When I started working at The Madill Record in April of 1980, the paper was printed on an older model web press that had three units. At that time, in addition to printing The Madill Record and The Texoman every week, we printedTheHealdton Herald and Wilson Post-Democrat for Kenneth Chaffin, The Marietta Monitor for Willis Choate,TheJohnstonCounty Capital-DemocratforJohnD. and Gracie Montgomery and theWhitesboroNews-Record for Jim and Zenia Davison.
Wealsoprintedtheweekly Oklahoma Bar Journal for The Oklahoma Bar Association that had a press run of around 10,000 copies each week. In addition, we printed special tabloid sections from time to time and football programs for Madill, Kingston, Tishomingo, Healdton and Wilson. Needless to say, that old press got a lot of work!
I can't recall the exact date, but I think it was in 1981 when the Pate family purchased a brand new fourunit Harris web press to keep up with the demand. The old presswasshippedtoIndia.At that time, it was considered 'new'tothepeolewhobought it. The Harris press was a lot faster and could print color better than the old one. It also had to have a bigger pressroom build to accommodate it. That was on the east side of the building that's gone now. Giant rolls of newsprint that weighed around a ton a piece were stored back there to have easy access to the press. They had to be moved with a hoist and swung into place on the rollers to feed the press. Black ink came in 55-gallon drums that those were kept near the press, as well. Nowadays, I don't think there are any web presses in this area at all, unless there mightbesomeinnorthTexas.
That's when Bob Mason came to work as head pressman. Bob was a great man who could fix just about anything. Bob's wife, Tommie, worked across the square at the Madill Bank and Trust Company; now Simmons' Bank. They hadtwo children, daughter Melinda who is an accountant and she worked then, and still does, for Savage Equipment. Their son, Bobby Jr., worked several years with his dad at The Madill Record. He has since passed away, along with his parents.
Bob was a fantastic singer; he sang in the Grantham Baptist Church gospel quartet for many years. I remember him and other pressroom guys singing while they worked.Mostofthemachines had a beat when in operation and that kept time for them as they sang while mailing out the newspapers and Bar Journal. The Madill Record was mailed out every Wednesday afternoon. We hadanoldbeatupblueChevy pickup that was used to take the papers to the post office. The bed would be piled high with mail sacks and usually a couple of teenagers who worked part time as collators and on the stitcher crews would be sprawled on top to keep the bags from bouncing out on the way to the post office.
We also sold to kids who then sold the papers on the streets of Madill. I took over the front desk when Inez Bacon retired and it wasn't unusual to have 25 or 30 kids milling around the front door to buy papers. They'd come straight from school to be the first ones out.
When I started in 1980, the paper cost 15 cents and we sold it to the kids for a nickel. We had kids who were barely tall enough to see over the desk to middle schoolers. There was a fierce competition for the best selling spots around the square and near the stop light. Smart sellers had routes they built among the offices on the square, so they didn't have to join the feeding frenzy around the stop light. The courthouse and the bank were prime spots; a kid could easily sell 40or50papersbetweenthose two places. On Thursday mornings, I'd have a couple hundred dollars or more in one dollar bills and that much or more in coins. The bank tellers loves to see me coming; at least I did roll all the silver for them so they didn't have to count that individually.
Additionally, the paper was delivered to stores in the area. The same beat up, old blue Chevy pickup was used for that. The shift indicator was broken; you had to count down to make sure it was in drive before taking off. You had to also make sure the Pates' Old English Sheepdog Toby wasn't asleep in the bed of the truck. He looked just like a pile of wet newsprint and could get grouchy if bundles of newspapers were tossed atop of him.
Jim always said that he was Marti's dog and he didn't claim him at all. If Toby wasn't in the pickup bed, he liked to sleep against the front door of the office. I recall an occassion when Maribeth Pate was using the truck when her car was in the shop. She went grocery shopping and Toby nearly scared the pants off a kid who was putting groceries in the truck bed.
A succession of teenagers ran the paper route through the years and one of the best storiesaboutthatwastheface that Inez hated dealing with coins. Julia Davis and one of the teenagers ran the paper route once; they stopped at the bank before turning in the route money and had all the money changed into small coins. Needless to say, Inez was not a happy camper and threatened them with dire things if they ever did that again.
Great people, great times....back in the day.