 75 years The Jacksonville News has kept us informed. Together, we’ve shared a lot of years, and we applaud our friends for a job well done, on this milestone anniversary.

3

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4 Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Celebrating 75 Years

Reflections

The Jacksonville News

The Jacksonville News Staff - 2006

Past staff members recount their time at The News

JIMMY CREED Former Managing Editor

I had the responsibility and the pleasure of being in charge of The Jacksonville News at a time of great transition there, and I believe we were very successful in writing a new chapter in the paper’s history, but I could not have done it without the tremendous efforts of a great staff.

Shortly after I became managing editor of The News in January 2006, we learned that we would also be producing The Piedmont Journal out of our office as well, and in just a matter of weeks.

It truly was a trial by fire for all of us, but for me it forged some personal friendships and some professional allegiances I will have for life, and I hope those who went through it with me feel the same way.

My approximately 16 months with those community newspapers also changed my outlook on journalism entirely.

If you had told me 10 years beforehand I would someday be in charge of not one but two weekly newspapers, I would have told you that you were crazy.

My thoughts, quite honestly, would have been “why would I ever want to leave real journalism to do something like that?”

After being immersed in them for almost a year-and-a-half, I came to truly appreciate that community newspapers such as The Jacksonville News are about as “real” as journalism gets and that they

STEPHANIE JACKSON Former Writer Writing for The Jacksonville News affirmed my love of the written word.

And it helped satisfy yet another love – being in the know!

To be a good reporter/writer, one must be nosey. And, I will “own” being among the nosiest of the noseys!

That said, like a

still have an important niche in the journalism world, and I am grateful for that appreciation.

I am also grateful to Phil Sanguinetti for his faith in me to make the transition from long-time sportswriter and sports editor into a news side management role and for his constant guidance and counsel throughout my time there. Anyone who has spent any time around him knows that Phil Sanguinetti is The Jacksonville News and The Jacksonville News is Phil Sanguinetti.

As The News celebrates its 75th anniversary, we would be remiss if we didn’t thank perhaps the most important group of all, however, and that’s you the readers. For without you caring enough to give us the news from about town, buying the ads to promote your local businesses and having the paper delivered to your homes, there would have been no Jacksonville News, and for us there would not be these wonderful memories and moments in our lives we have reflected on here.

So thank you for supporting The Jacksonville News through its first 75 years and please continue to support it through another 75 and, we hope, many, many more after that. And thank you for allowing me to play a small part and make a small contribution to help The News reach this great milestone. It is truly a part of my life I will never forget and of which I am very proud! good reporter/writer, I knew when to share what I knew, and when to sit tight.

Maintaining that balance was key in getting good stories for the best weekly newspaper in Alabama!

Having the privilege of charting the history of Jacksonville during my brief time with The News was an honor I took quite seriously and am very proud of.

(Whoops, that is a bad way to end a sentence. I need an editor.)

I will be forever grateful to Julia Brock for the opportunity and to Mr. S. – Phil Sanguinetti – for his support and good natured humor.

Back row from left: Jenni Light, Lisa Smith, Jennifer Bacchus, Pat Johnson, Anita Kilgore and Margaret Anderson. Front row: Jimmy Creed and John Alred.

Mr. R.K. and Mrs. Clifford Coffee, two owners of The Jacksonville News until 1963 when Calhoun Publishing Co. purchased it.

Clifford Coffee working at her desk.

The Jacksonville News

RICK TUBBS Former General Manager

Rick Tubbs wore many hats during his time with the Jacksonville News. He was young when he started and grew up while working at the publication.

“I definitely enjoyed my years at The Jacksonville News,” said Tubbs, “I started as a 17-year-old kid right out of high school and became a young adult under the tutelage of Phillip Sanquinetti, Melanie Luttrel and Margaret Anderson.”

Tubbs started literally at the ground level, sweeping floors and making the run to Talladega each Wednesday to take the paper to press. After bringing the finished product back to town, he spent the remainder of the night addressing the papers and getting them into the mail.

“I guess those all-nighters on press night are probably the thing I remember most about The News,” Tubbs said.

After a stint in the Army with the military police, Tubbs came back to Jacksonville, enrolled at JSU and returned to The News.

Tubbs did every job possible at The News -- from photography, to writing, to selling ads. Eventually, he was promoted to the position of general manager.

While we grow, we make mistakes.

Tubbs says looking back, he has learned from one memorable mistake in judgment.

“The most memorable news event for

John O’Mara Assistant to the Publisher

During the 1980s, John O’Mara worked at The Jacksonville News on production day, which was every Tuesday. His title was assistant to the publisher, who was Phil Sanguinetti.

According to O’Mara’s widow, Mary, he did whatever it took to get the newspaper out, including assisting with burning of the plates. She said the job suited him well.

“He loved everything he did at The Jacksonville News,” she said. “He didn’t write stories, but he did everything he could to make that paper a success, and it was.”

O’Mara said her husband had never worn blue jeans until he worked at The News. They became a necessity because he would often work in the rear of the

Celebrating 75 Years me, was one in which I was responsible (in the sense of being responsible for a mistake),” said Tubbs. “Sometime in the 1970s, when streaking was popular at colleges across the country, there was one night of streaking craziness on the JSU campus, and I covered it with my camera.”

Tubbs decided to publish a couple of photos that were very controversial on the front-page that week, and he caught a lot of criticism.

“Looking back decades later, I now realize my youthful confusion with ‘the right of the public to know’ and good old common sense,” Tubbs said.

After leaving The News, Tubbs worked for a couple of years as editor of the Alexander City Outlook and then for the flagship paper of the Boone Newspaper group, The Natchez Democrat, in Natchez, Miss. Things went full circle for him when he left journalism and got into law enforcement, eventually returning to Jacksonville to earn his master’s eegree at Jacksonville State University.

“I am now Director of Public Safety at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla.,” said Tubbs. “People can go to our website, www.ringling.edu, to learn more about us. My wife Regina and I love Sarasota and the Florida Gulf Coast. We spend a lot of time on my boat and traveling. Our next trip is back to Alaska in June for a fishing and sightseeing trip with our two adult sons.” building where, back then, employees had to work with ink, lead pencils and chemicals. He would take blue jeans with him and change from his suit.

Photographer Anita Kilgore remembers those days.

“He and I would work together,” she said. “He would load the pages onto the big camera. Then, he would yell ‘shoot.’ I would be in the dark room and take a picture of the page. Then, I would develop it and send it out.”

O’Mara died in 1988, after working for many years at The News and as director of marketing for The Anniston Star.

Mrs. O’Mara laughed thinking about her late husband.

“On one occasion,” she said, “the employees bought John a pair of blue jeans for a joke. They knew he didn’t want to work in his suit. Until those days, he had never owned a pair of blue jeans.”

See more Reflections on page 8 and 9

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Rick Tubbs

5

John O’Mara

The Jacksonville News - 1993 staff

Back row, from left: Jana Carter, Pat Johnson, Pati Tiller, Julia Brock, Margaret Anderson and Anita Ford. Front row, from left: Lisa Smith, Roy Roberts and Carol Shackelford.

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6 Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Celebrating 75 Years

The Jacksonville News

Anita Kilgore has longest tenure among JN employees

BY EDDIE BURKHALTER eburkhalter@thepiedmontjournal.com

It’s the only job she’s ever known, and for many, The Jacksonville News and Anita Kilgore are inseparable. Spending her adult life at the paper, Kilgore has watched the community of Jacksonville grow through the lens of her camera. Young men and women have become parents, and their children are now captured on Kilgore’s camera, recorded in posterity each week in the pages of The News.

“I started right out of high school, and, with the exception of eight years I spent at home with my kids, I’ve been here my whole life,” said Kilgore, from her office at The News. “I feel like I’ve grown up with The News. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

A 1976 graduate of Weaver High School, Kilgore began at The News by laying out ads, and soon after, then-staff-photographer John Kuzma pulled Kilgore aside and began teaching her photography. Kilgore learned the craft of creating the images that

have lined the pages of The News for more than 25 years.

Kilgore is a family woman. Photographs on her desk today show her and her family on a deep-sea fishing trip in Destin, something they often do together. Kilgore has been married to her husband Tom, a selfemployed contractor, for 11 years. Between the two, the couple have four children.

Her son Taylor, 29, runs a grocery store in Pennsylvania and her daughter Brittany, 26, works on a catastrophe team for State Farm Insurance in Jacksonville, Fla. Son Ben, 18, is attending Gadsden State and daughter Laura, 23, is employed by Wells Chiropractor Clinic in Anniston.

Kilgore’s career, though, has been spent at The News. A tiny scar along her left thumb is a reminder of her days when newspaper ad layouts were done by hand. She manually did ad layouts -- cutting and pasting the ads onto the pages the old-fashioned way, with bits of paper and wax and razor blades. When computers came along, she says she was sure all the creativity would be taken out of newspaper design.

“But, boy, was I wrong,” she said, sitting in front of her Mac computer. “I don’t know how we did it back then. Back then it was all about you, dodging and burning (a process done during photo printing to lighten and darken the image), and I thought that would change with computers, but it didn’t.

It became easier,” she said.

The walls of her Jacksonville home office are lined with the dozens and dozens of awards from Alabama Press Association.

She won’t admit it easily, but her work has won almost every category the APA gives out, from Best Feature Photo to Best Layout and Design to Best Use of Photographs/Editorial Content.

In her years with the paper, Kilgore has done a little bit of everything, from ad sales to design to developing the plates used to print the paper. Through it all, she’s seen her community rejoice and mourn, struggle and overcome.

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FROM FILE PHOTOS

Anita Kilgore hard at work at JN.

The Jacksonville News

Celebrating 75 Years

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

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8 Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Celebrating 75 Years

The Jacksonville News

More reflections from former JN staffers

DARLENE AUDY Former advertising director I enjoyed my time at the Jacksonville News. I was employed there from 1995 until 2000.

I had decided that I wanted to pursue a career in advertising, so I went to the Anniston Star and was told to go to the Jacksonville News. Then, the most amazing thing happened, two days later, I became the new advertising director.

It was my first professional job and still holds a special place in my heart. I enjoyed going to work everyday and helping merchants promote their businesses. It wasn’t like work at all. I felt like I was just visiting people, and I loved doing the business spotlights. I really felt that I made a lot of lifelong friends. Anita Kilgore, Margaret Anderson and Angie Finley made everyday fun. We would get together and the ideas

would flourish.

One of my favorite memories is the bridal tab that featured my son Brian and Angie Finley’s daughter Kayla. They were so cute.

After 16 years, Anita Kilgore, Margaret Anderson and Angie Finley are still my closest friends. The Jacksonville News was my first and still my all-time favorite job.

FROM FILE PHOTOS

DARLENE AUDY

ABOVE: Pat Johnson looks over a Jacksovnille News in her office. She was the advertising Director in March of 1992.

KILGORE: Has balanced family and fondness for co-workers FROM PAGE 1

Sunday in 1994 was a difficult experience for a photojournalist. Kilgore says she did her job but encountered some resistance while doing it.

“There’s a fine line there whether it’s your job and you have to do it … people can get agitated when you’re taking pictures during a tragedy. But, it’s important to get those photographs,” Kilgore said.

And photojournalism can change lives. Kilgore said one particular photo that, while difficult to take, is one she’ll never forget. A fatal car accident at the intersection in front of Walmart sent Kilgore with her camera to record the incident. At the time there was no red light at the busy intersection, and after the photo ran -- which only showed the vehicle the man died in – the family responded angrily to the paper.

“It helped us get a red light there, and it was my job to do it, but it broke my heart the way the family reacted,” Kilgore said. “I had just lost my grandmother, so I knew how they felt. But, it’s our job and we have to do it.”

Another memorable photograph to Kilgore was of a young Jacksonville police officer who had worked out a plan to have his fiancé pulled over in a traffic stop so he could propose marriage. Rain was coming down hard, she said, and she wasn’t sure if it would slack enough to get the photo, but “right when he was just about to propose to her, it quit raining and a rainbow appeared in the background. It was beautiful,” Kilgore said.

And don’t think for a second that the job is risk-free.

While covering a football game in the mid 1990s, Kilgore found herself about ten feet from her camera, lying underneath a pileup of football players all fighting for the ball.

A few years back, when the economy started to decline, Kilgore said The News lost a portion of its staff “and that was really sad for me and a hard adjustment,” she said.

She’s kept in touch with many of her former workers, many of whom were reporters she’d worked with over the years.

Photographers and reporters tend to work closely together, she said.

One friend she’s made in her years at the paper says Kilgore is remarkable at what she does. Margaret Stedham, a resident at Jacksonville Health and Rehab, says Kilgore knows exactly when to capture an image, and her work gives the community memories that can be cherished for a lifetime. Stedham says she looks forward to seeing the photographs in The News each week, and it’s because of the talent and dedication Kilgore brings to her work.

Jacksonville News publisher John Alred said the paper is better because of Kilgore’s attention to detail.

“She’s the most talented photographer that I’ve ever worked with,” Alred said, “and her graphic design abilities always amaze me.”

More photographs and more coverage of the small events that mean the most to citizens – all of those things that make a community newspapers important to readers – that’s what Kilgore says makes her newspapers special. And that’s what’s made working here since 1976 special to her.

“It is great to have a job that you love, all these years,” she said. “And I do love it.”

FROM FILE PHOTOS

ABOVE: Kilgore is shown here during the 1980s “rubbing plates,” which was a manual job that later was replaced by software and computers. She has seen many positive changes both in Jacksonville city and in journalism.

The Jacksonville News

Celebrating 75 Years

RICK BRAGG Former reporter The first thing I remember when I think of the Jacksonville News is Margaret Anderson at her keyboard, pounding in the words that would become, issue after issue, the historical record of a community. The place smelled like a newspaper and looked like a newspaper.

The truth is, it was my salvation. The only other job I had ever had, when I walked in that door in the late fall of 1977, was on the end of a shovel handle. I took a cut in pay to work there, but

JENNIFER BACCHUS Former news editor I’ve seen The Jacksonville News through several different viewpoints over the years – first as a subscriber, then as a print customer and finally, in 2006, as an employee.

I have to admit that, prior to being a subscriber, I didn’t know the News existed. We had been living in Jacksonville for a few years and were completely caught up in the grind of being parents of a young child. The News helped open us up to a world outside of the Wednesday folders from Kitty Stone Elementary, which, until then, had been our sole source of local news.

In the summer of 2005, when I became the editor-in-chief for The Chanticleer at Jacksonville State University, I visited the News office on a regular basis – typically in a bleary-eyed, sleep-deprived state after spending an entire night laying out the pages.

PATI TILLER Former reporter/photographer Working at The Jacksonville News provided me an opportunity to work on some incredible stories, yet it was the people behind those stories that made the experience so memorable to me. Every investigative story, such as the mismanagement of a former local cemetery or the sale of the city hospital, gave me an opportunity to get to get to know someone like (now State Rep.) Koven Brown and the late Mayor John Nisbet.

I worked with many interesting people, like those in the state district attorney’s office or the hospital board of directors. Covering the troubles of a past board of education administration allowed me to get to know and understand the concerns of a whole host of Jacksonville residents on both sides of the issue. Stories on crime gave me a closer look at how the members of the city’s police and fire departments operated. The installation of the incinerator at the depot let me have a moment to work, for a day, with reporters I admired from national news organizations, such as CNN.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

it was worth it.

It was, at the time, a room full of women, and they were all kind to me and made allowances for the fact I barely had enough sense to tie my shoes.

I had my own desk ­– I had never even had my own shovel – and my own typewriter. I sat across from a fine woman I knew then only as Cathy Word. I asked her how to spell everything more complicated than “cat.”

There were too many good people there to touch on here, too many good people in the community to mention -- people who forgave me a lot, as I tried to learn a craft I am still learning.

I am honored to have been a part of it.

Those mornings, however, got me acquainted with the staff that would later become my work family.

In May of 2006, I came on board as a full-time employee.

I still remember my first day there. The News was right up against its graduation edition deadline, and Jimmy Creed had given me a few stories for that issue to write.

Before I even came into the office on my first day, I had already done one series of interviews. As soon as I got into the office, I had to immediately begin writing. It was a bit of a crazy week to start off with, but it got me well prepared for the times of constant motion I would experience when I followed John Alred as the News’ reporter.

I loved my time as the reporter – all the people I met and the personalities I was able to introduce to the readership. Now that I’ve moved on in my career path, I miss the daily interaction with Jacksonville’s movers and shakers – both those in and outside of the newsroom.

I had favorite feature stories, such as the multi-part series I wrote about attending the Jacksonville Police School or the trivia quiz on the city’s history I researched and created for a Jacksonville Historical Association’s (JHA) special insert. They provided me the chance to know (now assistant police chief) Bill Wineman of the Jacksonville Police Department and Don Calvert and all the great people with the JHA and the city library, cemetery and records departments.

I will always be grateful for the opportunity to make so many friends and connections during my time with the News.

However, the folks I will forever hold nearest and dearest to my heart are the great group of people I worked with at The News itself -- Mr. Sanguinetti (Mr. S), Anita, Pat, Lisa, Roy, Darlene, Jim, Lauren, Angie, Julia and especially dear Margaret, were the people who held the organization together through deadlines and special inserts and changes at the paper and the city. I learned so much from them! These folks may have been my co-workers for about seven years, but they will always be considered part of my family.

9

Patti Tiller

Rick Bragg

Jennifer Bacchus

CONGRATULATIONS JACKSONVILLE NEWS

75TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATING LIFE THROUGH WORDS AND PICTURES.

The City of Jacksonville The Mayor & City Council Members

10 Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Celebrating 75 Years

The Jacksonville News

We will always be here to serve the the community

ALRED

I am so proud of The Jacksonville News.

Although I have only been a part of this newspaper’s history for the past six years, it has been some of the happiest six years of my almost 40 years in the publishing business.

The Jacksonville News has served this community for 75 years – through the good times and the bad times. Unfortunately during my tenure as publisher, the newspaper has undergone some radical

changes because of economic conditions.

Although we have moved from our longtime office just off the Square and into the main offices at Consolidated Publishing in Anniston, we still serve the community just like we were located downtown.

As long as I am publisher, we will never lose that personal touch with the people of Jacksonville and surrounding areas such as Pleasant Valley, Angel or

White Plains.

When Jimmy Creed hired me as a reporter, I had no idea that, in less than a year, I would be the managing editor and then, a couple of years later, the publisher.

I am overwhelmed when I look back on the people who have been employed here and have helped write Jacksonville’s history through the newspaper.

It is quite a legacy to live up to. To follow in the footsteps of the Coffee

family, Phil Sanguinetti, Julia Brock, Jimmy Creed, John O’Mara, Rick Tubbs and so many others is quite an honor.

And, of course, there is Margaret Anderson, who was the heart of this newspaper for so many years.

When Margaret left the paper, it was a bleak day.

But today we celebrate the birthday of this newspaper. As the slogan goes, “We’ve come a long way, baby,” and we have plenty of life left.

Community newspapers are becoming the focal point for news in communities like Jacksonville.

We cover the stories daily newspapers tend to ignore.

We always will. As long as I am publisher, that’s the way it’s going to be.

When this newspaper celebrates its 100th birthday in 2036, I hope the publisher then, whomever he or she is, will look back and say, “Job well done. Let’s keep up the good work.”

Snapshots from the past

CLOCKWISE, from top left: Margaret Anderson, Rick Bragg and Anita Kilgore after a CNN crew visited the JN staff. The occasion was Bragg visiting the place where he got his start; Mike, left, and Chris Roberts laid out sports pages for JN; Esta Spector worked as the advertising director for JN from 1977-79; Mike Self is also a former advertising director; The late Cathi Word Downing was a reporter for The Jacksonville News before working at The Anniston Star, where she became editor of the features department and Melinda Patterson worked at the front desk of The Jacksonville News.

The Jacksonville News

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Celebrating 75 Years

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

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12 Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Celebrating 75 Years

The Jacksonville News

“Great care is worth the drive!”

– Janie Minton

EXCELLENT CARE 35 MILES

Thank you for continuing to rank us as number one in patient satisfaction in Etowah and Calhoun Counties.*

When Janie Minton was diagnosed with cancer of the uterus in 2009, she wanted to use the hospital she was familiar with in her hometown of Gadsden. But because of a change in her insurance, Janie travelled 35 miles down the road to Jacksonville Medical Center, where Dr. Shan Young performed a hysterectomy.

“I have to admit I was a little bit scared when I first arrived at Jacksonville Medical Center,” says Janie. “I was thinking to myself: I wish I was in Gadsden. But of all the hospitals I’ve ever been to, I’ve never been treated as well as I was at Jacksonville Medical Center. The nurses were always right there whenever I needed anything. They just babied me.”

One nurse that Janie remembers in particular is Diane Woodward. “I had to wear compression stockings on my legs to make sure I didn’t suffer any blood clots,” says Janie, who continues to see Dr. Young for regular checkups. “Diane had to help me with the stockings. Even though we had to take them off and put them back on maybe eight times, Diane always had a sweet smile Shan Young, M.D. OB/GYN

on her face. She’s just a precious person. Diane went way beyond the call of duty in helping me.”

256-435-4970

www.jacksonvillemedicalcenter.com *That’s according to HealthStream Research in a comparison of all hospitals in Etowah and Calhoun counties.See for yourself how area hospitals are rated at www.HospitalCompare.hhs.gov