From tear sheets to publisher

It’s easy to say that the Waseca County Pioneer is in the same family as the publications covering the county’s other three incorporated towns.

Pioneer co-publisher Eli Lutgens, is the son of Janesville Journal publisher Tracie Rosacker and long-time area sports writer and NRHEG Star Eagle publisher from 2005-2021, Jim Lutgens. Through much of Eli’s childhood, his two parents worked together putting out the Star Eagle, performing the many various tasks from writing and photography to sales and billing to printing and distribution.

At age 15, prior to his sophomore year in high school, Eli decided to take an interest in the publication’s day-to-day operations. He let his mother know he would like a job and was told to report the next Monday morning. He claims he then went on to surprise both his parents that day: his mother by showing up on time, his father by being there at all. It turns out Tracie had been uncertain enough about Eli’s commitment that she had never even mentioned “hiring” him to Jim.

Despite his parents’ uncertainties, however, he was there and given one of the most fundamental (and perhaps tedious) tasks of the newspaper business. “Tear sheets” are partial pages from the newspaper which are “torn” out and attached to bills to prove to advertisers that their requested ads were published and appeared in the specified issues of the paper. Because it’s a job few people want, pulling tear sheets is one of the tasks often assigned to beginning staff members.

After spending that first morning tearing papers apart, Eli received the gratification of an immediate $25 paycheck. “There are benefits to working for your mother,” he comments. Then he sat down with Tracie at an office table for lunch.  When Jim returned to the office to find his son sitting comfortably, his immediate reaction was, “That’s it. You’re fired. I don’t pay people for eating lunch.”

Turns out he would be fired a few more times—and for far larger indiscretions than eating lunch.

Throughout Eli’s high school years, his older sister Jessica was called upon as a reporter. His contribution remained simple: tear sheets. Among the first exceptions was when he wrote about a fundraiser being held for one of his classmates parents, Darin Reese. “That was when I began to understand the value of writing a story,” he says. “Where else could I have told people to come and help my friend?”

Beginning in 2017, some health problems that Jim had been battling for years began to interfere with the newspaper’s status as a business. With so many different jobs done by so few individuals, the persistent absence of even one individual can be devastating. Eli remembers watching the imbalances that would occur when Jim was absent and considering what he could do to help stabilize things.

One weekend when Jim was away and the status of the next week’s paper was uncertain, Eli decided to take quiet action. “I waited until everyone was gone for the weekend, and I went in and I sat down at the computer,” he recalls. “I worked all day Saturday. I worked all day Sunday. No one even knew I was there, but I was figuring out how to put together the pages so the paper could be printed.”

On Monday morning, his mother, sister and graphic designer Reed Waller arrived in the office to find him, again, seated at the computer. When Tracie asked him what he was doing, Eli pointed at the assembled pages on the screen.

“It was the quintessential ‘proud mother’ moment,” Eli says. “She turned to Reed and said ‘Look here, Eli’s put the paper together.’

“Then Reed walked over. I showed him the screen. ’Wow,’ he said. ’You did everything wrong.

“’But we have something to work with.’” 

For the next couple years, Eli says his level of importance at the paper would rise and fall depending on the status of Jim’s health. Still, he had learned enough that he became editor of the Star Eagle while Jim remained its publisher. Then, in 2019, when his mother decided she wanted to break away and begin her own newspaper in Janesville, Eli was able to be of assistance. Thanks to growing connectivity, he could make contributions to two newspapers at once.

But after persistent absences due to his health over the last part of 2019, Jim’s health gave out completely in January of 2020.

“This time, I had to be everything: sales, editor, bookkeeper, bill payer.” On top of these many demands, the paper had come to be on shaky financial ground. So shaky, in fact, that Jim eventually suggested there were only two options: either go to the community asking for donations, or file for bankruptcy and close the doors.

Eli opted for a third choice. Without ever mentioning the paper’s financial woes—and without telling his father—he put together a “special section” on the topic of breast cancer. It was a risky choice, since producing it entailed extra cost. But the special stories and features also encouraged readership—and gave advertisers an incentive to take part. 

Eli remembers that Jim was quite angry when he first laid eyes on that week’s paper. In fact, he fired Eli on the spot. Fortunately, Eli was able to show his father that the extra expense had been worth it, having led to higher income.

As the de facto publisher of the Star Eagle, Eli went on to produce additional special sections, gradually turning the paper’s finances around.

And then Covid hit. Very little was happening to publish as news, and area businesses vastly reduced their advertising. “If we had been in a bad position before,” Eli observes, “this was worse.” Despite the many difficulties and his many duties, he still remembered the importance of following the news. When the federal government issued funds to towns and cities to provide financial support to suffering businesses, and when Eli heard it mentioned at a city council meeting that the funds had been allocated to the “safety” portion of the city budget, he made some calls to follow up. Quite a few calls, in fact. 

He contacted budget officers all over southern Minnesota to ask what they had done with their allocated monies: With the exception of Ellendale, the cities had not followed through on the funding’s intended purpose. The story Eli produced brought statewide attention and led to similar investigative journalism in many other publications. An award from Minnesota Newspaper Association hangs on his office wall today for the December 2020 story.

Awards aside, however, Eli admits that the Star Eagle might not have held on through 2020 if it had not been for relief programs and assistance. He expresses rich gratitude to the operators of the New Richland State Bank who, he says, worked hard to help assure the survival of numerous area businesses. 

In March of 2021, Jim offered to sell the newspaper to Eli, and by April it was official. At 23, Eli had become the nation’s youngest newspaper publisher—and perhaps its most versatile, since he and graphic designer Reed Waller were the paper’s only two full-time employees. Naturally, the paper had the support of many part-time workers, among them writers, photographers, columnists, and those who helped with delivering the paper. In this last group was Michael Roy, who had joined the staff of the Janesville Journal and began performing some of his tasks for both publications.

Eli says he has been frustrated for some time with the quality of news coverage the residents of Waseca are receiving. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told I should buy the Waseca paper,” he says. He asked Michael, who was already writing sports stories for the Journal, whether he would be willing to begin covering sports in Waseca.

“The first step to doing anything is action,” Eli said. “And since this was the action available to us at the time, it was how we chose to start.” Thanks to Michael’s willingness, coverage of Waseca sports has been appearing in the Star Eagle since December. “We’ve had a really positive response,” says Eli, who adds that a fair number of Waseca residents have begun subscribing to the New Richland paper.

In the meantime, the Star Eagle has been increasing its editorial staff. Eli takes particular pride in the fact that, thanks to having more writers, his publication was able to produce stories about every memorial day event held in the county. He is also pleased that he now has staff in place to cover all city council and county commissioner meetings.

All of that escalation has been in preparation for the launch of the Waseca County Pioneer. The paper will use the talents of new staff in combination with the resources already in place at the Star Eagle. 

“It just makes sense,” says Eli. “We’re already covering two-thirds of the county, why would we leave out our area’s largest community?”

As the Pioneer’s offices and resources are finalized, Eli will take on at least one more range of duties. “We’ll be remodeling our offices (at 103 S. State Street) for a couple of days, and then everything will be set,” he says, explaining that he, Michael, and quite possibly Tracie will be there with paint and brushes in hand.

As this new venture moves forward, Eli and Michael believe they are working from a very solid foundation. They feel they have the support of the community, and will be able to bring in sufficient advertising and subscriptions to support the ambitious editorial program they have planned. “We’re excited for the possibilities,” says Michael. “We’re looking forward to having a newspaper in Waseca that is actually about Waseca. It seems like it’s been a long time since the community has had somebody to talk with and share their stories with.”

This time, despite having “fired” his son numerous times, Jim agrees. “With Eli moving operations into Waseca, it’s as if things have come full circle,” says Jim, remembering having been a carrier for the Waseca Journal as a child and later a sports writer for the Weekly. “Waseca has a history of having two newspapers, though in the end only one survives, and I feel Eli has the knowledge, expertise and experience necessary to build the Waseca Pioneer into something great. I am amazed.

“It's so nice to hear the stories Eli tells me about how many Waseca people know me, and, I have to admit, those stories make me smile.”