By: Dave Shabaz, Publisher
 

Well, it’s been four months since I had the honor of becoming the Editor & Publisher of both The Carlsbad Current-Argus and The Artesia Daily Press.  I’ve learned so much about both communities, especially about the “rivalry” between the two cities, which I’ve worked very hard to respect.  Being a die-hard Chicago sports fan, no one understands rivalries like I do. Being a Cubs and Bears fan, I don’t even know if I could date a woman who was a Cardinals or Packers fan.  Of course, I say that in jest, but you get my point. Rivalries are real and they are serious to many people.

Both towns have the most amazing people I’ve met in my 35+ years in the newspaper industry. Last week, I had the privilege to speak at events in both cities.  First, I spoke at the Carlsbad Rotary Club. I have been a Rotarian for over 20 years, so it was a pleasure for me to not only speak there, but to become a member of the club.  I want to also make a visit to the Artesia Rotary Club very soon.  I also spoke at the 3rd Annual All Civic Luncheon, put on by the Altrusa International Club of Artesia. Both events were well attended, and I loved getting to meet many of our current, former and future subscribers.

I took questions at both events and there was one common question that I had in both cities, “can we still submit stories and photos to the paper?” I want to let everyone know that we not only accept photos and stories that are sent to us, but we encourage it.

Our main goal at both newspapers is to bring back “local journalism” to Carlsbad and Artesia. With the small staff that we currently have at both newspapers, community involvement is vital. Please let us know when you have an upcoming event and if you’ve already had an event, please send us photos and information about it, so we can share it with the community. Engagements, weddings, reunions, you name it. We would love to publish it in our papers.

Another common thread with both communities has been their love for their local newspaper. It warms my heart to hear people tell me how much they love reading the paper or how much they’ve missed it. 

In Artesia, I’ve started something new in conjunction with Artesia High School called, Voices of a New Generation.  We have some students from the high school writing news and feature stories about events around Artesia. It’s interesting to read about something from the perspective of a local youth writer. They may not see something the same as I would, with my 62-year old eyes. They have a unique perspective and it’s can be a wonderful read.

In Carlsbad, we were asked to take the newspapers to the school library, where the students have access to read the local paper. At a recent football game, I took a photo of a student and when I asked him his name and told him I was going to put him in the newspaper, he yelled out to his friends, “hey everybody, I’m gonna be in the newspaper!!”  As an old newspaper guy, that made me feel great.

Look, the Internet is great. I have social media pages of my own, but nothing is sweeter than getting your name or photo in the newspaper for something good. Parents and grandparents save those, frame those and keep them forever in scrapbooks.

And the one thing I’ve been telling people for decades when I used to be out selling advertising and they would say to me, “hey, no one reads the newspaper anymore,” I’d say in a joking manner, “well, get arrested in a small town and then tell me no one reads the paper.”  They would laugh and then immediately buy an ad….:)    

And I would love to come and visit with your group or club and talk about the newspaper, myself, the City, you name it. Just let me know and I’ll be there! And start sending in those story ideas and photos of your events! 

Dave Shabaz can be reached at: dshabaz@elritomedia.com and on his cell at: (903) 470-0557.