It takes a village

In our little newspaper office on Burlington Avenue in downtown Spur, it takes a village to publish three weekly newspapers serving eight counties and ten school systems.

The three newspapers we publish, out of a ninety-year-old building that originally housed The Texas Spur and its former printing plant, now also include The Caprock Courier and the Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon. These three weeklies serve Dickens, Kent, Cottle, King, Motley, Briscoe, Hall and Floyd counties.

We’d like to thank the people who week in, week out provide their talent, labors and judgment in helping to produce the miracle you hold in your hands.

In our home office in Spur, Michelle Bilbrey has headed up our circulation operations for three years, and week in, week out, facilitates the expertise to make sure that newspapers are efficiently delivered to eleven regional post offices and thousands of subscribers outside our counties as well, using sophisticated software to accommodate U.S. postal regulations.

Also in our home office in Spur, Briana Sturgis has been with us a couple of years and, in addition to collaborating with Michelle on circulation initiatives, works with us on business-side operations such as bookkeeping and administrative tasks, and also serves as a freelance writer, covering meetings from time to time and writing columns on topics such as cryptocurrency and the tiny house movement.

John Brewer, who’s been with us for about 18 months and handles the majority of the deliveries of all three newspapers in seven of our eight counties. He works with post offices, retailers and our printer in Shamrock, Texas, to make sure that every week everything arrives on time, 52 weeks a year.

Pam Brewer assists Michelle and Briana in circulation operations and assists the editor with other content tasks.

In Floyd County, Barbara Anderson has been a part of the Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon for more than 25 years—one-fifth of the newspaper’s 125-year history—and she is our community liaison in that county. From determining which stories should run in the paper each week, to selling advertising in special sections, to troubleshooting circulation and operations issues, Anderson has been invaluable in this transitional year for the new owners of the Hesperian-Beacon, and we would like to publicly thank her.

These five folks (along with other contributors we’ll recognize next week) have been lifesavers in their support of your newspaper and its operations, and in these season of giving, we’d like to recognize what they have given us—and their communities—without fail, throughout the year.