Season 1, Episode 3

Chris Gilliam in the newsroom

 Friendly word lands writer in Magnolia

Chris Gilliam was a high school student visiting a university in Monticello, Arkansas back in 1978 when a chance encounter changed his life. He was watching a baseball game on campus as the UAM Boll Weevils played the Muleriders from Southern Arkansas University. 

While he was watching the game, he was approached by a friendly guy by the name of Earl Miller.

"Earl drove the bus for Southern Arkansas University...and he came up to me and asked what I was doing," Chris told me. He said they struck up a conversation, Chris was just being nice to the guy when Earl said, "Let's go get a Coke."

Chris said they went and got a Coke and he told Earl he was there on a football recruiting trip.

Chris didn't know it at the time, but Earl wasn't "just a bus driver." In fact, Miller would be inducted into the SAU Hall of Fame for Meritorious Service, just one of his many accolades. His Hall of  Fame post states: "Miller was valuable on athletic trips as a veteran traveler, knowing the locations of stadiums, field houses, arenas, etc., in various cities, the best and quickest routes, and alternate roads, to reach destinations.  He also never met a stranger and always knew someone at practically every stop."

It's worth checking out Earl's Hall of Fame citation. Earl was just practicing his famous hospitality in seeking Chris out and inviting him for a Coke, but it bore fruit. Chris finished the story:

"He said, 'Have you tried Magnolia, Southern Arkansas?' I told him, no I haven't. Chris returned home to Lonoke and told his coach about the encounter and asked what his coach knew about SAU.

"He had some connection with Magnolia with Sonny Whittington and other staff, Bill Brasher, so anyway, to make a long story short, coach brought me to Magnolia on a recruiting trip, Rip Powell was the head coach. He was honest with me, he said, 'I can’t give you a scholarship of any kind, but you're welcome to walk on but if you work hard and do what you’re supposed to do, you never know what could happen.'  So that's what got me to Magnolia, Arkansas."

With nearly four decades of writing and sports reporting for the Banner-News, Chris is a veritable walking compendium of sporting events in our county. He's covered many of them, and some of the most exciting he recalled were the basketball duels between Waldo and McNeil.

Chris and his wife Shirley have three sons and five grandchildren. They are just some of the people who make "Lower Arkansas" a great place to live!

Check out the rest of the interview with Chris on our podcast by hitting the play button below.

Pop-up Podcast 1 Pickleball

 A recent game of pickleball in Magnolia

What the heck is pickleball?

It was back in 1965 out on Bainbridge Island, Washington that the game of pickleball was invented as a backyard game for children. Today, it is the official sport of the State of Washington and is being played all around the globe.

It took a while to get here, but today the game is played throughout Lower Arkansas, thanks to the Southwest Arkansas Pickleball Association. But what exactly is this strange game, how do you play, what's the point in playing and where can you go to watch or play your first game?

Join us today for a special edition of Life in L.A. I'm calling it a Pop-up Post because, well, after all it is my podcast and my blog so I can call it whatever I want to! But I'm calling it a Pop-up Post because it's appearing outside of my regular Monday morning position.

Our guests today are Carla Reyes and Becky Warr, co-presidents of the SWAPA. They will answer all of your questions and tell you where you can learn of play pickleball here in L.A. For times and places of play, click to visit their Facebook group.

Season 1, Episode 2

Ronnie Daniels seated at the Linotype

The progress of printing marches on

The history of printing is a fascinating study, and it's just too bad we don't have time to deeply into the topic. Printing was first developed by the Chinese just after 1000 AD, but moveable type didn't come along until the 1200s. Western culture credits Gutenberg with developing the printing press around 1250 AD in Germany. Gutenberg's press used individual blocks of letters that were placed by hand in a time consuming process. 

The process of printing was accelerated immensely and growth of the daily newspaper made possible by the invention of Ottmar Mergenthaler, a German clockmaker who had immigrated to the United States. Mergenthaler perfected a machine that would assemble matrices, or molds, into a single line, against which molten lead would be poured or injected. The lead would cool and the matrices would automatically return to the correct case to await their next usage. It is a fascinating process to watch!

The Linotype machine was first used in 1886 to print  the New York Tribune, but soon newspapers the world over were printed using the "hot metal typecasting" method. The machines began to be phased out in the 1970s and 1980s when the offset method of printing used lithography rather than cast metal.

Our local newspaper had three linotypes that provided the printing forms for almost everything that appeared on the printed page. They were retired in 1973 when the newspaper began to be printed in El Dorado instead of in the Magnolia back shop.

I was privileged to work in the editorial department of our local newspaper during this transition period. While the move allowed a better look and cleaner type,  most of the print staff lost their employment at that time.

I recently reconnected with Ronnie Daniels, who worked at the Banner-News at roughly the same time I did. As best I can tell, Ronnie is the last surviving member of the "back shop crew" who printed the newspaper in house. He and his wife Barbara live up above Waldo and are both retired now. But Ronnie and I took a walk down memory lane this past week. Ronnie got another look at the big machine he operated for a few years back a half-century ago. This week's podcast features Ronnie's recollection of what it was like to work in the print shop of our local newspaper.

Take a listen to today's podcast, share it with a friend or on your favorite social media, and come back next Monday morning for Episode 3!

Newspaper daze in Magnolia

 

A "two-fer" from the local newspaper business

Episodes 2 and 3 of the podcast will feature interviews with a couple of folks related to our local newspaper, the Banner-News. Ronnie Daniels, as far as I was able to determine, is the last surviving member of the "backshop crew" when the newspaper was printed locally.  And Chris Gilliam is approaching 40 years of employment there doing everything from general reporter to sports writer to page makeup.  Ronnie's interview will be published this Monday, Feb. 20 while we will hear from Chris on Monday, Feb. 27. I had the rare privilege of introducing the two earlier this week. While Ronnie was a linotype operator who composed the hot lead lines of type for publication, Chris literally uses a computer to do all that the linotype operators did and so much more!

I did some research down at the Columbia County Library earlier this week. They have back editions of the Banner-News in both microfilm and some of the bound print editions. It was a walk down memory lane for me and I need to visit again. We are fortunate to have an outstanding local library that provides so many services for our community, especially in the area of local history and genealogy. If you haven't been there lately, you should plan a visit. All of the employees are so helpful and friendly on top of that!

But back to my research! I wanted to be a writer as far back as junior high days, but the only paying venue in Magnolia at the time was writing for the local newspaper. I count myself fortunate for having been hired as a part-time reporter while still in high school. I learned so much from Peggy Bailey, news editor, and Rose Anne Fincher, reporter and women's page editor. More on that in a future post!

The Banner-News was printed in-house up until June 11, 1973. I was still a reporter and photographer at the time, but I remember the excitement of the change, at least for the front-office staff. It wasn't as exciting for those in the print shop, several of whom lost their jobs.

Bobby Gurley, who had been shop foreman, moved over to commercial printing and continued to work in printing, alongside James and Dorothy Randolph, a.k.a. "Country Printer" and "Honey Bee". Those were the C.B. radio handles they had adopted and which eventually replaced their real names in everyday use.

I don't remember the names of everyone who worked in the printing department. Curtis McLaughlin was also a linotype operator. Curtis passed away not too long ago but I ran into his wife Janice this week. She told me that working at the Banner-News had allowed Curtis to complete his education at Southern State College, as his hours were pretty flexible. Larry Neill worked in page make-up and he and I became friends, going fishing and enjoying one another's company.  Edward "Tiny" Collins ran the press. Tiny's name was an exaggeration, as he was a giant of a man, capable of picking up the heavy lead forms and carrying them back to the press. Ronnie does a great job of telling what it was like to operate the big machine, which shook the whole building when it was running.  Tiny transferred to El Dorado and continued to be a pressman until he retired. His obituary mentions that he was ordained as a deacon. 

During my limited tenure with the Banner-News, there was a friendly camaraderie in the back shop. I usually parked out back and walked through the shop on my way to the office. The sights and smells back there were unforgettable. A small room in the back was referred to as "hell" and it was there they melted the lead and poured it into ingots to feed the hungry linotype machines. Bobby showed me the lead pot one time and tossed a nickel into it, which floated to the top. Nickle has a higher melting point than lead so it floated rather than sank.

The big old press sat in the back of the building. I was always fascinated how paper from a huge roll could be fed through the big machine, across the lead printing forms, printed front and back , folded and fed out the rear. Someone from circulation would count the papers as they came off, bundling and labeling them into the correct number for each newspaper carrier. It was exciting to watch, especially if the press got to running too fast! When it was shut down, management decided to remove it from the building. This was accomplished by cutting it in smaller pieces with welding torches, as it was too big and heavy to take out in one piece.  In the process of cutting it up, sparks fell down into the maintenance pit underneath it, where years of inky newspaper lint had accumulated. It threatened to burn down the building, so the fire department was called in to keep the situation under control.

I have so many more memories I could share of my brief stint in local newspaper, but I will have to save some for future editions. In the meantime, I encourage you to come back on Monday when we released the "Life in LA" podcast with Ronnie Daniels. He will make you feel like you worked in the back shop, as well as sharing a laugh or two. I enjoyed catching up with Ronnie and making a new friend. That's a big part of the advantage of living in our LA--there's always a new friend out there you just haven't met yet!

--Steve Ford

Season 1, Episode 1

Rebecca Desoto Swofford in front of her dream house.

The dream that she dreamed really did come true!

As a little girl, Rebecca DeSoto Swofford dreamed of owning the Kate Turner House at 709 West Main Street in Magnolia.  One day many years later she drove by and saw a "For Sale" sign in the yard and the rest is history! The latest chapter in the history of this grand old house in Magnolia that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

I recently sat down with Rebecca on a cold day in January. She told me how she first dreamed the dream and how it finally came to pass. Hear the interview on the very first episode of my podcast, Life in L.A. in the player below.