Bulletin Publishing started as a 81/2 x 11 sheet of paper called the Newport News in 1958 by Bill Penny and others. It got its big start by Larry Mattson in the early 1960’s. Mattson drowned in a boating accident and realtor John Currell purchased the company from Larry’s widow, Bea Mattson.
Currell hired John Herman in 1966 as editor/publisher. Herman and I purchased the company from Currell in 1970. At the time it was a tabloid paper and our staff were a number of people in the area that wrote for the paper as “stringers.” They were paid by the column inch for the articles they submitted.
Judy Spooner, Teddy Sanem, Ginny Jensen and Judy Hemp covered most of the cities meetings and school district and reported on them. We covered Cottage Grove, Woodbury, St. Paul Park and Newport. Fred Johnson covered the sports.
When we started to make some money, we hired full time people to write the articles. Our first hire was Judy Spooner. The Washington County Bulletin was published in tabloid form for the first years of our ownership. We change to broad sheet sometime in the early 1970’s.
We were located in what now is a Subway sandwich shop next to the bank parking lot in Newport. We purchased a lot on 80th Street in Cottage Grove. Orrin Thompson Homes had a building they used for sales that crossed Hillside Trail where the Sherman Williams paint store is located. They tried giving it to the city but the council did not want it. The Cottage Grove Jaycees was thinking of purchasing it for $10,000, but wisely no member wanted to sign a loan paper for the purchase. I did know Gary Thompson and asked him what he wanted for the building. He said, “Make me an offer.” I said, “$3000.” He replied, “Sold.” We had a building. Now all we had to do is move it and remodel it.
Bill Krueger and I purchased John Herman’s interest in the paper in 1983. Over the years the paper has won many state and national awards for reporting and composition. The subscriptions increased over our period of ownership to a point that we decided to publish a second newspaper in Woodbury. Woodbury’s growth demanded a separate newspaper and the timing was in our favor.
Krueger and I sold the company to Red Wing publishing in 1994. Red Wing gave us an offer we couldn’t refuse. Krueger went back to farming and I still had the Bulletin License Center to keep me busy.
Owning a newspaper was something I never imagined that I would be working with for most of my life. I did like to write and I wrote a column for many years. I had to give it up because of the amount of time I was spending in management. I have a lot of stories that I will someday write concerning the years I spent in the newspaper business.
It is a shame to see the newspapers cease publication but I can fully understand it. If the public wants to see what is happening in their city, they can watch a council proceeding on television in real time. News can be instant on the internet. Advertising, a newspapers way to make money, is declining in print. Advertisers believe they can reach the most of the public electronically more often at a lower cost.
I had a great time publishing the papers. It kept me in the middle of everything happening in the community. I know I called a politician a “Barnacle on the ass of progress” more than once in my editorials. I also wrote, “If jerks had to wear signs, he would be dragging a billboard” describing someone running for office. It did not make me popular with some people but I was running a newspaper not a personality contest.
It was a great ride.
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Thank you for the kind words. Unfortunately, I have run into some medical problems that have slowed me down. I plan on continuing my writing after my next surgery. Keep reading and become active. I was in a movie that is being shown on YouTube. The title is “Suzie, Meet Santa. It was fun to be a part of the movie.
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