All the news, in one day

Last Tuesday was easily the most eventful day of my career.

It all started bright and early, when locals can faintly hear the trout whispering through the hills and hollers saying, “Catch me if you can.”

This Opening Day, my eighth, was my second flying solo, not tagging behind the exuberant Murray Bishoff on March 1st mornings. Those who go to Opening Day every year know what I mean.

It’s a little different these days without him yelling, “Any Monett or Cassville folks?”

My style is a little less vocal. I walk. I watch. I wait. I watch some more. BAM! Someone hooks one and I start snapping away. Capturing the excitement among anglers when the net a fish — especially young children — is almost as fun as pulling in the fish myself.

Sharing in that moment makes that early morning bell entirely worth it.

Satisfied with my photos, I had about three hours to file my story, so I started heading back.

In the news business, there is one extremely important interview question — if the town’s biggest landmark is burning down, can you be available 24-7-365 to cover it? Fortunately, that has a never occurred in my decade of journalism, but Tuesday sure came close.

As I came into cell phone range from the park, nearing Highway AA toward Cassville, it became clear I was to have more work than I anticipated.

The old Hall Theatre on the northwest corner of the courthouse square in Cassville was fully engulfed, pouring clouds upon cloud of black smoke north.

Only an hour after the call was made, Cassville crews had a ladder truck over the blaze spraying from above, a sign Fire District Administrator Chuck Miner said means the building was going to be a loss.

For hours, Cassville, Exeter and Butterfield crews, with the help of Barry Electric and Cassville police, fought the blaze. It took two more visits in the evening and after 10 p.m. to fully extinguish any hotspots.

Outside of the Holloway Farms building burning down in 2015, this was the largest structure fire I have covered. Fortunately, no one was injured Tuesday, and all agencies involved deserve extensive kudos for how the event was handled.

What happens next will be interesting. The building needs to come down, but should it be replaced? Many have suggested a parking lot in that area. A sound idea, though I’m not sure it will have as much an effect as proponents hope.

Another idea I saw was a little community area. Tables and chairs with some built-in

KYLE TROUTMAN

games, maybe some art. Of course, if anyone wanted to build and open a new business, that would be welcomed.

Speaking of new business, we come to the final event of March 1 — all of that work I was doing was for a brand new boss.

CherryRoad Media purchased the Cassville Democrat and The Monett Times as part of a nine-newspaper purchase from Rust Communications.

The sale happened so quickly, at least from our end, that we hadn’t even met our new department heads. By Friday, we had more of a grasp on the things that will be coming down the pike.

As with any change of hands, there will be some changes in operations. For you, the readers, you will likely in the next few months see our website change. Around the same time or further down the road, our print design may change, as well.

Beyond that, much of our efforts will remain the same. We will remain politically neutral and seek out the news that most affects you, most interests you and most entertains you.

As our new CEO Jeremy Gulban said, “We want to deliver the facts without injecting our own opinions into it.”

I cannot agree more with that philosophy.

Routinely, I troll through our Facebook insights and website statistics, and the findings play a role in how we craft our coverage. For example, our audience is 71.3 percent women, and people ages 35-44 read our content more than any other age group.

As we grow with CherryRoad, my hope is that we keep that level of interest among local moms, daughters, sisters and aunts, but also diversify our coverage to attract other audiences.

On Tuesday, I posted my first ever Facebook Live stream from the lawn of the courthouse. The response to the video — something we have not done a lot of in the past — was phenomenal. We hope to create more content that brings people together and provides a place for the community to celebrate, debate, grieve, congratulate and more.

My only ask is that on March 1, 2023, let’s stick to what southwest Missourians do best — hookin’ trout.

Kyle Troutman has served as the editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014.

In 2017, he was named William E. James/Missouri Outstanding Young Journalist for daily newspapers. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or editor@ cassville-democrat.com.

Letters To The Editor

The purpose of the Commentary page is to provide a forum of various opinions. We encourage letters to the editor, but ask that submissions be 250 words or less. The opinions of columnists are not necessarily shared by the Cassville Democrat or its staff.

If you have an opinion, send a letter to Kyle Troutman, Cassville Democrat, P.O. Box 486, Cassville, MO 65625, or by email to editor@cassville-democrat.com