The Way I See It

Twenty-twelve... on its way


 

 

However you wish to call this new year, it makes no difference because in a few days it will be here!

As we usher in 2012, all of us at the Pleasanton Express wish to thank our readers, advertisers, subscribers and contributors for helping us bring you solid community news and to encourage you to shop the pages of our newspaper.

We try each week to do our best and thanks to a very dedicated staff, each Wednesday our newspaper hits the stands and local post offices to be distributed to our loyal readers.

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!

I am blessed to work with a crew of talented and fun folks each week. They are:

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.

Cathy Meadows joined us in 1989 and became our Business Manager a few years later. She is another valuable asset to our paper. She not only does the bookkeeping, she is in charge of billing and collecting.

Hope Garza is the first person you see in our front office. She does a multitude of tasks at the paper. She is our 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 21st year here.

Gerald Black, our News Editor, has been here since 1993. Gerald covers Commissioners’ Court and the majority of the news around the court house. He also works very closely with all the law enforcement agencies and does a great job in reporting that action. He also does a great job taking photos, both action and feature photographs.

Lisa Luna is our prize-winning Living Editor. Her layouts have been a consistent winner in the Better Newspaper Contest the past few years. In addition to her duties as Living Editor, Lisa covers the Pleasanton City Council meetings and writes many other stories and features with finesse. 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 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-countersales 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 sum mer of 2003. He is just one of our talented ad designers and our lone San Francisco 49ers fan. He also helps us deliver papers to the Tilden area.

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. She and her husband Jody have three kiddos, Brandon, Erin and Colton.

Jessica Machado joined us August of 2007. She brings an artistic touch to her creative ads each week. She and her husband Joseph have a daughter, Razalyn, who just turned three and two sons, Gavin, who is 10 years old and their newest addition, Augie, who is one.

Eric Smith joined our staff as Sports Editor in 2010 after working in that capacity at the Devine News for 10 years. He has fit right in and his writing has been well received from our readers. He and his wife Briana live in Natalia, where Eric is a member of the Natalia I.S.D. board. They are expecting their first child in June.

Coming on board this summer is our Associate Publisher Noel Wilkerson Holmes. She is the talented daughter of our publishers Judy and Bill Wilkerson. Noel was instrumental in the process of our redesign and the driving force of our new website. She and Jessica are proving to be a dynamic duo who are keeping up with the latest trends on newspaper/ web presence. Noel and her husband Noel (yeah, that’s not a misprint) are the parents of twin 15-year-old sons. Though they live in Austin, she spends part of the week here.

Leon Zabava has been associated with the Pleasanton Express for 50-plus years. His business, Zabava Printing is located in our building. Leon, who is 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, still writes his sports column and contributes stories as well as delivers his regular route each Wednesday morning.

J Garcia is one of our free lance 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.

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, Joe Taylor, Jeff Chicoine and Mike Lambaria.

In addition to these fine coworkers and contributors, we have part-time help who take care of our distribution each week. They are Mary Calvillo, Rosie Diaz, Joe David Cordova, Manuel Salazar, Patricia Storey, Richard Lambaria, Gabriel Elizondo, Sylvia Solis, Joe Raymond Solis, Cindy Trevino, Joseph Davila, Pauline Berg, Tommie Carrasco, Petra Salinas and Linda Huerta.

We don’t know what we’d do without them all. The way I see it, we are very lucky to have so many dedicated people. We burn the midnight oil most weeks to have the best possible newspaper we can. And thanks to our whole talented crew, we get it done week after week.

I count myself lucky, too, as I will begin my 23rd year here in a few months.

We appreciate your continued support and hope you all will have a most healthy and wonderful 2012.

That’s the way I see it, let me know your view – email me at sbrown@pleasantonexpress.com, or write at P.O. Drawer 880, Pleasanton, Tx 78064.

SUE BROWN is the Editor of the Pleasanton Express. Contact her at 830-281-2341 or sbrown@pleasantonexpress.com

 

 

 

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