By Kathy Feist
On October 27, 2015, I started the Martin City Telegraph out of my dining room table. Two years later I am happy to announce that the Telegraph has now moved to 13356 Holmes Rd., a location easily accessible to the public. We opened our doors on our two year anniversary. A wooden sign, handcrafted by Fezziwigs in Martin City, arrived later to cap the day.
The first issue of the Telegraph was inspired by a special election called by Governor Nixon to fill Kevin McManus’ former state legislative seat. McManus ran for John Sharp’s retired city council seat and won. Fed up with the lack of information on the four candidates running for his seat, I plunged into the role of small town newspaper publisher.
State Rep. DaRon McGee, one of those four candidates, likes to tell the story of when he told his campaign manager John Sharp that he bought a full-page ad in the Martin City Telegraph. Sharp chastised him for having been had. “There is no such thing as a Martin City paper,” he purportedly told him. ( A month later, Sharp became a regular columnist and has been with the paper since.)
Like Sharp, I’m certain a lot of people were skeptical of the paper. Even I had my doubts whether it could make it. But it has, thanks to the readers, the support from the advertisers, the passion of my underpaid staff and my patient family.
I’ve discovered it does take a village to make a newspaper. And now I’m glad we are operating in one!