September 2011 4
The Washington Newspaper
PASSINGS
Journalist-legislator Former Record publisher dies also led Zimmerman passes Ludtka volunteer efforts
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Camas-Washougal Post-Record
arold (Hal) Zimmerman, former owner/publisher of the CamasWashougal Post-Record, state legislator and community organizer, died Aug. 4 from liver and kidney failure after a 10-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 88. Zimmerman, who in his 53 years as a Camas resident displayed almost unlimited energy in his multiple roles of newspaper publisher, legislator and community activist was named Camas’ “Citizen of the Century” by the Camas-Washougal Chamber of Commerce in 2006. He was a past president of WNPA (1961-62) and an honorary lifetime member of the association. A native of Valley City, N.D., Zimmerman graduated from high school in 1941, where he was valedictorian. The year before his father died in a traffic accident, so after graduation he and his mother moved to Washington and he enrolled at the University of Washington. His college career, however, was quickly interrupted by World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Zimmerman was inducted into the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving on ground duty in Texas and California. After the war, he returned to college and in 1946 met Julianne (Judy) Williams in a news writing class. They were married after graduation in 1947, and the following year the couple’s first child, Karen, was born. Early in his career Hal had worked at various newspapers, editing the North Seattle News, and editing and writing for the Sedro Woolley Courier Times.
He was also an editor and sold ads for the Skagit County Dairymen magazine. But Hal and Judy by this time wanted to buy their own newspaper and learned that the Cowlitz County Advocate, in Castle Rock, was for sale. In 1950, they purchased the weekly paper and operated it until 1957. In that year, after selling the Advocate, the couple moved to Camas with children Karen, Judi Jean and Steve and acquired the Camas-Washougal Post-Record. Journalism remained an attractive occupation for Zimmerman in the late 1950’s and 1960’s, but his energetic nature drew him to politics by this time as well. While residing in Castle Rock, he had been a Cowlitz County Republican chairman and on arriving in Camas he soon became a precinct committee man. Then in 1966 he decided he wanted to represent the 17th District in the state legislature. He ran against and defeated Camas Mayor Bill Sampson for the seat, which began a 22-year career as a state representative and senator. In 1980, Zimmerman shifted from the state house and won a state senate seat which he held for eight years. He eventually retired from politics in 1988 having served the 17th District for 22 years, never defeated in a race for office. Also in 1980, Zimmerman sold the Post-Record to Eagle Newspapers, but continued writing as a columnist for many years. Zimmerman is survived by two adult children, Karen and Steve, and six grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Judy, and their daughter, Judi-Jean.
Cancer claims Lakewood aviation leader, publisher Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
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eneral aviation lost an aviation media pioneer July 26 with the death of Dave Sclair, former publisher of General Aviation News. Sclair and his wife, Mary Lou, were industry icons at aviation events nationwide since the couple purchased what was then called Northwest Flyer in 1970. The Sclair family grew the publication and changed its name to Western Flyer and then later, with the acquisition of other smaller tabloids and additional growth, renamed it General Aviation News. For the past decade, their son Ben has served as publisher, although the senior Sclairs
FOURNIER Media Services, Inc.
Brokerage — Consulting Appraisals JOHN L. FOURNIER, JR. P.O. Box 750 Prosser, WA 99350 Voice 206/409-9216 Fax 509/786-1779
remained fixtures in the industry, always busy at aviation shows handing out the famous pink classified pages of the esteemed publication. The Flyer Media Inc. parent company owned by the Sclairs and based in Lakewood, Wash., also produces the Living with Your Plane national directory of fly-in communities. Sclair was diagnosed with a form of brain cancer earlier this year. Numerous treatment attempts failed and, at his wishes to make things easier on this family, he was moved to hospice care earlier in July. Ben notified industry friends of his father’s death early July 27. “If you can say such an event is peaceful, this was. Mom and I were sitting with Dad, talking through old memories and reading stories from Dad’s workin-progress book, ‘A somewhat lighthearted look at the life and times of Mary Lou & Dave’. I can’t begin to thank everyone for the outpouring of prayers, kind words and support, both physical and emotional.”
in Ellensburg
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Leavenworth Echo
ohn E. Ludtka, former editor and publisher of the Ellensburg Daily Record, died July 17 at his home in Leavenworth. Born Jan. 4, 1930, in Huron, S.D. Ludtka was the son of Bessie E. (McClintock) and John Albert Ludtka. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from South Dakota State University in Brookings, where he put himself through college leading and performing with his 10-piece dance band known as the Collegians. On June 20, 1954, he married Janice Lee Todd in Mobridge, S.D. Ludtka was inducted into the U.S. Armored Infantry later that year serving in Mainz, West Germany, during the Korean Conflict. He was discharged as a captain in 1956 and from Reserve Duty in 1965.
Returning to the U.S. in 1956, he became sports information director and a professor of journalism at Eastern New Mexico University at Portales, N.M. and served as assistant director of public relations. In 1963 he moved his family to Ellensburg, where he became a professor of journalism and director of public relations at Central Washington University. In 1968 he became editor and publisher of the Daily Record. Ludtka believed in bettering his community through volunteerism and was a member of many volunteer organizations. He was a member and past president of the Ellensburg Rotary Club, a member of the CWU Foundation and the Sports Writers of America Association. He and his wife, Jan, were honorary chairs of the National Western Art Show in 1991. He was an honorary member of the Ellensburg Rodeo Board, and inducted into the Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2006. Most recently the Ludtkas were honored with the Darwin
J. Goodey Award presenter by the John Clymer Museum of Art in Ellensburg. Ludtka published the Ellensburg Rodeo Program for 20 years and authored “The Tradition Lives,: The First 75 Years of the Ellensburg Rodeo.” He was also a founding board member of the Kittitas Valley Bank. After Ludtka retired as publisher in 1992, he and his wife moved to Leavenworth, Albuquerque, N.M., and later Las Cruces, N.M. They celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary this past June. He is survived by his wife, Jan; four children: Mark Ludtka (Paula) of Bellevue, Cathy Lockwood (Charlie) of Vancouver, Karol Miller of Brewster, and Lynn Ludtka of Bothell; and seven grandchildren. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to the John and Jan Ludtka Endowed Scholarship Fund, via the CWU Foundation, or the Clymer Museum of Art.
Wine writer Woehler dies at 79
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Tri-City Herald
ongtime Tri-City Herald reporter, wine writer and community advocate Bob Woehler died Aug. 24 of complications from blood clots. He was 79. Woehler had his first winerelated assignment covering the opening of Preston Premium Wines in Pasco in 1976, and became one of the state’s earliest wine writers with his column “Woehler on Wine,” which started in 1978. “As a wine writer, he was honest in what he perceived,” said Coke Roth, a Kennewick lawyer and former owner of Roth Distributing, a beer and wine distributor in the TriCities and Moses Lake. “He tasted a lot of crummy wines, especially in the early days, but he never said anything bad about them publicly. He was a real gentleman all the way around.” Woehler and Roth became friends in 1973 and traveled together to various emerging
NNA
wine regions in the Northwest and worked together to start the Tri-Cities Wine Festival. “I can’t tell you about the amount of wine we drank together, but it was oceans,” Roth said. Woehler started working for the Herald in 1967 and retired in 1994, but continued writing about wine. When he stopped writing “Woehler on Wine” last year, he said, “I never dreamed when I started writing about the Washington wine industry in 1978 that it would be a lifetime joy for me.” Woehler was tasting editor for Wine Press Northwest since its launch in 1998, and wrote two columns every issue for the magazine. One column, “Bargain Bob,” focused on low-priced wines and the other, “Vintage Musings,” looked at wineries that have been around the industry for many years. His last two columns will appear in the fall issue of Wine Press Northwest, which comes out next month.
Woehler started his journalism career in radio and was news director of a radio station in Omak before moving to newspapers. He held newspaper reporting jobs in Renton, Othello, Pendleton, Hermiston and Cottage Grove before joining the Herald. Retired Herald Executive Editor Ken Robertson said Woehler was the leader of the reporting staff when he joined in 1976 as the new city editor. “Over the next couple of decades until his retirement, he proved to be a prolific reporter with an incredible nose for news stories no matter what beat he worked on,” Robertson said. Woehler’s wine column also helped the Herald become “known for its coverage of wines and the wine industry, which Bob foresaw would be hugely important in the state of Washington,” Robertson said. At the time, there were fewer than a dozen wineries in the state and now there are more than 700.
ing number of report, search and sort functions that ease their workload. One update that helps admins early in the contest is the option to select start and end dates for when members may submit contest entries separately from the dates of the judging cycle. Previously one set of dates covered both submitting entries and judging. Admins also benefit from the “calculate entry fee” function offered to newspapers. A new entry-fee report provides the total fee per newspaper along with division, competition/category, entry title and fee for each entry.
Later, during the judging phase, admins can use the judging progress report for a quick update on how many competitions remain to be judged and by whom. SmallTownPapers will add more new features in releases coming up this fall and winter. The earliest users of the site, in addition to Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, were press associations in Oregon, Arizona, West Virginia and New York. SmallTownPapers is an affiliate member of WNPA based in Shelton.
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contests online through SmallTownPapers,” Dickson said. NNA’s commitment brings the site’s total users to 84 news organizations, including state press associations, AP bureaus, Society of Professional Journalists chapters, public radio directors and other media groups. Contest participants have benefited from the continual addition of new site features including this spring’s “calculate entry fee” function, which provides an accurate fee total for each newspaper. Behind the scenes, contest administrators have an increas-