Cheri Gayfield Newton County Enterprise Editor Shares with Rotarians

Photo:  Doug Morgan, right, hosted guest speaker Cheri Gayfield, Managing Editor of the Newton County Enterprise, at the club's Monday noon luncheon meeting. 

On this day, after almost twenty years of employment at the Newton County Enterprise, Cheri Gayfield was supposed to be gone to the KV Post in DeMotte, a sister newspaper to the Enterprise, to work as a staff reporter.  The move, of course, makes a lot of sense because she lives in DeMotte and probably wouldn't miss the daily commute to Kentland at all.  Fortunately for Doug Morgan, she was still available to speak at Monday's meeting. 

Cheri is very familiar with Rotary and has been quite helpful in getting the club's message out over the years.  It's a fact that the Kentland Club has in the past tried to recruit her as a member.  But she has always declined, rightfully thinking that the responsibility of meeting a Monday newspaper deadline and attending a noon luncheon club meeting don't really mix well. 

There have been times when the Rotary contribution to the newspaper ---- a photo and a paragraph or two --- has been bumped and didn't appear in the next week's edition. But that's understandable.  There is a lot of competition from such events as the Alumni Dinner, the County Fair, parades, festivals, SN homecoming, NN homecoming, local sports, local government and much more that people want to know about and buy a newspaper for.  Cheri mentioned that they try to have a balance between articles and advertising. Advertising pays the bills.  So the decision on what to cut is pretty easy.  What determines if a photo is in color or not?  When an advertiser wants his or her ad to be in color, then the rest of the photos on that page will be in color.  

Contrary to a recent trend of the demise of some print publications, the small town news publications are holding their own.  The Enterprise is affiliated with the KV Post of DeMotte, the Rensselaer Republican, the Morocco Courier, the Brook Reporter and the free shoppers' guides, the Indiana Spirit and The Guide for those living north of Kentland. That's not the entire list. There is also a connection to the Twin States Publishing Family.  That includes the Watseka Times Republic and the Chronicle of Hoopeston. 

Apparently Cheri's replacement had a change of heart and consequently Cheri is still in Kentland holding down the fort after bidding farewell to all the local readers.  We all hope that another replacement will be found soon, so she can go to the KV Post and home to DeMotte.  The Kentland Rotary Club would like to thank her for letting us spread the word of Rotary, and we wish her well in the future.  

Brandt Stum 

Kentland Rotary Club