This column by Donnis Hueftle-Bullock originally appeared in the July 7, 2022 issue of Custer County Leader.
It’s Tuesday after Chief staff, like so many businesses, have been out of the office for the 4th. We are currently pushing the press deadline to get all the pages done and printed! The office may have been closed on Monday, but the community news still happened.
You’ll notice that Mona still attended the fireworks at Broken Bow on the 4th. You’ll also notice that the community celebrations held last weekend were covered, so the staff weren’t entirely absent. I also know that we missed other celebrations.
Yes, we still keep office hours during the week to fulfill all responsibilities, then out into the community on weekends. The past three weeks have been busy with one more weekend for community celebrations. It’s so fun to see how each community comes together to keep traditions alive at their town’s celebrations.
I know the sports section doesn’t look like a team that threw any kind of ball this weekend. If you miss the sport, it’s not because we don’t want to cover anything; there are simply not enough of us to cover it all.
As you know, over the past year we have relied on community photographers to help the newspaper cover the sports achievements of local youth. It’s always the same; if you attended an event, if you took a photo, please remember to share with the newspaper so that we can still highlight the sports area.
Over the weekend we watched fireworks at my brother’s cabin in Johnson Lake. He had invited a couple who raise registered Red Angus cattle who attend our family’s bull sale. Every year my brother invited them to see the fireworks display in his area of the lake. This year they came from Kansas. Turns out they might only have a few miles less to go than we do living here in Broken Bow!
I found out that the woman, who doesn’t come to the bull sales, is the godmother of their school yearbook. She believes in her students and once she returns to school after participating in any activity she covers for the yearbook, she shares it with the local newspapers.
I then told him what we had been up to over the past year. Do you know that she told me that the school sometimes had to pay to have the pictures in the local newspapers?!? I couldn’t imagine it. I get so excited when someone shares pictures with us and the Chief pays the photographer. If they don’t want the funds personally, we approach their favorite charity and make a donation in the photographer’s name.
It did me good Chief believes in youth; I don’t know why a newspaper would charge a school to feature the activities of its students.
As we wind down summer and look forward to fall sports, we will continue to rely on community photographers. I hope when you see them, be sure and thank them for believing in recording young people to have them printed in the local newspaper.
In the meantime, staff will work during the week. We’ll also be out, and sometimes, for our own sanity, we won’t.
Thanks for the reading. We are grateful to have been able to celebrate the 4th of July, celebrate our freedoms and above all celebrate freedom of expression.
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