Welcome to a new and improved Community Pioneer – Shirley Thompson

OPINION

When I first heard that a new community newspaper was coming to Shelley and Firth, my heart leaped. I have heard from many residents that they miss the Shelley Pioneer, which had been published weekly since 1905. It closed in 2016 when the Post-Register management decided it was no longer financially feasible.

I worked as a reporter and editor at the Shelley Pioneer for 14 years, ending in 2015, when I was replaced with someone who was not local.

I have never lived in a home that didn’t take a newspaper. It was the ritual when I was a child, for my dad to get the paper after work and sit down to read it. My mother-in-law looked forward to getting the Pioneer out of her mailbox and settling down for a few minutes to read it. My husband read every word in every issue. It was an institution in the community and while it went through a few hard times, it always survived. It was owned and managed by a number of local publishers over the years, notably Joseph and Ralph Adams, Ralph Berenger, Ken Carr and then the Post -Register bought the paper in 2008, along with a number of other small community newspapers.

I was hired in 2001 by my long-time friend, Crystal Foster, who served as the Pioneer’s office manager for a total of 32 years. She recently passed away and I know a lot of people aren’t even aware of it because there wasn’t a place to find it easily.

I took over for Marlene Terry who had written for the Pioneer for seven years. I never thought I’d be in that job for that long. I stayed for years because I developed relationships with city leaders, school administrators and teachers, business owners and even the people who came in and out of the office to drop off announcements – weddings, missionaries, obituaries, scouts, graduations and new babies. I enjoyed meeting and interviewing the high school students each week. I scurried around the community trying to cover as many things as possible.

We had wonderful sports writers, Neil Andreason and Bruce Jones and dedicated photographers like Mike Whiteley, who never got paid enough for their contributions but happily helped put athletes, scholars and other school activities in the public eye. Audrey DeRoche kept our subscriptions up to date and Peggy Russell took pictures for Question of the Week, did commercial printing and delivered the newspapers to the post offices every week. They even sold advertising.

I often said that the Shelley Pioneer made marvelous scrap-booking fodder. We included as many photos and listed as many names as possible every week. And without fail, grandmothers and parents stopped in to buy a few extra papers to save and send to their families. A fairly substantial number of our subscribers lived in other areas, but still wanted that hometown flavor they got inside its pages. I hope many of them will discover this new link.

The newspaper business is a dying industry. Papers large and small are folding every day, (no pun intended). I am so excited that Mike Price and Jeff Kelley are starting this endeavor. Jeff is thoroughly dedicated to keeping this community strong and vital. Mike has worked with online news previously and knows how to take the technology into a medium that will fill the needs of all generations. While we baby-boomers like a printed newspaper, younger generations prefer to get their news instantly and often. This new website will allow everyone to find out what is happening in our community quickly and efficiently, while still catering to the print-lovers.

Already I enjoyed seeing the welcome that Shelley High School student Brock DeRoche received after spending weeks in the hospital following a serious football injury. It was live on Facebook and brought me to tears. There is a great article available now about one of the longest-running businesses in Shelley, Cox’s Honey. I love that we will see weddings and other family milestones again. Those are the things that truly weave the fabric of unity into small towns and make us feel whole.

Many familiar features will be included. They will still have students of the week, the police log, history, and highlights of community events and official meetings.

To accomplish this takes a lot of work and a lot of know-how. These guys have the enthusiasm and fresh ideas that will make it worth following. I know I am on board.

I hope sincerely that this venture is wildly successful and that each of you will share it with your friends and neighbors on social media and in friendly conversations. In this age of pandemic and isolation, we need a real way to connect again. I feel I’ve been in the dark too long and it’s time to let the Community Pioneer shed some light into the void. Join me, won’t you?