July 2016
Est. November 2013
Jerome County Idaho
The Northside Journal - Why? The Northside Journal was started on November 13, 2013. Every community needs the will, the leadership and the capability to communicate with their citizens. For over 100 years Jerome City and Jerome County had this opportunity through the local paper, The Northside News. This weekly paper covered the local City and County news, the experiences of local community citizens, the business news, the events of the local church denominations and the local school news and events. Every Thursday the subscribers would receive their publication and usually would read it from cover to cover. The Twin Falls Times News purchased the Northside News and then closed it down in 2008. Jerome had been without a paper for over 8 years when the Northside Journal made their first publication 30 months ago. Many have asked the co-owners, Arlen B. Crouch and Joe E. Davidson why they started the Northside Journal. Listed below are a few of these questions. To Arlen: “You must know that in today’s news world that newspapers are going out of business and losing circulation so why would you go against the odds and start this business knowing the newspaper climate?”
Answer: First of all, this newspaper was not started for financial reasons. It was started because of the great need for Jerome to have a more positive attitude for everything. We had just lost a once in a life time opportunity to bring a huge business to Jerome and it seemed that everything that was spoken or written about Jerome was negative. I was born and raised in Jerome and it hurt to see what was going on in the community. I do not think it was any one person’s fault, it was just a matter of many experiences over a 10-year period. I learned may years ago that negative “stuff” spreads like wild fire and left alone positive “stuff” dies a quick death. We needed a way to eliminate all of the negativity and build on the history, the wonderful people and every day happenings in Jerome and that was the driver. It never was about money although we do have to cover our costs. To Joe: “Since neither you or Arlen had any experience in the newspaper business how did you know where to even start?” Answer: “The most important decision we made was that we were going to fund and start a paper. Once that decision was made there was no turning back. I knew that it would take a lot of work and I had never
been scared of hard times. I have had plenty of them. We asked a lot of questions and talked to a lot of people and during this process I was given a person’s name who was publishing a newspaper in Hagerman. I called Evelyn Simon and we visited with her several times. After several weeks we decided on a model that we thought would work. That model is: • A monthly publication • It would be mailed to every mailing address and mail box in the county • It would be supported by local advertisers • We would tell the stories of successful men and women and local businesses • We would tell the stories of events • We would remind Jerome citizens of the history of this great community • We would not be an editorial paper • It would be an outlet for Jerome City and Jerome County to keep everyone informed To Arlen: What is the most important part of making this monthly publication? Answer: “We thought that we could sell advertising if we could make the paper interesting and full of news and information. We went from a 12-page paper to
maximum 36-page paper. Most of our papers are now 32 pages. We have had to asked most of the content contributors to write their own stories since we do not have a paid staff. We keep our eyes open for every news worthy event and experience and then validate that the print part is worthy of the story. Since both Joe and I have many other responsibilities we have to search 24/7 for news that is worthy of publication. We would like different organizations to keep the Journal in mind every month for news worthy events. Without advertisers there would be not be a Northside Journal. After our first few monthly papers Joe has done the talking with our advertisers and there is no one better than Joe Davidson knocking on doors and convincing business owners the need to not only support the community but use the paper to attract business.” To Joe: What is your biggest challenge in making the monthly publication? Answer: “As Arlen has said we did not expect this to be a big money maker but we do expect this to be a positive cash flow operation. We cannot subsidize the paper. For the most part the local businesses have stepped up remarkably well. We have been pleasantly surprised at the reception we have had. However,
IN THIS ISSUE Value of Newspaper..A2 VFW Bronze Star......A2 KW Open House.......A3 WOW Logistics.........A3 High School Upd.......A4 Beet Dump................A5 Jaol Open House......A6 This Month................A7 Word Search.............A7 Happenings.......A8,B10 Did You Know..........A10 Wendell Rec...........A10 Randy King.............A11 Jerome Rec............A11 Senior Centers.......A12 Taekwondo.............A12 Safe Kids................A13 Team Spirit..............B1 Cheer Squad...........B2 Summertime............B2 Planetarium.............B2 FFA..........................B3 Babe Ruth Softball...B3 Steer Wrestling.........B3 Jerome HS Band......B4 Valley Band..............B5 FFA Dairy Team.......B5 Dietrich Rodeo.........B6 Jerome Fair...............B7 Max Suter..................B8 Climbing....................B9 Class Reunion..........B9 Fund Raiser.............B11 Lutheran Cent.........B11 Obituary..................B12 CSI Happenings.....B13 CSI Dean’s List...... B14 Checkout Library.....B15 Hole In One.............B16
each month we start all over with the exception of several terrific businesses and organizations that have agreed to advertise every month. These businesses have made the continuance of the paper possible. We have learned that locally owned businesses will advertise much better than
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