By Keith Brake, Editor
Montezuma Magazine
Many of you know Burdell Hensley, the bespectacled, balding older gentleman who shows up at certain Montezuma home ballgames. He writes sports and has for many years.
More specifically, he has been covering teams in Mashaska and Marion counties. A column he wrote, “Tales of the Ancient Sportsman,” has been a fixture in the Oskaloosa Herald and other publications.
Some of you know Hensley from his Burdell’s Byways Tours, which many of us have gone with him on.
No, Burdell is fine. But Al Rabenold shared a rather sad e-mail he got from him last week. Burdell, who is 80, lost a job. Or maybe a couple.
Some of the newspapers he helped out are gone.
Many newspapers have been fading away, but the COVID-19 crisis finished off a few, and right close by. Advertising revenue has been decreasing, or holding steady at best, while costs have continued to rise.
Pella, Knoxville and Centerville no longer have their own papers.
The Pella Chronicle and Knoxville Journal-Express are now part of the Oskaloosa Herald, a five-days a week daily.
The Daily Iowegian in Centerville is now part of another daily, the Ottumwa Courier.
Among weeklies, the New Sharon Sun published its final issue on June 18. The Keota Eagle also is gone. The Sigourney News-Review, which was part of that group, is still going.
So, Montezuma still has something special – The Record.
Credit goes to the publisher, Shirley Dunham, and her late husband, Chuck. They have held the line on advertising rates. They’ve fought to keep costs low where possible. The Record has survived.
Julie Gammack, of the Iowa Review, wrote a piece in The Des Moines Register about the growing demise of papers in the state.
“Who will report on public meetings?” she asked.
“Who will hold your elected officials accountable?”
“Who will advocate for regional economic development?”
Local newspapers have filled those roles for many years in a lot of communities.
I’ve worked for some papers – and was editorial director for a couple of start-ups – that are now gone.
Been there, done that . . . and the t-shirt has faded.