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Vetter Open House
ABOVE: Vetter Equipment, celebrating its 50th year in business, held its customer appreciation days at the Clarinda store from March 3-7.
Customers were offered discounts on parts and service, with special financing available on purchases over $1,000.
According to store manager Matt Fritz, around 120 customers were served at the customer appreciation meal.
“Considering the weather conditions, it went really well,” Fritz said. “We want to say a special thank you to the Page County Cattlemen for cooking the meal.”
RIGHT: Deputy Haffner of the Page County Sheriff’s Office won the Case IH 4200 watt generator door prize during the Customer Appreciation Days Open House at Vetter Equipment in Clarinda.
By PHIL COBB
phil@pagecountypost.com
When I started off this column last week, my goal was to further inform our readers about
who I am, where I come from, and why I do what I do.
I feel like I only partially accomplished that goal before veering off
in a different direction. I’ll try to wrap it up this week.
When I left off last week, my dad, whose 85th birthday would
CRHC ED receives Four-Star PRC Excellence recognition
Clarinda Regional Health Center (CRHC) is proud to announce that its Emergency Department has been honored with the prestigious Four-Star PRC Excellence Award for 2025. This recognition, awarded by Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC), reflects CRHC’s unwavering commitment to providing outstanding emergency care and exceptional patient experiences.
The PRC Excellence in Healthcare Awards are based on patient feedback and recognize organizations that achieve excellence in patient satisfaction and quality of care. CRHC’s Emergency Department earned this distinction for scoring in the top 25% nationally in key patient experience metrics, placing it among the leading emergency care providers in the region.
“We are incredibly honored to receive this award, as it reaffirms our dedication to delivering high-quality emergency care to the communities we serve,” said Jennifer Chamber, Director of Emergency Services. “This recognition is a testament to the hard work and commitment of our entire Emergency Department team, who go above and beyond to ensure that each patient receives compassionate, timely, and effective care.”
CRHC’s Emergency Department remains dedicated to continuous improvement, implementing best practices and innovative solutions to enhance patient care and experience. This award highlights the department’s success in fostering a patient-centered environment while maintaining the highest standards of medical excellence.
We
have been today (March 7), had just been named the news editor of The Tri-County News, a weekly newspaper in King City, Mo., by then owner Hermann Gross.
My mom, who had gained a great deal of general newspaper skills at the Richmond News, became a typesetter, and took on a number of other tasks, as you do when you work for any small business.
Little did my parents know, that shortly after they arrived in King City, the Grosses, Hermann and his wife Natalie would announce their desire to sell the business to them.
That was the abrupt beginning to more than 23 years of newspaper ownership.
Dad, who (in 1963 I believe) earned an English degree from North-
west Missouri State College in Maryville, wrote all the stories, took a lot of the pictures, and sold most of the advertising.
Mom set type, pasted up pages, did the books, took photos, maintained the subscription list, prepared the papers for the post office, swept the floors, scooped the snow and anything else that had to be done.
I remember being 7 years old at the time and in between my first- and second-grade years.
Knowing what I know now and looking back at what my parents accomplished, I can’t even imagine.
At the time, it seemed like a normal, happy childhood just like everyone else, and I guess that’s the most remarkable thing my parents did — giving me what now seems like a story-
book childhood in the midst of what had to be a struggle every day. It had to be extremely difficult and exhausting to do what they did.
Just the process that had to take place to get my dad into his artificial leg and out the door in the morning, had to be overwhelming to my mom.
Then, off to work an 8-hour day, come home, fix a meal, maintain the home, take care of me, etc.
Most nights, when the weather was nice, my dad would pitch baseballs to me in the back yard or throw the football around in the front yard, or shoot baskets with me in the side yard. Yes, my dad could do all that, even with just one leg, either by hold-
See PHIL, Page 4
ing himself up with one crutch to free the other arm to throw, or by sitting in his wheelchair.
Many nights, following whatever sport we chose that day (Dad was always big on playing whatever sport was in season at the time), he would be off to cover a ball game, or a city council, or school board meeting for the paper.
Then they were both up to do it all again the next day.
On weekends we would go to the neighboring town, Stanberry, to play golf.
In the summers we would vacation to Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Washington … always out west where my dad loved the cowboy history and culture, the wildlife, and the mountains.
Where did my parents get the drive and determination — just the energy to keep going?
It wasn’t the money, I can promise you that.
We weren’t poor. At least I didn’t think so at the time. My parents said no to a lot of the things I asked for, but I never thought it was because we couldn’t afford it, I just figured if they said no, that meant they didn’t think I needed it.
What was funny, however, was that if I needed new basketball shoes or a new golf glove, or anything to do with sports, the answer was usually, “Yes.”
I wish I would have had the appreciation then that I have now, and I would give any-
thing to be able to tell my dad how much I appreciate the childhood that he and my mom provided for me.
There I go, getting off track again.
Dad was the editor of the paper for about 21 years before passing away in 1997 at the age of 57. Not bad for a kid who wasn’t supposed to make it through his first year.
My mom decided to sell the paper in early 2000, and I moved to Maryville with my wife Chaundee and my two oldest daughters, Makenzie and Kelsey, who were in first grade and Kindergarten at the time.
Trinity, our youngest, was born the following year.
I started off as an advertising representative for the Maryville Daily Forum and the Penny Press, taking on Clarinda as part of my sales territory.
I did that for about eight years before taking over as advertising manager, and shortly after that, general manager in 2010.
Having worked for my parents for about six years and seeing how they ran their operation, and what it took to make it successful, it was very difficult for me to swallow the “corporate” way of doing things.
That’s a short way of telling you that I did not see eye-to-eye with the corporate leadership at our parent company, Gatehouse Media.
I just didn’t understand how they could put less and less into the product, the facility, the staff, and the com-
munity, and continue to expect more and more in return.
Unfortunately, today, you can see the results of those methods all across the country. In my opinion newspapers did way more damage to themselves than the internet ever did.
I couldn’t stand it, and that’s why I left in March of 2012 — walked out the door, went down the street, and started my own publication, The Post, in April of that same year.
Three key employees, including my mom, joined me in that endeavor, and in just under 20 months, all four of us were walking back into the same building we left, but this time under the ownership of Phil and Chaundee Cobb, and as employees of Cobb Publishing, LLC.
With invaluable guidance from one of my biggest influences and mentors, longtime family friend and retired newspaper man Jim Fall, we reinvented the Daily Forum and turned it into the newspaper we always knew it could be.
It was an unlikely circumstance to say the least, but we made it work, publishing the five-day daily newspaper alongside the weekly shopper.
The stars had to be aligned just right for everything that fell into place to do so, and I don’t know how that particular set of circumstances could ever come together again. But if they did, I would have to at least consider it.
I sold the paper to Ken Garner in 2021, and I’ve been working for him the past couple of years as an advertising representative, but it’s just not the same when you don’t have your hands on the steering wheel.
I was missing that, and that’s what led me to what I’m doing today. Well, I guess there’s more to this story than I realized, but this seems like a good place to stop this week.
Before I close, I want to put out a plea to our readers: I don’t want this to just be me rambling about my life, I would love to hear from you, as well.
Please, send me letters to the editor, photos (I think we should have a reader-submitted photo of the week), feature
stories, even your own column.
Is there someone out there in Page County who would like to provide our readers with a feature story from time to time? I need someone who knows more about the area than I do, which qualifies pretty much everyone around here.
You might even be able to make a little extra money.
This paper can be whatever we want it to be — whatever you want it to be.
I received a phone call from someone this week who gave me what I thought was a great idea, but I was driving at the time and wasn’t able to get her name.
I asked her to email me her idea, but I haven’t received it yet. My con-
cern is that she thought I was dismissing her idea by asking her to send it in an email.
That was not the case, I was simply trying to process the idea and determine the best way to put it to use.
If this was you, please call back, or email, or whatever you are most comfortable with.
The following, I think, is the gist of the idea. I’ll start.
Lessons Learned
Last week, I learned that I should not try to write this column at the same time that I try to lay out this paper. I found myself right up against my deadline, and had to rush it at the end.
Hers was better and
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more useful than that. I’m sure yours would be, too.
There’s a segment on Kansas City sports talk radio called Learned, Funniest, Best. Maybe this could be just like that.
best thing that happened in your life this week.
Maybe you discovered the best way to deal with all these scam phone calls we get.
Let’s keep it positive, though. please.
You can email your Lessons Learned to phil@pagecountypost. com.
estly, even if I was able to write it down, I might not be able to read my own writing later on.
To wrap this up for the week, let’s hear it for our new advertisers.
Send me what you learned this week, the funniest thing you witnessed this week, or the
Please don’t call it in, I might be driving at the time and not be able to write it down, and hon-
Monday, March 10 through Sunday, March 16th
Clarinda: 1200 S. 16th Street • Shenandoah: 500 S. Fremont Street Red Oak: 1605 N. Broadway Street