Tribune-Herald celebrates major milestone
They say this town once sported 13 publications in almost every language that got spoken hereabouts.It also had a matching number of churches—and bars, one for each of those editors, or so they say—and knowing editors like I do, considering I are one, that’s likely one of the few truths to the entire set up.
Of course, I realized this birthday about the time I started typing in the new dates up top in our banner and realized we probably shouldn’t have a 53rd edition. Again. It may be a Leap Year, but I’m afraid it doesn’t quite work like that. So with all the forethought that most people put into a sneeze, I began frantically searching the internet at about midnight the day this paper went to press to find something insightful to say about journalistic institutions— which sounds a lot more like the place they should have locked most of us up a long time ago who still find ourselves in this crazy business — or maybe something inspired to say about the passage of time, generally.
Naw. That ain’t happenin’ either. Not my cup of—well, we covered that already...
What I did find that was quite interesting, however, came from the Texas Press Association’s website while searching its archives for historic Hallettsville news items.
It fell under an award the TPA gives out periodically to the pillars of Texas journalism, and to get one of those awards, one must have put in at least 50 long years with Texas newspapers.
Incidentally, we’re blessed here in Hallettsville to have several people working here right now who qualify under that measure: resident columnist and weekly typesetter Henry Joe Jasek, for instance, has 67 years in the business as of last August. Then there’s sports guru Chuck Grafe who, depending on his mood has either 51 years served or just 36, the smaller of the two being the amount of time he’s devoted to it in a fulltime capacity.
Also let’s not forget Margaret Pozzi, former business manager of the Tribune-Herald who had a full 52 years when she retired a few years back. Of course, none of that includes the time she’s put in lately as our copy editor.
And let me tell you, she’s still sharp as she ever was. I mean, you’ve read my writing, sometimes barely typed in time enough to make the paper. You may have noticed I’m making a lot errors lately—that’s all her—I still write as miserably as ever.
I’ll stop there because this could go on a while if I kept going, barring one exception, the one I found on TPA’s website, a Mr. Joe Fietsam, whose momma, according to his Golden 50 Award information, was Mrs. F.J. “Tillie” Fietsam, former owner of The Shiner Gazette.
What caught my eye about Joe was that he got this award the year he retired, in June 1990, which just so happens to coincide the precise timing of when I headed off to San Marcos for college, already on my path to becoming a writer
An interesting aside: I got my degree in English as opposed to journalism, mainly because I was terrified about taking (and failing) the typing test they required to even enter the J-school program. I never took typing in school, having finished high school in just three years. In fact, I still can’t type worth a poo today still. While I’ve gotten remarkably fast at what I do that passes for typing, it’s a rather ugly thing to watch getting done.
And just as Joe was leaving the business, I was getting started, though my credentials date back a bit before then, to 1986, when I landed my first story in the local newspaper, while I was in junior high still in neighboring Columbus. Unlike Chuck, I go for anything that qualifies.
Anyhow, Joe and I worked at different times, though, remarkably, our paths crisscrossed numerous times over the course of our respective careers. Joe retired from Floresville where he and his bride, Marge, owned and operated the weekly Chronicle-Journal, which they sold upon their retirement.
Joe started, some 51 years prior, at the New Era Herald in Hallettsville, in September 1934 (that’s the Herald part of our current title, in case you’re wondering). There, his uncle, the late Leo Strauss, put him to work killing type lice on the hand fed press.
Five years later he married Marge and set out on his own, going to work first at the El Campo newspaper for a few years (a place I credit with teaching me how to be a reporter), before moving on to the Bellville TimesIncidentally, Bellville is now a sister publication to our county’s publications, all of them owned by Buddy Preuss, who resides in Giddings, operating the Giddings Times and the Burleson County Tribune in nearby Caldwell.
Fietsam worked there until his mother asked he move back home to Shiner to help her with the Gazette (another publication I work for now). Then Uncle Sam came calling in 1942 with second world war. Fietsam actually published the Firing Line, the mimeographed news publication that circulated around what they called Camp Hood, at the time.
After the war went to work at The Sealy News (been there; I actually have T-shirt) before buying the Calvert Tribune, which was later merged with the Fort Bend Reporter, moved to Rosenberg.
The Fietsams then bought the New Ulm Enterprise, which they ran over the next decade before buying the Chronicle-Journal in Floresville beforethey retired in 1990.
As I’ve told many people, my intent is to make Hallettsville my last paper, and it seems a rather reasonable expectation. When April rolls around here in a few months, I’ll have 38 years in the business. My main goal between now and then is making sure I’m the last editor of the Hallettsville paper.
After all, even if the ol’ gal has got 148 years on her, I think she’s still got a lot of good life ahead of her still.