The "Boy! There Better Be A Newspaper Waitin' For Me At The End Of My Driveway!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a story in the Saturday Evening Post titled "Saluting Local Newspapers: Long May They Run."  It was just one page long, but boy did it bring back memories about newspapers from the past in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  The story began in 1946 when Norman Rockwell paid tribute to a great American institution: the country newspaper.  His painting, which was part of the article, captured life in the office of the "Monroe County Appeal" of Paris, Missouri.  The painting showed drawings of 76-year-old editor Jack Blanton and his staff of five who are responsible for publishing the weekly newspaper for the 3,000 subscribers.  

The painting shows a Gold Star flag that commemorates Jack's grandson who would have succeeded as editor of the newspaper had he survived WWII.  Mr. Rockwell actually pictured himself in the painting by placing himself entering the editorial office to the far right.  I'm assuming that the gentleman with the pipe in his mouth is Mr. Rockwell.  "The Monroe County Appeal" is 154 years old and still publishing today.  A recent problem, due to the COVID pandemic, has led to publishing jointly with the "Rails County Herald-Enterprise" which is 156 years old.  There is hope that the situation will only be temporary.  In my home town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, we had  a daily morning paper, "The Intelligencer Journal", a daily evening paper, "The Lancaster New Era", and a Sunday newspaper, "The Sunday News."  We still have the "Sunday News", but the two daily newspapers have been combined into one and is known as "LNP Lancaster Online".  If you buy a subscription to the daily newspaper, you also have access to the digital newspaper files which date back 1864.  I enjoy reading the news from years ago to see what was important back then as compared to today's news.  A few of the local newspapers that are still in business today, but may only exist as a website, are: Lancaster County Woman Newspaper, Cue Times, Strasburg News, Farmshine, Lancaster County Suburban, The Ephrata Review, Lititz Record Express Inc. Lancaster Farming, Lancaster County Weeklies, Inc., Shopping News-Lancaster County, and Southern Lancaster County Chronicle.  I'm not sure how often each is printed, but the list is much larger than I had thought.  I did not list #1 on the list which is Lancaster Online which I get to read since I subscribe to "LNP Lancaster Online."  

The front page of my local newspaper.

I hope you have a chance to read a daily newspaper in your town or city.  I enjoy my newspaper so much, especially since I retired from teaching years ago.  First thing I do in the morning, before I eat my breakfast, is read the paper from front to back.  And, if I don't have one waiting for me at the end of my driveway when I get up at 7:00 AM, somebody's in trouble.  I have the newspaper's telephone number next to my computer just in case.  Boy, do I sound like a grumpy old geezer?  And, I used to make fun of people like myself.  But...that's when I had something else to do except reading the newspaper.   It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.