Perhaps you read the large, page-and-a-half story in the Mankato Free Press last week about my friend and fellow weekly newspaper publisher/editor, Reed Anfinson, of Benson, Minnesota. Or maybe you read the story in another publication or online.

It was quite the story, about Reed’s issues with one of his neighbors, mainly concerning a weekly editorial/column Reed writes.

I first met Reed many years ago, but we became very good friends in the early 1990s when we both served on the Minnesota Newspaper Association Board of Directors for nine years together. Reed came on the board the year after I did. The two of us, as well as a couple others on the board, somewhat revamped the way the board of directors operated, since most of us were small town publishers.

When I was president of the Minnesota Newspaper Association, Reed was first vice president, and I handed the president’s gavel over to him that next year. Yes, “that year,” the infamous year of my introduction of Gov. Jesse Ventura at the convention. Reed became president of MNA the very next day. Reed has since gone on to also serve on the National Newspaper Association Board of Directors, and serve as president of that organization.

Reed and I shared a passion for small town newspapers. He was born into it, as his father and grandfather both were in the business. I had to stumble into it during my college years. But no matter, we both loved newspapers, particularly ones in small towns.

We both believe that the duty of our newspapers is to inform the residents of our communities about what is going on in those towns – good, bad and sometimes ugly. We believe that the main focus is to let our readers know what their local governmental bodies – city council, school board, county board – are up to.

We have both written a weekly column for many, many years. I’m approaching 50 years of writing a column every week, with only missing having one every great once in a while. That, my friends, is one big number of columns. And I will readily admit that some have been pretty good, and others have been, well, not so good. Some were well received and a few have caused pretty big negative reactions.

Reed once told me he admired my columns, especially the ones that he felt were witty and clever. The truth is, I admired his columns for a different reason. His are always well-written, well-researched, and obviously composed by a very intelligent guy. Many of them are on topics of national interest or related to Freedom of the Press. I always thought his columns could have been syndicated nationally and run in daily newspapers.

Reed’s columns, however, have a pretty obvious liberal slant. And he readily admits that, and has always invited those with other views to express them in his newspaper. The problem is, most of the folks in his town and county are very conservative in their views. Some of them don’t like seeing Reed’s views in their local newspaper.

Unfortunately some of those folks feel so strongly about it, they have threatened Reed; not just with stopping their advertising and subscriptions, but with bodily harm as well.

That seems to be the way things are these days. People are so passionate in their views they can’t see the other side. These days those of us in the newspaper biz have upset people even without trying. Just putting in a COVID update about numbers of local cases and suggesting people get vaccinated has ruffled up the feathers of a lot of people.

That is what newspapers often do. But hopefully, it is because we are always trying to do our best to inform you about what is going on, in the place where you call home.

Maybe we are doing it right. To be honest, I felt pretty good about the awards the Register recently earned at the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. Taking a first place award in General Reporting means that overall, we are doing our job of reporting the news. A first place in Photography as a Whole means that week after week we try hard to have quality photos in our pages. And, being recognized for our work on special sections and magazines is also pretty gratifying. Plus I am pretty proud of staff members Kevin Mertens and Kristin Woodwick for their awards in photography and design.

We have a really great staff of eight here at the Register. They are all hardworking, extremely competent, and all dedicated to our mission of putting out a great product. It takes a great team effort to do what we do, and win these awards.

It takes a whole lot of effort by everyone on our staff to put out the newspaper each week, but it can also be very rewarding. Sometimes what we do ruffles feathers, sometimes it downright ticks people off, and, occasionally, we receive a little praise for what we do.

And that can make it all worthwhile.

Thanks for reading us…