Newspaper Page Text
The Monroe County Reporter
marks 50th birthday
1972-2022
Daniel: Aimed to give Monroe
County its first total newspaper
The Monroe County Re
porter printed its first edition
back in November 1972,
but its origins really began
several months earlier.
A Six Flags Over Georgia
public relations director, Don
Daniel, was driving through
Forsyth one day in 1972
when he stopped in town to
visit a friend, Jimmy Lawson.
Daniel said upon meeting
Lawson he overheard several
locals complaining about the
county's paper, the Monroe
Advertiser.
That’s when one of the
men suggested that Daniel,
who was thinking about
leaving Six Flags, buy the
Advertiser. Daniel, who had
previously sold advertising
at the Swainsboro Forest
Blade and served as edi
tor of the weekly Clayton
County Journal, said the idea
sounded promising. There
fore, Daniel consulted three
Georgia business experts,
one from the University of
Georgia, one from Georgia
Tech and the other from the
state Department of Industry
and Trade, and asked them
what they thought about
Monroe County’s potential.
Daniel said there response
was unanimous.
“Every one said Forsyth
and Monroe County has
more potential that any other
county in the state,” Daniel
recalled.
Daniel said he then asked
why. He said the experts
responded that the county’s
presence near Atlanta and
its ever-expanding airport
made it great for commuters.
It was also the location of
two interstates and had Ma
con only 20 minutes away.
Daniel said what he heard
inspired him to travel down
to Forsyth and discuss
buying the Advertiser from
then-owner Laurice Cox.
Daniel said Cox’s asking
price was too high, so he
decided to start his own
competing paper, which he
called the Monroe County
Reporter.
For the first year of the
Reporter’s existence, it was
mailed free to about 2,500
Monroe County boxes. The
office consisted of just four
employees, Daniel, Debbie
Ward, Janice Redd and edi
tor Shelly Shuman. Despite
the small staff, the paper
became an overnight success
and within three years the
Advertiser, which changed
owners three times between
1972 and 1975, closed up
shop altogether.
“I’ve always said I put the
Advertiser out of business
three times,” Daniel said.
According to the Millard
Grimes’ “The Last Linotype,”
a history book of Georgia
newspapers, at 121 years old,
the Advertiser was the oldest
Georgia newspaper in the
20th century to be discon
oiinty Kt
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4
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ABOVE: By the Reporter s fourth birthday in 1 976, the newspaper, led by Daniel, top left, and with staffers like (bot
tom, from left) Wendell Ramage, Janice Redd and Hugh Mercer Sr., was winning state-wide awards from the Georgia
Press Association, and finally put the Advertiser out of business for good. At right, the Reporter took heat when it was
founded in 1 972 and became the first newspaper in Monroe County to put social news about Blacks right next to
social news about whites. But founder Don Daniel said it was the right thing to do.
tinued.
As is the case in the news
paper industry, advertising
is critical to success. Daniel
convinced both grocery
stores in Monroe County at
the time to buy a full-page ad
each week in the Reporter.
But the big coup came when
Daniel convinced Monroe
County’s clerk of court,
sheriff and probate judge to
approve the Reporter as the
county’s legal organ.
Daniel said, “When I got
the legals, that was pretty
much the demise of the
Advertised’
Daniel said the support his
paper received from locals
was “almost overwhelming,”
to the point that he knew his
fledgling enterprise would be
triumphant.
“I was unbiased in my
reporting,” Daniel said. “I
cared about the community,
and it was very obvious from
the way that people read the
Reporter that it was going to
be a success.”
That does not mean that
there weren’t any bumps
in the road. Daniel said the
clerk of court at the time
was stunned when Daniel
told her he wanted to print
the court calendar in die
Reporter. Daniel said within
minutes his office was being
flooded by calls from lawyers
wanting him to know that
some divorce cases on the
calendar had been setded
out of court already.
“To make a long story
short,” Daniel said. “Before
I went to press, there was a
revised court calendar with
several of the divorce cases
that had been setded out
of court not on the court
calendar.”
Daniel said the Reporter
also stirred up controversy
when he ran a front-page
story about several Black
activists asking Monroe
Countians to boycott local
merchants who didn’t have
Black employees. Daniel said
the then-Monroe County
Chamber of Commerce
president asked Daniel to de
fend his decision to run the
story at a meeting the week
after the article was printed.
Daniel recalled, “I stood
up, and I said, ‘I have noth
ing to defend sir.”’
Daniel said another con
troversial decision was his
practice of running person
als (parties, birthdays, etc.) of
white families with those of
Black families.
“I got pretty much chas
tised by some people in the
community who kept saying,
‘Why are you doing that?”’
Daniel said. “I just said, ‘Hey
it doesn’t make any differ
ence to me. They’re all a part
of the community”
After a successful 11-year
tenure, which included
Georgia Press Association
awards for best editorial in
1975, best feature writing
in 1975 and 1976, general
excellence in 1976 and
community service in 1977,
among others, Daniel finally
decided to sell the Reporter
in April 1983 to Quimby
Melton Jris Hometown
Newspapers chain.
After selling the Reporter,
Daniel stayed in Monroe
County, where he opened
a commercial print shop
and a public relations
business. Daniel said the
biggest difference between
Monroe County when he
arrived in 1972 and now is
that the county has become
a commuter county, where
very little local business is
thriving.
“When I came to Forsyth,
the square was very vibrant,”
Daniel said. “You could
buy suits at five stores. Now
you can’t even buy a suit in
Forsyth. Yes, you can go to
the Walmart, but it doesn’t
carry suits.”
Daniel said if he had to
pinpoint a specific event that
caused the decline
of Monroe County
as a commercial
hub, he would
point to the closing
of Tiff College in
1987. For Monroe
County to contin
ue to thrive going forward,
Daniel insisted the county
needs more local business.
“I think Monroe County
is sitting on a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich and starv
ing to death,” Daniel said.
“Why don’t we have more
industries?”
Daniel said the only way to
interest businesses in relocat
ing to Monroe County is by
fully promoting the county’s
strengths.
He said, “That’s not a just a
Chamber responsibility. It’s
a city council responsibility.
It’s a county commission re
sponsibility. It’s every citizen’s
responsibility to be proud
of this county. I’m mighty
proud of this county’
Daniel said he is also proud
of what the newspaper he
founded has become. Daniel
said his business mantra has
always been a quote by his
friend Norman Shavin, a
former Atlanta Journal-Con
stitution editor.
“It’s easier to find a need
and fill it instead of creating a
need,” Shavin used to say.
Daniel said he used that
formula when he started the
Reporter.
“I found a need, and I filled
it. And it’s a success,” Daniel
said. “And the editors and
owners since I left have done
a real good job in doing that.”
The Reporter is still in
existence 40 years later, and
its owner and publisher, Will
Davis, was, like Daniel, a
newcomer to Monroe Coun
ty when he took over control
of the Reporter in 2007.
“I’ll compliment Will,”
Daniel said of Davis. “I think
being an outsider, I will
always be an outsider. Will
will always be an outsider.
There are still some elements
in the county that disdain
outsiders trying to come in
and tend to business. And
again, that just happens to
be the nature of the beast. I
think the Reporter is doing
a great job. I think Will and
his staff are doing a great job
covering what needs to be
covered and what the people
want.”
PRIMEP0INT
VENTURES
Real Estate • Finance • Development
WWW.PRIMEPOINTVENTURES.NET
30 E. Johnston Street
Forsyth, GA 31029
478-394-4545
We are lucky to have The Monroe
County Reporter. Congratulations
and keep up the good work!
50 more years!
George Emami, Owner/Broker
21+ Years Industry Experience
Cell: 706-207-0383
george@primepointventures.net