Nearly 30 years ago, Janelle Von Pinnon, who lived in Sauk Centre at the time, started a fledgling newspaper she dubbed the St. Joseph Newsleader. Just months after the paper’s debut, the entire area was stunned by fear and horror when 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted in St. Joseph.
Needless to say, Von Pinnon and her staff were busy round-the-clock covering the Wetterling story and its non-stop developments. In the many years since, the Newsleader covered that local story right up to its tragic conclusion last year when the body of Jacob was discovered and his abductor-killer confessed. The ongoing Wetterling stories were not only local news but state, national and international news as well. The heartbreaking Wetterling case was – and is – a good example of why hometown papers and the presentation of local news are so important.
Almost 30 years later, the staff of the St. Joseph Newsleader and the Sartell-St. Stephen Newsleader are proud to say the newspapers are still going strong, week after week. Von Pinnon and her employees are still dedicated to gathering and delivering local news, free in the mail, each week to all city residents and businesses. That complicated task can only be accomplished thanks to the support of long-time loyal and new advertisers. Without advertisements there would be no newspapers because ad revenue pays for the cost of the entire newspaper operation.
Many readers throughout the decades have expressed their appreciation of the Newsleaders for providing local news and other information. Every reader has her or his favorite things to read. Some like best the coverage of city councils, school boards and other official meetings. Others tend to favor reading the human-interest features. Still others are glad the papers include one or more of the following: the community calendar; the stories about upcoming meetings or events; coverage of accidents, fires and other tragedies; the people section; the obituaries; the police blotters; the coupons and advertisements; the classifieds; the business directory; the opinion page; the wide variety of photos that show snapshot glimpses of the daily goings-on in the area.
This week, which is Minnesota Newspaper Week, the Newsleader staff decided it would be OK to toot our own horn a bit. We hope the blank page of today’s newspaper reminds our readers – and ourselves, again – of the importance of newspapers in our daily lives.
This week, as in all weeks, we want to underline our thanks and our ongoing appreciation to our advertisers throughout the years and to the loyal readers who have kept the Newsleaders going for nearly three decades, week after week. Without those good people, there would be no newspapers, period. Rather, there would be just blanks where local news should be.
