WPA Bulletin DECEMBER 2019 2121 Evans Avenue • Cheyenne, WY 82001 • 307/635-3905 • Fax 307/635-3912 • [email protected] •
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WPA Bulletin DECEMBER 2019 2121 Evans Avenue • Cheyenne, WY 82001 • 307/635-3905 • Fax 307/635-3912 • [email protected] • www.wyopress.org Calendar BARRON BECOMES FIRST REPORTER of Events TO BE INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME By Dave Simpson JAN. 23-25, 2020 Reporter Joan Barron, who cov- WPA Annual Convention ered state government for the Casper Ramkota Hotel & Star-Tribune for 45 years, will be in- Conference Center ducted into the Wyoming Press Associ- Casper, Wyo. ation Hall of Fame Jan. 24 at the annual (Please note: The WPA offi ce will WPA convention in Casper. be closed Monday, Jan. 27) She will be the 29th person induct- ed into the Hall of Fame, which was es- June 13, 2020 tablished in 2003. Barron is the fi rst in- ductee who worked her entire career as WPAF Vern Shelton a reporter, joining other Hall of Fame Memorial members who worked as publishers, Golf Tournament editors, educators, advertising execu- Longtime Casper Star-Tribune capital bureau reporter Cody, Wyo. Joan Barron is pictured outside the Wyoming Capitol on tives and press association directors. Feb. 26, 2014 in Cheyenne. Barron began writing for the Hall of Fame members are nom- Star-Tribune in 1966. She retired in 2014. Holiday Closures inated by members of the newspaper -- photo by Alan Rogers courtesy of the Casper Star-Tribune industry, and their careers are reviewed Christmas by the Wyoming Press Foundation Hall of Fame Committee. Members “represent the very best qual- 1/2 Day Christmas Eve ity of Wyoming newspaper people.” and Christmas Day “Joan has been a larger than life fi gure in Wyoming journalism for as long as I can remember,” New Year’s Day former Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said in a letter to the WPA, “She contributed greatly to the time when Wyoming journalism focused on real issues and undertook investigative pieces enhancing the public debate in Wyoming.” Nadia White, now an associate professor of journalism at the University of Montana, worked with Barron at the Star-Tribune, fi rst as a reporter in the mid-1990s, then as the state editor coordinat- ing Barron’s reporting from 2000 to 2005. “I doubt I ever told Joan what to cover, or helped her make a story better. But I helped her prior- itize stories to match the needs of the newsroom and to match the work cadence of the rest of the state reporting team,” White said. “We were a true team that deeply cared for each other, the state and the SEE PUBLIC NOTICES newspaper. PRINTED IN ALL OF See HALL OF FAME next page WYOMING’S NEWSPAPERS Visit wyopublicnotices.com Happy Holidays from the WPA Staff! Darcie Cec(ilia) Josie PAGE 2 DECEMBER 2019 WPA BULLETIN 2019 WPA BOARD MEMBERS HALL OF FAME CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Kristen Czaban, President The Sheridan Press “I think the most important thing she taught me was how to be a reporter’s editor,” White said. P.O. Box 2006 • Sheridan, WY 82801 (307) 672-2431/Fax (307) 672-7950 Barron grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and was trained as a nurse. She began working for the Email: [email protected] Star-Tribune as a part-time correspondent in Rock Springs in 1966, allowing her to work from home Louie Mullen, Vice-president and take care of her son and daughter. She moved to Cheyenne in 1969 to become a full-time state Green River Star Box 580• Green River, WY 82935 house reporter at the Star-Tribune’s Capitol bureau. She would cover legislative sessions, the gover- (307) 875-3103/Fax (307) 875-8778 nor’s offi ce, state offi ces, state politics and other topics until her retirement in 2014 at the age of 85. Email: [email protected] Barron continues to write a weekly column. It remains required reading for anyone who wishes Stephanie Bonnar, Sec.-Treas. to understand the intricacies of state government in Wyoming. Newcastle News Letter Journal Barron loved covering the day-to-day activities of government, and was happy to remain in a Box 40 • Newcastle, WY 82701 (307) 746-2777/Fax (307) 746-2660 reporting position. While many reporters move into editing jobs, “I never wanted to,” she said. “I Email: [email protected] was holding my breath that nobody would say I had to.” Jen Sieve-Hicks When she retired, she told an interviewer she was perfectly happy to be an observer of the news, Buffalo Bulletin P.O. Box 730 • Buffalo, WY 82834 and report on it. (307) 684-2223/Fax (307) 684-7431 “The fl y on the wall,” she said. “That’s me.” [email protected] Dan Neal, a former editor of the Star-Tribune, said Barron was “a consummate professional.” Lara Love “Joan’s inquisitive personality and her perseverance were the keys to her journalism,” Neal said. Thermopolis Independent Record PO Box 31 • Thermopolis, WY 82443 “The institutional memory she compiled over many, many years is invaluable. She has used that (307) 864-2328/Fax (307) 864-5711 knowledge to report with integrity and without fear of the sometimes angry reactions to her work.” Email: [email protected] When notifi ed in October by former Star-Tribune Publisher Rob Hurless that she would be Rob Mortimore inducted into the Hall of Fame, Barron said, “I was stunned, but later felt honored, and thought this Torrington Telegram 2025 Main • Torrington, WY 82240 (including the fi rst reporter in the Hall of Fame) was a healthy step for the WPA to take.” (307) 532-2184/Fax (307) 532-2283 Hurless said Barron has a “disarmingly pleasant, non-assuming personality, but with an iron Email: [email protected] will for getting to the heart of the story.” Kevin Olson Barron covered the administrations of six governors. The fi rst, Stan Hathaway, was known to Jackson Hole News&Guide P.O. Box 7445 • Jackson, WY 83002 begin press conferences welcoming “gentlemen and Joan...” (Joan is pronounced Jo Ann.) (307) 733-2047/Fax (307) 733-2138 Former Star-Tribune State Editor Dave Simpson recalled fi lling in for Barron at a news confer- Email: [email protected] ence held by Gov. Ed Herschler during a busy legislative session in the early 1980s. Rory Palm Adams Publishing Group “I noticed that the governor kept delaying the start of the news conference and looking out at P.O. Box 1286 • Cheyenne, WY 82003 the gathering of reporters,” Simpson said. “It fi nally occurred to me that he was looking for Joan, so (307) 633-3165/Fax (307) 633-3191 Email: [email protected] I raised my hand and said that I would be covering the news conference for the Star-Tribune. I could tell he wasn’t pleased to be dealing with the junior varsity. That’s the kind of trust and respect he had Jade Stevenson Gillette News-Record for Joan,” PO Box 3006 • Gillette, WY 82717 Herschler sometimes called Barron “Snoopy,” a much more endearing term than the sometimes (307) 682-9306/Fax (307) 686-9306 Email: [email protected] gruff words the governor had for other members of the news media. Mark Tesoro Pat Schmidt, former editor and publisher of the Lovell Chronicle and the Thermopolis Inde- Kemmerer Gazette pendent Record, himself a 2017 Hall of Fame inductee, said, “Nothing captured a local legislator’s PO Box 30 • Kemmerer, WY 83101 (307) 877-3347/Fax (307) 877-3736 attention more quickly than a question that started, ‘Joan Barron is reporting...’ Email: [email protected] “I vividly recall the fi rst time I had the honor to sit next to Joan on a Meet the Press panel with Matt Adelman, NNA Chair Gov. Ed Herschler,” Schmidt said. “I don’t know who intimidated me more, Herschler with his Douglas Budget brusque answers or the knowledge Joan’s questions would be way more insightful than mine!” PO Box 109 • 310 Center St. Douglas, WY 82633 Barron said covering the legislature has changed over the years, noting that much more drinking Email: [email protected] went on by lawmakers years ago, and access to meetings was far more diffi cult prior to passage of Milton Ontiveroz, Assoc. Chair open meetings legislation. UW Institutional Communications Most diff erent today, she said, is the polarization in the Legislature. Dept. 3226, 1000 E. Univ. Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 In a recent Sunday column about the Equal Rights Amendment, which was passed in Wyoming (307) 766-6709/Fax (307) 766-6729 in 1973, but not in enough states to achieve ratifi cation, Barron was skeptical that the amendment [email protected] could be approved in Wyoming today. Cindy Price Schultz UW Dept. of Communication and Journalism “The Legislature in 1973 was a much more moderate body than today’s House and Senate,” she Dept. 3904, 1000 E. University Ave. wrote. “The Legislature has since moved sharply to the right and Republicans have a super majority Laramie, WY 82071 Email: [email protected] in both chambers.” “They used to get along,” she said. Ken Smith UW Liaison Emeritus Noting Barron’s decades at the Capitol, Hurless – himself a member of the Hall of Fame – Email: [email protected] concluded, “With her long career, I think it is safe to say that she probably has been read by three STAFF generations in the same family trees across Wyoming. What an amazing contribution and legacy.” Darcie Hoffland, Executive Director Dave Simpson was editor at the Casper Star-Tribune from 1980 until 1984. Cec Moats, Deputy Director Josie Jenkins, Office Assistant See the full list of Hall of Fame inductees on the WPA website: www.wyopress.org WPA BULLETIN DECEMBER 2019 PAGE 3 2019 WPA COMMITTEES WYOMING PRESS Hall of Fame ASSOCIATION BUSINESS STRATEGY Darcie Hoffland (Chair) Wyoming Press Association 121st SPORTS JOURNALISM Mark Tesoro Kemmerer Gazette ANNUAL SOCIAL MEDIA Pat Schmidt CONVENTION Past President SALES AND MORE Ken Smith January 23-25 UW Liaison Emeritus Ramkota Hotel MORE MORE! Casper, Wyo.