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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide for Reeves County, Trans Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

OPINION

Mac McKinnon

Friday, February 13, 1998

OBSERVATIONS

By Mac B. McKinnon

Community, newspaper
are interlinked




Every now and then, I like to take time to brag on our
hometown paper, the Pecos Enterprise.

I'm sure that might sound self serving since I'm the one who
runs the place but it is the community's newspaper and my
place, to make sure we try to serve the needs of the
community.

The paper has been here since 1887 and regardless of who is
running the paper, it's like the Energizer bunny in that it
goes on and on as does the community. The two are firmly
interlinked.

The owner of this newspaper, Mr. Phil Buckner, is intent on
Pecos having a daily newspaper because he and I feel our
town needs a daily. No one else cares about Pecos but those
of us who live here and there's a lot of news that needs to
be reported on a daily basis.

If you don't read the paper on a daily basis, you'll
probably miss something as there is a lot of news in the
paper EVERY day. The Pecos Enterprise commits many resources
to covering the news, much more than you can find in any
other small city daily.

In addition, the Pecos Enterprise carries many popular
features including Dear Abby, Dr. Gott, Hints From Heloise,
popular editorial columnists, Horoscope, Crossword Puzzle
and all of the most popular comic strips. Those cost the
newspaper a premium but it is our effort to offer the best
in features.

All of this is available for only $7 a month, delivered to
your door. Few if any daily newspapers are available at this
low price, especially considering the many popular features
that I just mentioned.

When I was with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, our public
relations department developed a program that those of us in
the news department went out and presented to various
groups. The program was called "A Miracle A Day for Only a
Nickel."

That was more than 30 years ago but a daily paper is still a
miracle, at least in my mind. The cost for the Pecos
Enterprise is only 35-cents a day while most dailies cost at
least 50-cents now.

The reason a daily newspaper is called a miracle is that
almost everything you see in a newspaper is pulled together,
printed and distributed in the space of hours. That includes
information from all over the world. With modern technology,
it is now somewhat easier than it used to be but it still
takes a lot of quick work to get the product assembled,
printed and to your home or the newsstands at an early hour.

We do on occasions make mistakes because of the need to get
the news out. The Pecos Enterprise, however, does not
hestitate to make corrections and apologizes when those
mistakes are brought to our attention.

You, the public, play a big part in the newspaper as we need
your input to know what is going on. There are some stories
that we don't print because we simply can't get the details.
We spend many hours chasing rumors.

But, we do make the effort to cover everything that goes on,
realizing there are limits to what we can do even with a
staff as large as what we have.

If you don't see something in the paper that you've heard
about, please don't assume we know about it and just didn't
print it. Please let us know.

When you are going through any other town anywhere close to
the size of Pecos, stop and pick up a copy of their
newspaper. I doubt very seriously that you can find one of
the quality of your own Pecos Enterprise.

Thanks for letting me have a few minutes of your time to
brag on your newspaper.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mac B. McKinnon is the Editor and Publisher
of the Pecos Enterprise whose column appears each Friday. He
can be e-mailed at: bigmac@bitstreet.com



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Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.

324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net

Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.

Copyright 1998 by Pecos Enterprise
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