Reflecting on the Older Days of the DeWitt Era-Enterprise

As a reporter, and Assistant Editor, for our local newspaper, I am often called upon to cover certain area events and document them for keepsakes and let our readers know what has happened around the county. I always enjoy covering the events, catching up with people I haven’t seen in a while, and learning about the history of when those events began, why they began, and what their purposes are.

Our newspaper has changed over the years and has been passed on through different owners and employees, but one thing has remained the same. We continue to bring you, our readers, the latest news that is made possible to us.

I recall as a young girl living in the little community of Crocketts Bluff and looking forward to reading the latest edition of the newspaper. Living at the “Bluff,” we didn’t have a lot of action but we could always rely on the DeWitt Era-Enterprise to keep us informed on what was happening around the county.

In those days, back in the 80s and even the 90s, we had columns that provided updates from community members. I remember always looking at the Crocketts Bluff column to see if my name was mentioned. Ha!

It’s true though! Young readers LOVE seeing their names in the local newspaper! Even those community columns! Crocketts Bluff News, St. Charles / Ethel News, Almyra News, and so on, were always what we, as kids, looked at first aside from the front page of course. We wanted to see if we were mentioned in the column after visiting family out of town or our birthdays and special events.

Back then, we had community members who took it upon themselves to reach out to the community members and ask, “What has been going on with you since last week so I can include it in my write-up for the newspaper?” Why did we stop that? Is it because no one wanted to give information? Or, did those community members pass on and no one ever picked up where they left off?

Well, that’s the point of this article. I’d love to hear from you and see what’s been going on with you. I see so many posts on social media about what you and your families have been up to, but we don’t share that in the local newspaper anymore because we just haven’t heard from anyone. So, I’d like to encourage you all to send me updates, especially on your children and their activities so I can create a “From our Readers” column for the paper.

Imagine the looks on your children’s faces when you show them their names in the newspaper. We always encourage our children to read books, but please, let us not forget to encourage them to pick up the latest edition of the newspaper and read!

I’m calling on you all, St. Charles, Crocketts Bluff, Ethel, Almyra, Tichnor, Gillett, and all other communities, to send us a snippet of information to include in a column. Let’s bring the past back to life and get more people involved in reading, buying, and even subscribing to the DeWitt Era Enterprise!

You can email me at charlotte964@centurylink.net or send an email to editor@dewitt-ee.com