Welcome Jessica!

This is mostly “shop talk” which may or may not interest you. But if you care for the future of this newspaper, you should be aware of changes underway here at Gallatin Publishing Company.
This newspaper operation is now led by a familiar face in a newly created management position. Jessica Holcomb officially began working as General Manager, effective Jan. 2, 2020. For those doing business with us during the past 15 years, such an announcement comes as no surprise. Jessica has worked competently here as bookkeeper and expanded her skill set to become a reliable “go to” gal in all aspects of our business.
Jessica has always demonstrated competence. Before starting her career at Gallatin Publishing Company in 2005, she was employed at a law office, medical office and title company after achieving a diploma from Vatterott College at St. Joseph as a computer office assistant. Jessica’s family has deep roots in Daviess County; she is the mother of two Gallatin R-5 students, Bailey and Levi Carder.
This promotion for Jessica is an important step to assure stability for Gallatin Publishing in the years to come. As her new title implies, Jessica will be intimately involved in all aspects of this newspaper and the printing plant, including personnel and operational decisions. We are fortunate to work with someone as gifted and trustworthy as Jessica.
This announcement was made during our staff Christmas party last month. Those affected most directly – our full time and part-time employees — welcome the change.
This announcement is the first step in our transition toward retirement. Both Liz and I will continue to be personally involved in Gallatin Publishing Company. Our weekly work schedule has already changed. Thus, we plan to step away from the day-to-day grind we’ve shouldered since moving to Gallatin in 1978.
No doubt some of you may think, “Golly … what took you so long?” while others applaud the prospects of injecting new life in managing this business. We understand those sentiments, perhaps better than you know. We didn’t intend to get old; it just happened.
The announcement not only reflects well on Jessica but our entire staff which performs so admirably week in, week out. Thus, we are confident that as duties are reorganized and adjustments are made, Gallatin Publishing will continue business as usual if not actually improving upon our service to this community.
Readers of the Gallatin North Missourian should not see noticeable change, certainly not in the immediate future. Longtime employee Dennis Cox has retired from duties in the press room but will continue as sportswriter covering local high school sports as has been the case for decades here. Likewise, this column will continue taking this space — until the new management directs otherwise.
It’s challenging to keep focus on looking ahead when passing this personal milestone. I can’t help but reflect on my own beginnings now 40-something years ago. The changes in technology embraced in producing this little weekly community newspaper are jolting.
When I started as editor here, I got a new manual typewriter (and soon splurged for an IBM Selectric with its crisp, carbon ribbon). The Compugraphic typesetter (size of a large desk) used 8.5-inch floppy diskettes. We typed stories, paying a typesetter to keyboard the typewriter copy to produce a continuous hole-punched paper tape which fed into a film processor. Then we developed and dried the film, trimmed, and put wax on its back for “pasting” onto layout pages.
This is so archaic by today’s digital process I must chuckle to keep from crying.
For a comparison, as I write this, we’re about to re-install an internet program from my work station onto Jessica’s to enable her to view the location of any one of our four delivery vans at any given time via GPS monitoring.
We’re also about to establish new and improved practices in promoting our online products using multiple social media platforms. This will be the focus of a week-long effort involving an MU School of Journalism student to arrive here next week. We’ll share more on this later.
I can bore you with more shop talk of insignificant reminisce. But I must save something back for when I fully retire and am told to go home. If Liz beats me home, I hope she’ll leave the light on for me.
Meanwhile, rest assured that with Jessica at the helm this company is in good hands.