Edie Gilles

MONTROSE – After almost 14 years, Montrose Daily Press office manager Edie Gilles is leaving. She was honored with a party on Dec. 10 at the home of Stephen and Susan Woody and about 25 well-wishers, friends and staff members.

“I’ve enjoyed working at the Daily Press. It’s been a good experience,” Gilles told the gathering. Edie’s last day is Dec. 31, 2010.

Gilles was the first department manager hired by Woody in the spring of 1997, right after the Feb. 12 purchase of the Daily Press by Wick Communications.

“It was a difficult time in our transition from the former owners and I needed someone competent, someone I could trust and someone with a good work ethic to take our accounting department forward,” Woody said. “Edie was it.” Wick Chief Financial Officer Don Root also assisted with Gilles’ hiring. “The office manager is unique in that the person has one foot in the Daily Press office, and another working closely with our corporate office in Sierra Vista.”

Gilles is credited with reorganizing the Daily Press’ purchasing, streamlining its accounting with Wick, installing software upgrades, and being the “go-to person” involved in human relations, office management and assisting Woody with various and sundry assignments related to the Daily Press while he was a group manager for Wick for 10 years. “Edie was essential. I’m blessed that in 30 years of daily newspaper publishing for Wick Communications, I’ve worked with just three office managers.” Gilles was also the leader for the Daily Press’ annual budget, working with other department managers on income, expenses and forecasting.

Edie was also a key component backstage at the bi-annual ‘Taste of Home’ home/cooking school that was sponsored by the Daily Press. “She was one of the reasons the show, which was always a sellout, ran smoothly behind the scenes,” he said. Gilles told the party gathering that working at the Daily Press was “the longest job I’ve had. I was surrounded by good people,” she added, citing longtime assistant Barb McNally and Rhonda Boyles, both who attended the party. Ms. Boyles works at Walgreen’s; Ms. McNally is the A/R and credit person for the MDP, along with many other office duties.

Edie says she plans to garden, travel with her husband Steve, play more golf locally and possibly work at local accounting firms. Edie and Steve and others have often represented the Daily Press in fund-raiser golf tournaments, several of which the MDP has won. “We could always count on Edie’s shots being in the fairway; she sank some big putts for us,” Woody added.

Succeeding Edie is Tisha McCombs, the customer service manager for the main Wells-Fargo Bank branch in downtown Montrose. She began training with Edie in early November.

Tisha was the former classified advertising manager for the Daily Press for almost three years and has also worked as a newspaper’s circulation manager and as an office manager at newspapers in Nevada and South Carolina.

“Tim and I thought Tisha would be the ideal successor given her successful history at classifieds and her exposure to other departments of this demanding business. She has an institutional memory with us, understands complex software programs and is our ‘math person’, when the Daily Press enters the Montrose High Quiz Bowl Tournament ever March,” Woody added. “With Tisha back on board, we may likely rise from our usual sixth, or seventh place finish.”

Tisha has a son, Tyler, five.

Ramona Montaño

GRANTS – “Easier but a lot more work,” said longtime Cibola Beacon employee Ramona Montaño about her department’s change in the past 25 years.

Montaño was hired by Marian Barber, publisher of the Beacon, to set type and develop it in the darkroom in 1986. “There were two of us in the department and today there are two of us despite all the technology changes,” Montaño said.

She was 22 years old when she started at the Grants Daily Beacon. Lillie Belle McMinn was the composition department manager at the time. “Lillie Belle was great,” said Montaño. The small department was composing 10 to 12 pages a day. The Beacon was a daily in the mid 1980s, the decade in which uranium mining ended in Cibola County. The small town boomed between 1960 and 1980 because of mining. “It was boom and bust,” added Montaño.

Montaño said the biggest change in composing in the last 25 years has been from paste up on light table to digital today. She said she still enjoys the profession as much as she did 24 years ago.

While at the Beacon, Montaño has endured tough times such as the loss of her mom and dad. “On a daily basis we don’t realize how close we are,” she said in regard to working with the staff of 15 people. “However, when you look back and remember the good and bad times while working in the same place for many years it makes you realize how much influence your fellow employees have on you. Through the years my fellow employees have been there for me and I’m sure they’d say the same about me.”

Current Beacon Publisher Donald Jaramillo said he wouldn’t trade Montaño for anyone. “She’s there from the beginning to the end,” said Jaramillo. “Ramona is there. At the end of the day the most important thing is attendance – good times and tough times.”

Beacon Advertising Manager Sylvia Anzures Gonzales echoed Jaramillo’s remarks, “She’s been here for 24 years and we wouldn’t trade her for anybody.”

Montaño duties at the Beacon include composing ads for ROP and classified display, updating the Beacon website and typing legals. She is the fastest typist at the Beacon.

She has had to make some minor adjustments to her workstation because of her longevity. The Beacon has ordered a special chair and desk for her comfort as her hands and back begin to ache by day’s end.

The Beacon has gone through five owners since Montaño has been an employee, with Wick Communications being the longest. She’s worked for multiple publishers with Jaramillo as the longest. She enjoys working for Wick Communications because the support of the corporation and the Beacon still has the community newspaper feel to it.

Montaño’s only other employment was with the highway department for nine months.

“I saw an ad in the Beacon and the only qualification was typing,” she said. “Here I am 24 years later. It’s been fun and I hope I can stay here until I retire.”

On Dec. 6th, the Montrose Daily Press installed two Alpha Quest Esprit CTP's. In addition to the CTP's, the Colorado daily newspaper and commercial printing operation also implemented two plate processors by Agfa. These state-of-the-art processors are chemical free. The installation took place the morning of the 6th; later that same day, the new equipment was running without a hitch and was used for the next day’s Press edition. Pressroom manager Denny Haulman oversaw the planning and conversion.

Four employees of the Daily News and Pontchartrain Newspapers in Bogalusa, LA were recognized for their years of service to Wick Communications. The employees and years of service: Kim Gerald (22), Earl Lott (19), Cindy Slocum (29) and Carol Case (25).

Daily News Publisher j Kennon announced several changes to the staff that were effective Dec. 1

Managing Editor Richard Meek has been chosen general manager, long-time advertising representative Carol Case is the advertising director and Vicki Schilling has been promoted to business manager.

“We are excited about the changes and believe we have an excellent management team in place that will help us continue to be a community leader in Washington Parish.”

Case recently celebrated her 25th anniversary at The Daily News.

Readers lined up as early as 5:30 a.m. in order to be the first in line to buy tickets for the annual Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review Taste of Home Cooking Show and Expo.

More than 450 tickets were sold in three hours on the opening day as the best tickets got snatched up early.

The night of the show, Nov. 9, more than 950 people attended and received goodie bags full of gifts and doo-dads from national and local sponsors of the show.

During the event, more than 80 prizes were given ranging from a water cooker, to cookbooks, to dinner for two, to sessions for hypnotherapy. About 20 bags of groceries were also given away to lucky participants.

Before the show started, local businesses showed off their wares during a mini-expo that took place for two hours before the event. Attendees streamed to the tables to buy products, sample food and mingle with area sponsors.