Quote of the Week

With a little bit of help

Always! (Actually, a lot of help!)

By LAURIE STUART
Posted 1/10/25

In the early days, we typed the copy for the newspaper on my Selectric typewriter that I received as a high school graduation gift. From there we pasted it with rubber cement onto large "flats," …

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Quote of the Week

With a little bit of help

Always! (Actually, a lot of help!)

Posted

A 50th-anniversary reflection

In the early days, we typed the copy for the newspaper on my Selectric typewriter that I received as a high school graduation gift. From there we pasted it with rubber cement onto large "flats," (Large pieces of paper with column rules and a grid printed in "non-repo" blue ink.) Ed Wesely, among others, hand-delivered the box of flats to the Union Gazette in Port Jervis, where the production team there would make the photos into halftones, which Ed would cut and paste onto the pages. In making the printing plates, the pages were reduced to the newspaper size. (With Ed's introduction, we replaced the rubber cement with a hand-held waxer, which put a thin layer of wax on the back, which could be repositioned if necessary.)

We printed about 200 papers, eight and then 12 pages,  and brought the four bundles of papers back to Narrowsburg, delivering them to Theresa Fuchs, who would hand-paste, hand-written address labels on the front of the papers. She would then put them in a mailbag and deliver them to the loading dock behind the Narrowsburg Post Office.

We now transmit digital PDFs to a large regional press in Rockaway, NJ. Those papers get trucked to Poughkeepsie, as part of the delivery system for the Times Herald-Record. Jim P.  picks them up in an oversized pickup truck. The papers are in large tubs and white mailbags, with addresses printed in the bottom corner. as the paper comes off the press.

After careful systematic loading of his truck, he heads back to the Newburgh distribution postal center and slowly returns to the river valley. He hand-delivers newspaper bags and newsstand copies to Jeffersonville and Narrowsburg (and any stops along the way)  making his way to the Honesdale Post Office to deliver the PA papers, making stops to Beach Lake and Milanville post offices.

In one sense through technology the process of producing the paper, while still labor intensive, is quicker.  Most copy comes in digitally via email, and no longer needs to be typed. 

Still, it takes a small army and many hours to produce what is now known as one of the best papers in the area.

As part of honoring our legacy of 50 years of producing an excellent journalistic product, our resident historian Roger Snedeker is going through years of papers and noting top stories, awards won, and compiling a list of all employees and columnists, among other notable and news-worthy items. 

With 25 years gone through, the spreadsheet indicates that 155 people have lent their time and talent to create the River Reporter that exists today.

For that we, all of us, are grateful.

(Help us grow into the future. Become a Sustaining Subscriber today!)

(Want to host a gathering or event around celebrating The River Reporter's 50th, contact Amy Janzen, biz and sales director, at amy@riverreporter.com)

(Rev. Laurie Stuart, an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, has been working on the paper since 1978. She credits her early success to the ability to type and talk to people at the same time.  Such were the days in the beginning.)

50th Anniversary, River Reporter, Dolly Parton, Rev. Laurie Stuart

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