October 2, 2005
An open letter to CEO John Mathew from Slidell Sentry-News publisher Terry Maddox.
John, all:
Our recovery from Hurricane Katrina continues at a rapid pace.
The remarkable steps forward by our papers and the parish amaze me.
Today we published a 48-page joint publication of the Slidell
Sentry-News and News Banner. Our retail advertising staff of just three, and our
Pontchartrain Newspapers Classified Call Center sold an unbelievable $22,000 of
advertising in it. Our editorial staff packed it with news that was informative,
helpful and entertaining to our readers. And our distribution people got 30,000
copies out with very limited workforce.
I can’t say enough about our dedicated and talented employees
who are making this happen. J Kennon and I thanked them in a long overdue
editorial in today’s edition.
J and I continue to work on short term and long term plans for
the two newspapers. We’re extremely excited about how well the joint publication
has been received by our advertisers and readers, and are convinced that it
should continue. We will, however, offer zoned editions on both the east and
west sides of the parish. More on this later as things materialize.
A curfew remains in effect for St. Tammany Parish from 11 p.m.
until 6 a.m., however we’ve been able to get our parish president, Kevin Davis,
to grant immunity to our carriers for delivery purposes. For this we are quite
grateful.
Services throughout the parish continue to be restored at a
remarkable pace. Most subdivisions now have power, water and sewage.
Housing is still needed for many, and parish president Davis
threatened to take all available parish law enforcement personnel, as well as
members of the general public, to go to Baton Rouge to hijack FEMA trailers for
our displaced citizens. They have been sitting up there for days. I’m sure that
at least partially due to this warning that FEMA finally acted on it. The
trailers began rolling into Slidell today. I hope to get one to place on my
property.
Traffic continues to be a nightmare. Trips to and from Slidell
and Covington have been as long as two and half hours, normally a 20-30 minute
trip.
Thankfully the Red Cross has opened up facilities in Slidell and
Mandeville to assist residents with financial aid. Early on they asked displaced
citizens to phone a 1-800 number or go online to file for help, but many did not
have phone service nor Internet service to do so. The new centers have been most
helpful but have added to our traffic woes. The first day they were open cars
were lined up for miles in every direction.
We are working on a "Traffic Watch" update to run in every
edition to aid our readers as to what they can expect, traveling to and fro in
the parish, as well as to New Orleans and Baton Rouge. I think this will be a
great service to them.
Thanks to Bob Wick and Tom Riebock who visited us this past week
and offered personal messages of thanks and hope to all of our employees.
Unfortunately, due to traffic problems, they were unable to visit the Slidell
office and other areas of devastation on that end of the parish. Hopefully they
were able to do a fly-over.
I’m happy to report that the bottom floor of the Slidell
Sentry-News building has been gutted from floor to ceiling, then treated with
chemicals, and is now drying out. Should be ready for reconstruction soon.
Thanks again to you, John, and all the wonderful employees of
the Wick publishing family. Your continued support and numerous acts of kindness
mean much to us. God bless all of you.
On a personal note, John, I know you know, but I’m sure there’s
several others who do not, that j celebrated a birthday during this whole
ordeal. And maybe I’ll get in trouble with her for saying so, but it was one of
those biggies – the old speed limit. Those of you who know her may wish to send
her an e-mail, even though she’s got more than she can handle, just to say
belated happy birthday. I’m sure she won’t mind getting a few extras for that
purpose.
Thanks again, y’all.
Terry Maddox, publisher
Slidell Sentry-News