I just finished a delightful book that I picked up in a local thrift shop. And it took me back to Mom and Dad and my life growing up in the weekly newspaper business.
Charlotte Schnexnayder was that editor
My mother wasn’t a “salty old editor,” but my dad surely was. His journalism was always mixed with compassion as I’m sure Mrs. Schnexnayder’s was as well. It’s obvious in her book. As former Arkansas Treasurer Jimmie Lou Fisher wrote “One day she is helping a bereaved man get a suit to bury his brother in and the next, she and her husband are guests of the Clintons, sleeping in the Lincoln. Bedroom in the White House.”
My parents necer slept in the White House, but Dad was invited with many notable Missouri editors to have lunch with JFK and talk about issues of concern in their communities. My dad’s weekly, The Gallatin North Missourian, worked hard for local progress, just as Mrs. Schnexnayder and her husband, Melvin, did in Dumas, AR. Wish they could have met!
Would they even buy that newspaper?
The Dumas Clarion wasn’t much of a newspaper when the Schnexnayder’s bought it. And they weren’t even sure they should. But they took the plunge. And for some 50 years the Clarion and the Schnexnayder’s were really the bedrock of the depressed Delta region in Southeast Arkansas.
Standing up for economic improve and racial justice
It wasn’t always easy being Charlotte and Melvin. The town had its controversies and close, very close, bond elections for civic improvement. There were issues of racial justice. The couple fought for equality in a time and at a place where that wasn’t always popular. She also stood up for the integration of Central High School in Little Rock when Governor Orvill
Dad’s big battle
Dad’s big battle was trying to get the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct a series of dams on the cranky Grand River near Gallatin that would have energized the area with lake tourism. But the residents of small Pattonsburg fought against it bitterly because the town would have needed to move to make way for the project. Dad traveled the local area and state making speeches. He wrote about its promise. But the opposition won. The project died after many years. Dad sadly accepted this defeat. In the end, Pattonsburg residents tired of the frequent river flooding. And the town moved anyway. Now the project may be revived for hydro-electric power. Hope Dad’s watching!
Growing up in the “business”
Growing up in the newspaper business and tagging along to lots of press conventions, I could really relate to this book. Charlotte was the first woman appointed to the Arkansas Board of Pardons and Parole. Dad slept at the governor’s mansion in Missouri a couple of times when he was a member of the Missouri State Water Resources Board. His relationship with the late Governor John Dalton was why little Gallatin, population 1600, had a sitting governor as commencement speaker when I graduated from high school.
My sister and I grew up with the children of Missouri newspaper owners as we traveled to regional and state press association meetings. Dad was president of each. Charlotte was president of the Arkansas Press Women, the Little Rock chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. (My dad and I, BTW, were the first father-daughter members of SPJ when membership was opened to women in 1970.)
Charlotte on the national scale
But Charlotte also was elected on a national scale, something rare for a weekly newspaper editor. She was president of the National Federation of Press Women, the Arkansas Press Association and, to top it all, the National Newspaper Association.
Arkansas legislature
She also served in the Arkansas Legislature at a time when Bill Clinton was governor. And I suspect things in Arkansas, the state I call home now, were brighter.
She entered state politics in 1984, running unopposed. During her first week in the House in 1985, a fellow legislator advised her that she would be fine if she just sat and listened. She replied, “You obviously don’t know me very well. I’m not a side-line sitter, and I always have plans.” She served in the House until 1999.
Dad served on the local city council and school board. But as far as I know, he had no higher elected ambitions.
Book available online
You can pick up her book at Amazon or on eBay. I passed mine along to the editor of the locally-owned Carroll County News. While many newspapers are failing, big and small, and many big dailies even are going to online only most of the time, we’re lucky to have two weeklies here. Are they thriving? Possibly not. But they are here. The Gallatin North Missourian died a couple of years ago, despite the best efforts of its owners. The Dumas Clarion is now chain-owned, but it’s still there.
Charlotte, Mom, Dad, local journalism
These communities need their newspapers. I’ve always said that the newspaper is the soul of the community. When it leaves, what takes its place? A little scary these days. But visit with Charlotte in her book. And I promise you’ll feel ready to make a difference wherever you are!