Kudos to The Madera Tribune’s staff
For the past three months, The Madera Tribune staff has been working hard to support our community in the wake of the loss of our fearless leader, Chuck Doud.
I have been pleasantly amazed at how they have pulled together to continue to publish this newspaper. We have supported each other through this, and I am grateful, especially for the support they have given to me during this time. It has been a hard time for all of us, and I so appreciate this wonderful work of the family at the Tribune.
Everyone keeps asking me what will happen with the Tribune, and how will we go forward. Chuck’s family has inherited his ownership, and they are working together as a family to see what they would like to do with his shares. None of Chuck’s children live in Madera, but they recognize this is a special community newspaper, and their hope would be that it keeps the flavor of the publication their dad cultivated over the years he was here.
I can tell you that the buzzards have been circling and flying over The Madera Tribune ever since the moment Chuck passed away. There is much interest in this little newspaper. The Doud family understands what Chuck built up in this business, and they want to see that his legacy lives on in this community.
Most of our readers realize this newspaper represents love for Madera, love for its small businesses, and love for free speech. Chuck Doud liked to quote Stephen Frank, editor and publisher of California Political News and Views, “The Madera Tribune is one of the last true conservative newspapers in California.”
As a community newspaper, what we wish for the future is that we will always keep this ethical standard that our late editor and publisher wanted. Whether you are a liberal or conservative, a Democrat or a Republican, or anything in between, this newspaper has allowed its readers to voice opinions. This is something Chuck believed was his newspaper’s role.
The Madera Tribune consists of a staff family that cares about this newspaper, and about this city of Madera. Earlier this week, we published PRIDE, which is an annual publication of which Chuck Doud was proudest, hence the name PRIDE. This year, we dedicated PRIDE to Chuck, and we were very pleased with its final product.
Chuck Doud was also proud of the people who work at The Madera Tribune, and he wanted the best for them. He realized that “No man is an island,” and he knew he could not run a newspaper alone. He depended on his staff to work together to accomplish his goals, and he was ever so complimentary of our efforts to do good work for his newspaper. For this reason, we know we have lost someone who is very dear to our hearts, and who was our support during tough times and tough circumstances.
Our staff is made up of a bunch of ordinary folks. None of us are wealthy, influential people with silver spoons in our mouths. We work together to put out a newspaper and special sections, and we often get phone calls from people who don’t understand what it takes to do what we do. We get criticism, and we get compliments. We appreciate both, but it is the support and compliments that give us the drive to make the next thing happen for our readers.
Let me introduce you to the people who make up this very special community newspaper. This list is not in the order of importance, as I could not list them in that order. They are all equally important to this company.
Tyler — Most of the readers are familiar with Tyler, who is most known as the Sports Writer/Editor. He lives and breathes sports (and BB-8). Tyler has been extremely helpful to Chuck over the past few years, and has helped in editing and gathering news stories for the front page, as well as other pages of the Wednesday and Saturday papers. To quote Chuck Doud, “Tyler is a writing machine.” Whenever we need something written, and we are short on time, Tyler is certainly our guy! He wrote most of the articles in PRIDE, and he is the person who paginated and organized that wonderful special section. I value Tyler very much, as he has provided a great deal of support at times when I have felt discouraged.
Nugesse (pronounced New gah say) — Another of our writers, Nugesse has been working on enhancing our social media presence so that we have better exposure, and he has also been working with Tyler to produce podcasts. Chuck was anxious to have podcasts with a variety of subjects and information, and this recent addition to the Tribune has been working well. Tyler has scheduled podcasts over the past several months, and continues to schedule more.
Ben — Ben is the Madera Tribune paginator. He performs the tasks of putting the articles, pictures, ads, and columns together, much like that of a jigsaw puzzle. When all is set, and the newspaper is proofread and edited, Ben submits the copy to the printer, and to the online edition.
Ben is a very creative sort. He has talents that are hidden from many people, but the family at the Madera Tribune know he has other skills. Ben is also talented as a graphic artist, and one of his little-known attributes is that he can write. When the spirit moves Ben, he writes a very good article, which gives the reader a good read.
Wendy — Wendy is the Madera Tribune photographer, and our city is blessed with the pleasure of having her on their team. When Wendy hears of a good photo opportunity for the paper, she is on it! The kids and events are her favorites. Tyler and Wendy work well together at those sports events.
Tami Jo is another one of our staff writers. The Saturday paper has her “Gravy” column, and she writes other feature articles for the Tribune and for special sections. Tami Jo, generally, doesn’t work in the office of the Tribune, but she is such a part of us that we could not imagine this newspaper without her. Tami Jo has lived in Madera since she was only a thought, and Madera is her home of homes. What a gem!
Bill Coate is our historian. Famous in his own right, Bill is another gem at the Tribune. He, too, works outside of the walls of the Tribune, and is supportive and enthusiastic always for this newspaper. It is indeed a blessing to have Bill Coate on our staff.
Leslie and Christy are usually the ones you see if you visit the office of the Madera Tribune. They both work at the front desk and answer the phones, and both of them are helpful with the other staff. Leslie works with circulation, and so if you call to subscribe to the paper or have questions about getting your paper, it may likely be Leslie that will help you. She is always courteous, helpful, and efficient.
Christy is the person who works with the legal advertising. She has become very knowledgeable in the formats of legals, as well as what needs to be done to fulfill the requirements of legal publications. She is very efficient and helpful. Christy is also a good typist, and so she is often asked to type the handwritten letters that come in for publication.
Corrie and Katrina are our advertising representatives. Together, they coordinate selling ads for the Tribune and special sections, and they work with the small businesses in our community to understand their advertising needs.
Corrie has been with the Tribune for many years, and she keeps us on our toes by getting those ads in the special sections, and also by posting items on Instagram. During 2020, when the restaurants were in dire need of promotions, Corrie helped our small business eateries by posting their schedules and menus on social media and the front pages of the Madera Tribune.
Katrina has also been with the Tribune for many years, and she is a natural at getting circulars and small businesses to understand how our advertising can help them to thrive. She has a passion for the Madera Tribune, and has a great love for people. It is this great love that serves as her way to a good communication between the Tribune and the people who advertise.
Shirley is a graphic artist, and she also helps the advertising representatives with placements of the ads in the newspaper and special sections. She prepares the pages with the legal notices and classifieds so that Ben, the paginator, can place them into his jigsaw puzzle of a paper. Shirley has been very flexible during this last year, with the needs to work from home, but her reliability and her ability to adapt has been a great asset.
Chris works from home, but the Tribune is in her heart. Her husband was the great Les Hayes, former publisher of The Madera Tribune. Chris prepares the birth announcements and the police logs. Although these entries seem to be sporadic, she reformats them so they are easy for our readers to read.
Patrick works in the mailroom with Juan and Leonard. Patrick is the leader of that pack, and he coordinates the work to get the inserts in the paper and to prepare the papers to go to the post office for mailing.
Juan has worked for the Tribune since we had the printing press. In fact, he used to operate the press. Juan works well with the crew in the mailroom, and is a person who loves people. He’s a real family man.
Leonard, who also works in the mailroom, makes the run to Manteca to get the newspaper after it is printed. When he returns from that run, he helps the others to prepare the paper for the post office.
Carlos is our rack man. You may have seen him around town filling the racks with newspapers, or taking the money from the racks. He also repairs any racks that are malfunctioning. He is our repairs and maintenance guy. Carlos has also worked for the paper for many years.
Together, we all make up the family of The Madera Tribune. We love each other, as well as the newspaper we represent. We laugh together; we have cried together. We have gotten mad, and glad in the same pants. We fuss at each other, and we support each other. I am so very proud of this family called the Madera Tribune.
To the community of Madera, I wish to thank you for your support, and I ask that you will continue to read this newspaper, and advertise in it. I believe what Chuck Doud believed, that the newspaper industry will continue. He noted that newspapers have survived radio and television, and it will survive social media.
Have a great weekend!
— My love to all,
Nancy
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“Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ.”
— Ephesians 4:32
