The Way I See It

Welcoming the New Year with thanks for a great year


 

 

Each year, as the last few days unfold, I am reminded of how fast a year goes by. The saying “Time flies when you’re having fun” could never be more right. I count myself among the lucky folks since I am able to work at a place with the best people around.

Our owners and publishers Judy and Bill Wilkerson have always been so supportive of what we do here since 1975. Their guidance is immeasurable and very much appreciated! With the addition of their daughter Noel Wilkerson Holmes, our Associate Publisher, our news coverage keeps increasing and she has brought us into the forefront of social media.

Leon Zabava has been associated with the Pleasanton Express since the 50s. Leon is our Oil and Gas Editor and keeps everyone posted on the happenings in the Eagle Ford Shale area – wells, businesses and housing. He is also an excellent photographer, takes pictures for us and produces most of the photos you see each week in the paper. He also contributes his Grid Iron Picks during football season.

Maggie Rodriguez, who has been with the Express since 1966, retired as Sports Editor many years ago. He still writes his sports column and contributes stories as well as delivers his regular route each Wednesday morning. Mary Gallegos, our Advertising Manager, has been selling ads for probably longer than she wishes to admit (since 1982!) And she does it very well. Her expertise and knowledge is most beneficial both to us and her customers. She also helps us with the ad layout and proofing.

Hope Garza is the first person you see in our front office. She does a multitude of tasks at the paper. She is our Newsroom Manager, expert proof reader, both for ads and copy, helps with all the billing, keeps the office running smoothly, coordinates the stuffing crew on Wednesdays and makes sure we are well fed. Hopie completed her 23rd year here.

Lisa Luna is our prizewinning Living Editor. Her layouts have been a consistent winner in the Better Newspaper Contest. In addition to her duties as Living Editor, Lisa writes many other sto- ries and features with finesse. She also has covered the Pleasanton City Council and fills in when necessary. Lisa has been with us since 1998. She and her husband Chris have two children, Ava and Sean.

David Wickersham also began working here in 1999. He is the manager of our arts/ production/imaging department. In addition to making prize-winning ads, he is lead design for our front page and most of the front section. He also assists us by snapping excellent sports photographs. David covers various teams throughout the county during football, basketball, soccer and baseball season. He also keeps track of the distribution of our newspaper stand sales each week. Pleasanton Express has one of the largest newspaper over-the-counter-sales in Texas. We sell over 6500 papers each week through our vendors across the county. Add that to our 2,000+ mail out subscribers and we are still one of the largest weekly newspapers around the area.

Aaron Davidson joined our staff the summer of 2003. He is just one of our talented ad designers and our lone San Francisco 49ers fan. He also keeps our computers and archives in shape.

Robbie Hamby became a part of our newspaper family in 2004. She joined our editorial department and fit right in! She handles the job of Ag Editor and is also in charge of the obituaries. Robbie searches each week through our archives for items to be used in the “Flashback” article. She has a knack for finding news and keeping us all posted, plus she helps paginate a good part of the pages of the Express, too! She also has a blog on our website (and it appears in the printed edition sometimes) “Robbie’s Rambles”. She has three kiddos, Brandon, Erin and Colton.

Jessica Machado joined us August of 2007. Jessica is our über internet geek (and we mean that with the utmost respect). She posts to our website, manages our contests, updates our Facebook and tweets on Twitter. She also blogs online with her “Just sayin’” musings. Jessica brings an artistic touch to her creative ads each week, too. She and her husband Joseph have a daughter, Razalyn, who just turned five and two sons, Gavin, who is 12 years old and their youngest, Augie is 3.

We welcomed Chris Filoteo back in February when he took over as Sports Editor. He’s almost made it through a whole year and has done a phenomenal job covering the area athletes both in print and online. His podcasts during the football season were one of the highlights of the week. He put in extra time to interview the coaches and players. Then he and Jessica Machado would spend a day filming and editing. Chris and his wife Vicki are parents to Tahlia, their two year old daughter.

Jessica Brill joined the Express in September. She is one of our ad salespersons and is making her way in the land of sales. She is married to Paul Brill and they have six children, Alexis, Paul Jr, Megan, Brandon, Rey Louis and Joeanthony.

Barbara Cooper, who heads up our classified department, joined us in September. She is also the one who keeps our subscriptions in order and the post office happy with the mail-out subscriptions. She has a son, Cody and a daughter, Jamie.

Adolphus Sanchez joined us in 2013 to help with sports photography and quickly started helping processing/ organizing photos on the computer. He also has helped build some ads.

Adrian Delgado joined us this year, too, as a news writer He has been covering the law enforcement beat and Pleasanton City Council. He is married to Lindy.

Megan Benishek just joined our sales force. She has hit the ground running and has already made lots of calls and sales. She’ll be handling some special projects as well. She has a two-yearold son named Connor.

Our freelance photographers are the ones who snap photos to assist us with coverage of the county. Whether there are wrecks, events or sports, we usually have someone there! J Garcia is one of our freelance photographers. He always does a great job and catches most of the wreck and fire photos. He learned his talents from his father Jack who still takes photos for us as well. Joe David Cordova has had the Jourdanton schools covered for years and helps with church and other events, too. George Garza has started taking photos for us, too. They all do excellent jobs!

Diana Guthrie, our special correspondent, covers the various school board meetings in Jourdanton, Pleasanton and Poteet and city council meetings in Jourdanton and Poteet. Her clever column “Literally” appears in the paper and her blog “Diana’s Top Shelf” is on our website as well.

We are most appreciative of the many words written and pictures that we receive from these fine contributors: Thelma Cardwell Cale, Dolores Reyes-Pergioudakis, Sandy Housh, Jeff Chicoine and Mike Lambaria.

In addition to these fine co-workers and contributors, we have part-time help who take care of our distribution each week. They are Mary Calvillo, Rosie Diaz, Manuel Salazar, Patricia Storey, Richard Lambaria, Gabriel Elizondo, Cindy Trevino, Pauline Berg, Tommie Carrasco, Pearl Luna, Ava Luna and Angela Martinez. We don’t know what we’d do without them all.

The way I see it, my appreciation goes to everyone who helps us accomplish this each week – our advertisers, readers and co-workers. As I begin my 25th year here, I hope you all will have a most healthy, safe and wonderful 2014. SUE BROWN is the editor of the Pleasanton Express. Contact her at sbrown@pleasantonexpress.com or write at P.O. Drawer 880, Pleasanton, Tx 78064.

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *