6
Wednesday, November 29, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Commengary...
A newspaper’s enduring legacy
By Erik Dolson
Guest Columnist
I felt sadness and pride
when Kiki Dolson told
me she’d sold The Nugget
Newspaper.
Sadness because my fam-
ily owned The Nugget for
nearly 40 years. In 1978
my father, Hull Dolson, and
his wife, Evelyn Borning
Dolson, became publish-
ers, buying the paper six
months after it was started
by Leonard Sundvall, who
published The Nugget off
his kitchen table. Evelyn had
married my father not that
long before and thought she
was moving to the beauty of
Central Oregon for a much-
deserved retirement. Instead,
Evelyn would soon be typing
out my father’s scrawls on
an IBM Selectric typewriter.
Pride because after all
these years, The Nugget
Newspaper is still a vital and
important member of the
community.
The recession of 1980
that no one remembers was
hard. Contractors and real-
tors had been driven into the
ground by interest rates that
surged to nearly 20 percent.
Upon my father’s death in
1982, Kiki and I came over
from Portland restaurants to
run the newspaper — which
was usually two sheets of
paper folded, 8 pages.
We didn’t have a clue.
A family friend suggested I
call the editor of the Medford
Mail Tribune.
“Don’t forget your place.
You’re not the New York
Times,” he said. “Focus on
your community.”
So we focused on what is
called “refrigerator journal-
ism,” stories that would be
taped to refrigerators in and
around Sisters, Oregon.
There was doubt we’d
make it. The publisher of
the Bend Bulletin at the
time wrote that we would
not. We shared a one-room,
14x14 office with a single
phone line. Our first major
purchase was a calculator.
It wasn’t long — months if
not weeks — before we real-
ized we’d have to have two
phones and separate areas of
responsibility. I took on what
we called editorial and Kiki
was responsible for produc-
tion & advertising and pay-
ing the bills.
I’d write stories and
she’d sell ads and every-
thing would be typeset by a
graphics company in Bend
on Monday, long sheets of
silvered photo paper to be
brought back and cut into
columns and ads, waxed and
pasted onto sheets late on
Monday night. While Kiki
put the pieces together, I’d
be in the darkroom devel-
oping film and printing
pictures. Then there was
the exhausted scramble to
finish Tuesday morning so
it could be printed by The
Bulletin that afternoon and
distributed on the street
and through the post office
first thing on Wednesday
morning.
The recession ended, we
bought a typesetter, opened
a printshop, kept making our
deadlines. When computers
began changing the world in
the 1980s, newspapers were
among the first impacted. I
hacked a Kaypro 64 into an
additional typesetting ter-
minal. Then we bought a
couple of Macintoshes and
a printer, sold the printshop
and moved the office into
the building it still occupies
today. Local writers had sur-
prising talent, and we needed
them.
The Nugget was the first
newspaper in Oregon on the
Internet. In the early 1990s I
was invited to give a speech
to the Oregon Newspaper
Publishers Association
(ONPA), where I said the
laws of economics would
eventually not tolerate
grinding up trees, spitting
ink at the dried pulp and
burning barrels of gasoline
to distribute information
that was essentially weight-
less and free. I still thought
quality information had
value.
We also believed that The
Nugget was of greatest ser-
vice to our community and
advertisers if every person
had access to a copy, so we
refused to charge for the
newspaper and remained
advertiser-supported, even
though that meant our paper
was looked down upon
by “real newspapers” and
not allowed full member-
ship in the ONPA though
we were a member of the
NNA (National Newspaper
Association).
Many of those “real
newspapers” are no longer
in business and many of the
rest no longer charge. But
our survival wasn’t brilliant
foresight. It was mostly due
to Kiki’s hard work and an
amazing group of employ-
ees. Our small business pro-
vided a living for multiple
families through the years
and I am proud … no, I am
honored … to have been part
of that. Jim, Leith, Teresa,
Jess, Erin … worked for us
for decades, through mar-
riages, births, divorces, and
college for those children
born. I left the newspaper
Offering
Aveda ™ Skin
& Body Care!
hair | massage | nails
facials | makeup
after Kiki and I divorced 10
years ago.
I am disheartened by what
has happened to newspapers
in the last 20 years. Freedom
of speech is critically impor-
tant, but only as long as
speakers are willing to own
their opinions and willing to
speak them over their own
name. All arguments are not
equal — and there is such a
thing as truth. Determining
what is truth requires a civil
discussion.
I do not believe Facebook
and Twitter, now the pri-
mary sources of news for
many, serve society well.
Aside from, or because of, a
business plan dependent on
addictive behavior, they do
not bring people together in
a central forum where differ-
ent voices can honestly dis-
agree with open minds about
difficult issues.
They allow cowardice
and spite to flourish under
the cover of anonymity.
They require neither the
accountability nor courage
essential in a force for good.
They give what their algo-
rithms have determined each
person wants to see, and in
exchange they sell knowl-
edge of personal lives to cor-
porations and governments.
The Nugget Newspaper,
run by neighbors you know
and can talk to, requires this
accountability, and demon-
strates that courage. A local
paper that is part of the com-
munity still must write and
publish facts and opinions
that will not, that should not,
please everyone. For this
reason, Kiki was extremely
selective when it was time to
sell The Nugget.
The new family owner-
ship has far more experi-
ence than we did 35 years
ago, and brings faith in the
future of newspapers and a
commitment to the ideals of
journalism. They recognize
the value of the strong and
able crew already in place
that has served, and will
continue to serve, the Sisters
community. They understand
The Nugget’s role.
I join others in thanking
everyone for the years of
support and the opportuni-
ties to learn from and appre-
ciate so many.
Sarah Conroy, Chiropractor
Est. 2002
Sisters Owned
Prevent
•
Heal
•
Feel Better
Feeling down and
tired this fall?
Shorter days and too much raking,
hauling, chopping…come in for our
combo therapy and feel better again.
Call 541-588-2213
392 E. Main Ave. | www.sisterschiropractor.com
Shena Fields LMT#7439 | Harmony Tracy LMT# 21211
PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE
541-549-1784
161-C N. Elm St.
Transportation System
Plan Refi nement
Community Open House
Annual
Tues., Dec. 5 • Drop in: 5 to 7 p.m.
City Hall, 520 E. Cascade Ave.
Sun., Dec., 10 • 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The City has been working to develop near
and long-term options to improve the
transportation system on the east side of town.
Breakfast with Santa!
Conference Center • 1021 Desperado Trail, Sisters
100% proceeds
go to Family
Access Network
Breakfast Buffet
Picture Time
with Santa
Story Time
$17 Adults
$12 Children
3-12 Years Old
Free Ages 2
and Under
— Lodging Special —
Sunday Night, December 10
Only $99+tax with
ticket purchase
Reservations Required
Come tell us what you think of these ideas!
• Drop in any time between 5 and 7 p.m. (formal
presentation at 5:15 p.m.)
• Review and provide feedback on refi nements to
the following elements of the transportation system
plan:
o Eastside Circulation, including potential
improvements at US 20/OR 126, Buckaroo Trail,
and the US 20 corridor east of Locust Street
o US 20/Locust Intersection, near and long-term
improvement options
o Barclay Drive/Locust Street Intersection
o Barclay Drive Realignment
o Pedestrian and Bicycle System Plan
541-549-5900
• Talk directly with City staff and consultant
fi vepinelodge.com
For more information call 541-549-6022.