By: CINDY MILLARD
In the spring of 2009, The Southern Tribune moved back into the building at 66 Maple Street, the front facade having been repaired from a car collision and the original front door, replicated and replaced. My brother, Allen, and I were in Cuthbert that day to move furniture, files, phones and fax back to the location where our mother, Allene L. Nelson, started The Southern Tribune in 1983.
Although I didn’t realize it at the time, that day in 2009 started what would be the next 10+ years of my life as managing editor and publisher of The Southern Tribune. Mother’s health was declining. I was taking her back and forth to doctor appointments and found myself becoming more and more involved with other aspects of her life, especially the newspaper. In the beginning it was about “learning the business”; then, the next challenge was to figure out how to make it cash flow and hopefully profitable.
The great recession continued and we continued publishing. When the cost increased to print our weekly edition, I called around, introduced myself and asked, “where do you print?” The Bainbridge Post Searchlight gave us a good price, excellent quality and a smaller page size. The newspaper had a fresh new look!
The day I decided to print the front page in color Mother loudly objected. Neither was she pleased when I made the decision to change printers. We often butted heads with a difference of opinion. In contrast, there was a tender moment, not long before she passed away, when Mother said to me, “Cindy. Cindy, I want to thank you. I know what you are trying to do.” That kept me going. I was driven with a sense of purpose and duty… to carry on Mother’s vision and the survival of her weekly newspaper. It also gave me something to dig my teeth into, a new passion.
I received emotional support from my brother, Allen, with regular phone calls and discussion; and, I received emotional support from my husband, Lisle, who also spearheaded the contracting work on the loft apartment in the newspaper building, where we lived for several years.
There was more that I was learning, though, besides new lingo and keeping the doors open. I was learning what a “community newspaper” is all about. I slowly realized that we were less and less about criminal headlines and more and more about telling the stories of those individuals and families who are the heart of local southwest Georgia communities. Yes, we covered the School Board and the antics of its players; the county commission, rising millage rates and TAN notes; and whatever crime, accidents and unfortunate tragedies that occurred. More and more I came to understand Mother’s initial dedication of The Southern Tribune, in its first issue in 1983: “Dedicated to Community Pride, Promotion and Progress”.
A “community newspaper” is about lifting up the community, its citizens, its church events; spotlighting accomplishments of its youth and students, and service awards presented by employers to hardworking individuals. It is about Rotary, Pilot Club and Garden Club; 4-H, birthdays, family reunions, columnists, chamber of commerce; and sadly, obituaries, too. Telling the stories of those who live in southwest Georgia and those from the area, whose life has taken then elsewhere.
My pride in promoting the people and events in this corner of southwest Georgia grew with each edition, each week of The Southern Tribune. The good times were when people came by to tell us thank you for a story we published or for how we handled something.
There were a few regrets, too, when I made mistakes in judgement and didn’t quite get it right. Overall, the satisfaction, the pride has been its own reward. Although in business, one does have to create income as there are expenses.
Then the day came when I began to feel the time to step back was approaching. My husband and I had bought our retirement home, out in the country on five acres. Our love of nature, landscaping and gardening was now beginning to tug at my heart. There were things I still wanted to do with my remaining time here on Earth.
It would be several years before the right persons appeared, to take over my mission of continuing The Southern Tribune in the same vein which Mother had envisioned. They wanted to keep her same dedication: Community Pride, Promotion and Progress. Sissy and Charlie Mathews contacted me; we met and began checking all the boxes. As our discussions continued, I knew this was the next step. It was time to pass the torch.
It has been a pleasure to work with Sissy and Charlie these two months as a consultant, since they purchased The Southern Tribune. It is now time to assume my new title of Publisher Emeritus (former publisher!). In some ways it is bittersweet; but then I know, I leave mother’s newspaper with another fresh new look, in the capable hands of the new owners, and our former staff, to carry on Mother’s legacy and The Southern Tribune.