Lamar Press remembered

Thursday, Aug. 15, 1996, marked the premiere issue of what I still consider to be the best weekly newspaper this area has seen, the Lamar Press.
I was not thrilled with the idea of having a weekly newspaper in Lamar when it was first suggested by Carthage Press Publisher Jim Farley and ad saleswoman Becky VanGilder in the summer of 1996. I thought it would hurt the momentum the Carthage newspaper had in Lamar at that time and I also knew it was going to require far more work than they anticipated because I was not going to settle for putting out an inferior product.
When the go-ahead was given, the first thing I did was to line up a group of columnists and reporters to give the paper its own identity, as far removed from the Lamar Democrat as possible.
Those who were involved in that first issue were: Cait Purinton, Nancy Hughes, Katie Jeffries (now Young), John Jungmann, and Marvin VanGilder. We later added Kim Earl, Doug Oakes, Susan Davis Mabe,Ian Ramsden and from time to time, Carthage Press reporters contributed to the mix.
The first issue featured a heavy emphasis on the approaching Lamar Fair and back-to-school information, with features on the Lamar Fair Queen Contest, Cait Purinton's profiles of Lamar Elementary Principal Jan VanGilder, high school newspaper advisor Mary Kuhn, who was leaving that position, her successor, Holly Sundy, and the Walters Photography Studio.
We received a great reaction to the first issue, and thought we might lose our momentum, but as far as content was concerned, we never did. The second paper introduced John Jungmann's sports coverage, thoroughly covered the Lamar Fair, and introduced Kim Earl's column.
Probably the best issue of the newspaper was the third one, published on Aug. 29, 1996. Among the items in that issue:
-A profile of Cathy Bland, who visited the Vietnam War Memorial to see the name of the father she never knew, Lamar war hero Howard Layne Jr.
-Amy Lamb's coverage of the execution of convicted killer Richard Oxford
-An update on the case of accused (since convicted) swindler Pat Graham, who bilked investors out of $5 million selling shares in his company, Conquest Labs, which was marketing a non-existent AIDS vaccine
-An examination of a Missouri Department of Health report which showed that Barton County Memorial Hospital was charging more for procedures than other hospitals charged.
-Photos from the Lamar Fair
-Every winner from the Lamar Fair Baby Show
-Katie Jeffries' column on an O'Sullivan Industries' official who appeared in a feature film
-Photos of new teachers in the Lamar R-1 school system
-Marvin VanGilder's historical column on "The Mystery of the Apparition in Muddy Creek."
-My feature on Lamar High School student Ashlee Sorden, who addressed the National VFW Convention in Louisville, Ky., and Ashlee's diary of the event.
-A sports feature on Central Missouri State University volleyball standout Shannon Washburn, a former LHS student.
-Complete court records
-Jungmann's sports coverage
-Columns by Nancy Hughes, Cait Purinton, and me.

I'm not going to go into detail about each issue of the newspaper, but these were a few of the highlights of later issues of The Lamar Press:

-Complete historical and present-day coverage of the annual Silver Tiger football game between Lamar and Nevada
-Blanket coverage of the annual LHS Veterans Day Assembly, including the text of Bob Douglas' speech
-A Faith and Family special section featuring columns from Lamar pastors and photos from various churches and religious activities
-Complete election coverage
-Coverage of long-time Mayor Gerald Gilkey's 75th birthday
-Coverage of a $60 million lawsuit against former LHS teacher Bryan Stroud
-Extensive coverage of the Lamar High School Graduation
-Brian Webster's feature on the reuniting of a Bosnian family in Lamar

The Lamar Press did not just fade away during its last few issues. In fact, they were among the best ones we published. When Cait Purinton returned from attending school at Kansas State University, she began a series of articles on the Lamar Guest House, a residential care facility that ran into problems after the beating of one of its residents. She uncovered information about problems the owners had with other facilities they owned (problems which had been overlooked by the state due to its bureaucratic layers), and she found the state was not following its own regulations requiring companies to remain financially solvent since her digging uncovered a bankruptcy filing by the Guest House owners and also revealed that they had not paid their county taxes. And mind you, Cait was only 18 when she wrote the series.

The final issue of The Lamar Press was published July 11, 1997. We went out with a bang, and also with a smile. The top headline said, "Last deadline met," with "Lamar Press goes the way of the Edsel" written beneath it." In addition to the news of the paper going out of business, our final page one, included Cait's story "Savage beating brings Guest House under state scrutiny," and our release of the schedule for the upcoming Lamar Fair.

Page two featured the two columnists, Nancy Hughes and Marvin VanGilder, who were the only ones who had columns in each of The Press' 49 issues. Much of the inside was taken up with the final parts of Cait's Guest House investigation. She also wrote a column for the final issue. She wrote eight articles for that final issue.
My story on the life of an undercover cop, taken from documents filed in Barton County Circuit Court, was included and I also wrote stories on the five-year anniversary of a Barton County grand jury, a meth arrest, and a farewell to the newspaper.

That was it for The Lamar Press, at least until the next spring when Cait Purinton stepped to the stage at the annual Kansas City Press Club Heart of America Awards Banquet to receive the only award the Lamar Press earned in its short existence, for investigative reporting for her work on the Guest House series.

The Lamar Press never had a chance for financial success. Lamar is a town of 4,000 so the only way The Press could exist was to knock off the Lamar Democrat and that was not going to happen. We never sold much advertising, and to be brutally honest, not much of an attempt was ever made to sell advertising. Our advertising people only spent about two to three hours a week there and usually spent that at only one or two places. A little more work might have bought another few months or a year.
With the readers, however, the newspaper was a success because it was, to steal a phrase from the Joplin Daily, all Lamar all the time. It was written by people who were well known in the city and featured stories and photos of their friends each week. We combined strong coverage of school and sports, with extensive courts and government coverage, and more than a little investigative reporting.

Perhaps the best remembered feature of The Lamar Press was its strong stable of columnists, led by Nancy Hughes, Marvin VanGilder, Cait Purinton, Doug Oakes, Kim Earl, and Katie Jeffries. They made the readers laugh; they made them cry; they made them think.
And yes, I am obviously prejudiced in saying so, but that kind of mixture, combined with a much better business plan, is what newspaper readers should be receiving and aren't.