“I couldn’t stand being at home,” she said. “I’d be bored to death.”
is mailed from the Brinkley post office and delivered to boxes and convenience stores around Monroe County.
Early on, Glenda worked as a linotype operator. She also called around town for “locals,” news of folks “who had been anywhere or had anyone come visit them over the week.”
In between is the work of gathering and displaying the news. The latter is the job of Emily Johnson. Lots of people do the former, including Hayden. He covers the Brinkley City Council regularly, and would like to expand regular coverage to county government, Clarendon city government and other municipalities in the county.
“She’ll work until she’s 98,” Beth added. Can the newspaper function without Glenda? “We’d try our darnedest,” Hayden said, “but we’d likely fail.” Arnett gets the work week started on Monday morning when she transfers the shopper’s electronic files to the Forrest City Times-Herald, which prints both the shopper and the Monroe County Herald. Those jobs previously were done at Stuttgart, Hayden said, but that town’s newspaper, the Stuttgart Daily Leader, is now printed at the Pine Bluff Commercial. Arnett drives to Forrest City, about 25 miles away, and brings back the printed shopper. Back in Brinkley, two inserts are added by hand. Two high school students and two retirees typically help insert, as does Hayden’s grandmother, Garnette Traylor. “I’ve tried to give her something else to do, and tried to make her go home early,” he said. “But Garnette does what Garnette wants to do.” Copies of the shopper are prepared for mailing on Tuesday from post offices in Brinkley, Clarendon, Holly Grove and Biscoe. Wednesday is print day for the Herald. The newspaper
The Herald solicits news from its readers and, Hayden said, letters to the editor. The newspaper doesn’t have an editorial page. “People are encouraged to send in anything they might like to see in the paper,” Beth said. Obituaries are free. A small charge was tried, she said, “but people had an absolute fit. We’re a very small area, and obituaries are still news. Once the newspaper is mailed, everybody goes home. What happens on Fridays, she said, is “absolutely nothing.” Back at the cafe, the farm crowd is eating. Farmers are notoriously pessimistic. As the saying goes, they lose money in a wet year and go broke in a dry year. Or maybe it’s the other way around. So how is the local farm economy? Beth spots a couple of, as she said, big farmers. “I’ll ask them.” A few minutes later she’s back. “They said farming is tricky.”
Glenda Arnett (left) has worked at the newspaper in Brinkley since 1967. Her sister first had the job, but hated it. Glenda tried it and carries on now in her 51st year of service. One of Brinkley’s attraction is the Central Delta Depot Museum, just a few blocks down the street from the Monroe County Herald.
12 | 1st Quarter - 2018 | The Arkansas Publisher