|
The Sylva Herald: 80 years (and counting) of writing history
You may have noticed we’re kind of full of ourselves this week. There’s the front-page story, the color ad on the back of this section and a step-by-step account of how we put a newspaper out each week on page 1C.
It’s our 80th anniversary, and we’re proud to be the only newspaper that can stake a claim to writing the first draft of Jackson County’s history. The Sylva Herald is the only publication in existence that consistently brings readers not only the big, breaking news, but also the details so important in the lives of the families we serve: birth announcements, wedding news and obituary notices.
Eight decades is a long time for any small business – especially for an independent, family-owned newspaper – to survive. As evidence, we point to the Webster Herald, Jackson County’s first paper, which lasted around 20 years; the Tuckaseigee Democrat, newspaper number two, managed just eight years; and Dan Tompkins’ successful early 20th-century paper, the Jackson County Journal, which delivered local news for about 40 years before becoming a casualty of World War II.
The Ruralite, on the other hand, which was begun in 1926 by the grandfather of our present sports editor, became The Sylva Herald in 1943 and is still going strong today. Publisher Jim Gray, on the job for some 50-odd years, took over the post from his mother, the late Eliza Gray, who inherited the title from her husband, J.A. Gray, who died in 1963. A third generation, in the person of Herald President Steve Gray, now oversees the paper’s daily operations.
A newspaper like ours becomes a part of the fabric of people’s everyday lives. It’s a primary source both for future historians and for parents’ scrapbooks. It chronicles county government and the local high school sports teams. It provides a measure of the pulse of the county through its letters and opinion pages and at the same time demonstrates which students excel in their classes by listing honor rolls and scholarship winners on its school pages. Our pages not only let readers know that an important decision is anticipated at a commissioners’ or school board meeting, they also list every singing, revival, benefit and special church service that’s planned for a given week.
During the past 80 years, this newspaper has also covered national news – from the Great Depression and World War II to the assassination of President Kennedy and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 – but only in light of how those events affect people here, and that’s the way we plan to keep it.
We’re The Sylva Herald and Ruralite – an award-winning community newspaper covering Jackson County since 1926 – and we’re proud of it.
|
