News doesn't wait, it chases me

I did a little garage sale shopping on Friday. At the very last house I visited, I was greeted by the mother of Terry Huber. It was her garage sale, you see. She stopped me and asked, “Are you from the paper? I recognize your picture.” 

Yup. That’s me. I wouldn’t have thought the little photo with my column bug would make me a celebrity, but on this day, it did. 

During our conversation I was informed that Terry, that day, had purchased Southside Marine from Neal Schauer. Congratulations Terry. 

The adventures in newsing never sleep. 

Last week I was walking to the post office when a reader stopped me with a question about her newspaper delivery–I believe it was a day late, or maybe her subscription was due. I took down her name and told her I would look into it. The next day she stopped by my office to tell me her newspaper had arrived and to let me know it was no longer a concern.

Leaving church on Sunday, Pastor Sipe stopped me to apologize for not having read my column yet. That made me chuckle. I told him there was still the rest of the week left for reading. 

Homecoming is next week. Congratulations to the 2023 royalty. 

And that’s pretty much been my week of newsing. Deb made an appearance at PoP club on Saturday after they requested, kindly, that we cover their Saturday party. 

Gladly. 

Deb told me afterward how much gratitude the PoP folks expressed for the coverage. Of me, they said, “We call him and he sends someone right down.” 

Dave Zika was in my office on Friday. He asked me how many of our stories come from the readers. I told him I no longer keep track of story ideas myself because there isn’t a need. So many people tell me what we should write about that I simply follow their instructions (with occasional exceptions). All of that, however, gets sorted out at our weekly editorial meetings. I also told Dave, a staff of 15 probably wouldn’t be enough writers for me and Waseca County. The reason I stopped keeping a separate list of story ideas outside our regular list, was because the list simply became far too long.

Dave and I talked about sports, among other things. Before diving into the VIkings and Twins, I’d like to congratulate Walter Mishek on his wedding celebration over the weekend. 

I have two former Mishek employees on my staff. Reed Waller, production manager in New Richland, and Deb Bently. Both were once members of the Arabian Horse Times staff: Deb on editorial staff, and Reed in advertising.

I remember a story Reed told me about Walter–that is Reed told me of a time he went to Walter with a request for a piece of equipment, or something or other needed for production. Walter asked him whether he really needed it or whether it was more of a “want.” Reed said the request was a “need.”  Walter wrote the check and said something along the lines of “you only pay for quality once.” 

Reed speaks highly of Walter, and so does Dave Zika for that matter. 

Reed also told me once a person earned Walter’s trust, they would have it entirely. He then shared a story about the interview process when he was hired. 

Now let’s dive into sports. 

The Vikings lost again, and are not worth expending any more energy on. 

I’m hoping the Twins win at least one playoff game this year, so I can say I’ve seen it happen in my lifetime. 

The Bluejays football team looks sharp. My dad has kind of pushed me out of the role of covering them as he now goes to the games and takes pictures. It’s nice to see him excited to cover sports. 

On another note, I ran into Waseca mayor Randy Zimmerman at Walmart last week. He tells me his court date went well and that he has a settlement hearing in December.