A rant and a rave

Hello all. I would like to believe you are in a comfortable chair in a pleasant setting with WYRZ on in the background anda cup of coffee in your hand.

In other words, a place where you can shut out all the news, noise, and chaos, and just read The Republican.

Trigger warning. The following is a little rant, nothing major. But it could disrupt your current Zen like state of contentment.

Is it too much to ask?

A little refresher to start. This newspaper has survived in this county for 179 years. It has covered the lives and deaths of thousands upon thousands of people that made and are still making this county.

It has been through the blood, sweat, and tears of world wars, recessions, and pandemics.

It has celebrated the births and mourned the deaths of those before us.

It has covered the stories of visiting presidents as well as visiting criminals. Did you know that Charles Manson spent time in our county at the Indiana Boys School in Plainfield?

There is nothing more Hendricks County than this newspaper, period.

The Republican reaches thousands of Hendricks County residents and has been doing so for the last 179 years.

With all the chaos in our country let alone the world, now more than ever I want to know what our legislators are doing before they vote.

If they are going to vote to redistrict congressional districts against the wishes of their constituents, what else are they voting for that we would not support?

Having watched a legislative session up close this year I am convinced the system needs an overhaul. Chaos is too mild a word to describe the frenetic pace of authoring over 700 bills but only sending 106 to the governor.

Of course we get lots of postcard mailers telling us how great they are but they won’t answer simple questions from their constituents. The only possible conclusion is that they are afraid of answering your questions because they may not like your response.

Look, if you can’t stand the heat, get the out of the kitchen.

We are in an election year. Four of the seven are up for re-election.

If you have been reading this newspaper you know who has been responding and who has not. Vote accordingly.

One last thing to our reps…

With the federal government wanting to push all of its social, educational, and health responsibilities to the states, it is more important than ever that you let us know how you are going to vote and you need to articulate why you are voting that way.

If you can’t do that, it’s time you move on and we find someone that will communicate

with us. SMH

If I may, continued…

That went a little longer than anticipated.

Let us move on.

Over the last three columns you have got to know a little about the team that puts this newspaper together every week. They are more than employees. They are a group of individuals that understand the importance of the newspaper in a community. They love being close to their community in a way that only a newspaper can. They are also my friends.

Now it is time to meet our editor, Betty Jo Bartley. She does not care for accolades and she does not like long, rambling articles so I will do my best to be concise.

There is one story that gives a little insight into Betty.

The owner of this newspaper, Betty Weesner, passed away in March of 2016. I bought this newspaper in August of 2019.

That means that Betty Bartley put together this newspaper with some bookkeeping help from part-time helper, Beth Polley, for 177 weeks in a row.

Let me explain. That means that Betty would get up early every Wednesday morning and drive to Greencastle to fill up her old Chevy Blazer with that week’s printed newspaper.

Then she would drive back to the office in Danville, stack the newspapers up next to the addressograph, load the addressograph with the first tray of subscriber plates with the names and addresses of every subscriber, stamp every newspaper, sort them into more than a dozen different zip codes, load them back into the Blazer, and take each stack to their corresponding post office around the county.

That was just Wednesday. Then she would come back to the office to her desk, fire up the pagination software and start laying out next week’s newspaper.

By Tuesday she would have put the finishing touches on the next week’s issue, send it to the printer Tuesday evening then start the process over again on Wednesday morning.

For 177 weeks Betty kept this newspaper going without any financial support, and without any ownership of the newspaper (the business had been willed to an absentee owner in New Zealand.)

After marveling at the Herculean effort of keeping this newspaper alive I asked her why she would do such a thing. Her reply, “Who else is going to do it.” That is commitment. That is dedication to your community. That is nothing short of love.

I could fill this page telling you more about Betty Jo Bartley, but she would not like it and it’s best to stay on her good side.

Cheers all. Have a great week.