Barry County Advertiser ceases operations after 60 years

By Kyle Troutman [email protected]

A 60-year-old publication started by the late State Sen. Emory Melton ceased operations on Thursday.

Operating since 1966, the Advertiser in recent years mailed to more than 13,000 mailboxes for free in Barry County, providing a robust news product alongside advertising and other informational and special sections. 

According to the Barry County Museum, In December of 1966, the Advertiser was started up as a hybrid weekly publication which combined the qualities of a newspaper and a “shopper” by Willard Burton and Jean Melton. After more than two decades of the publication, Burton retired and Jean Melton continued as its publisher. Following Jean Melton’s death in March 2010, Emory Melton assumed the publisher role.

Its last editor to work under late publisher Emory Melton says the newspaper’s end marks more than the loss of a weekly publication — it represents the closing of a chapter in Barry County’s recorded history.

Charlea Estes-Jones, who met Melton when she interviewed for the editor’s position in 2013, said she quickly realized journalism was one of his life’s true passions.

“When I met Emory, it seemed really clear that if he had not been an attorney, he would have been a newspaper man,” Estes-Jones said. “He loved journalism. He loved history and he loved news.”

Although Melton often credited his wife, Jean, for the success of the Barry County Advertiser and the family’s printing business, Litho, Estes-Jones said his dedication to the newspaper never faded.

“He looked at that thing cover to cover every single week,” Estes-Jones said. “I couldn’t get away with any kind of mistake because he would catch it.”

She said Melton believed a community newspaper’s greatest responsibility was documenting the people and events that shaped the county.

“He looked at the news more as something that was so important to the record and history of this county and this community, which he just loved,” Estes-Jones said.

Even when they disagreed, Estes-Jones said Melton maintained respect while standing firmly by his principles.

“Emory and I had many differences of opinion personally, politically, socially, all kinds of things,” Estes-Jones said. “But, what he really embodied for me was integrity. Even if he disagreed with someone, I never felt disrespected. I never felt talked down to.”

Melton also remained closely connected to what was happening throughout Barry County and frequently suggested stories he believed belonged in the newspaper.

“He was just really involved in the pulse of the community and he always knew what was going on,” Estes-Jones said. “Everybody talked to him all the time.”

While he often pointed editors toward stories he considered important, Estes-Jones said his broader philosophy centered on comprehensive community coverage.

“For the most part, he just wanted to see good news,” Estes-Jones said. “Good news is not necessarily positive news. It was all of it. It wasn’t special treatment. It was just cover all of it.”

Away from deadlines, some of Estes-Jones’ favorite memories came during quiet Saturday mornings when only she and Melton were working in the office.

“I would run by the farmer’s market before I went to work and get a big cinnamon roll,” Estes-Jones said. “I’d go in Emory’s office. He would have already made coffee, and I’d split my cinnamon roll with him. We would sit there and sometimes chat, sometimes not, and just share a cinnamon roll and drink some coffee and enjoy the quiet of the office.”

Those conversations often became impromptu history lessons.

“He had so much history and so much knowledge that if I asked him about something, he would remember these crazy details,” Estes-Jones said. “He had this absolute gift for memory and to remember specific details of exactly what happened. He would remember what color a senator’s bow tie was, I would sit there like, ‘How do you remember that?’”

As the Advertiser has ceased publication, Estes-Jones believes Melton would have been saddened by the outcome.

“I think he would be really disappointed,” she said. “He was proud of that paper. He was proud of Litho and what they had done because of how much he loved Jean.”

Estes-Jones said the publication had become a fixture in mailboxes across Barry County, regardless of who served as editor over the years.

“It’s been a nice free staple to get in your mailbox for years,” she said. “It’s the end of an era, and it’s hard.”

For Estes-Jones, the newspaper’s closure is also deeply personal.

“It does break my heart because I did care so much about what that paper did for the community,” Estes-Jones said.

She said community newspapers preserve moments that may seem ordinary today but become invaluable pieces of local history with time.

“People seeing their grandkids’ picture in the paper or seeing the student award they got — people may laugh, but these things are important,” Estes-Jones said. “It’s the history of our community.”

Without local newspapers, Estes-Jones worries communities risk losing both their stories and a trusted record of events.

“I don’t think we want to rely on social media to tell us what happened in history,” she said.

Estes-Jones added the loss extends beyond Barry County, reflecting a challenge facing rural communities across the country.

“We will lose a lot of the stories and the voices of people who live here,” Estes-Jones said. “Everyone’s voice matters. Even if your voice is saying something that I disagree with, it’s still important that people have that voice.”