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GUIDE TO YELLOW SPR INGS | 2021– 2022 81 unpopular, but in the long run he continued to stand for what he felt was right in his heart.” Another beloved editor took Howard’s place — Don Wallis of Vevay, Ind. Wallis had, in four years, built a “backwoods country paper into one of Indiana’s finest weeklies,” Howard noted in introducing Wallis to the community. Wallis’ folksy writing style was a good fit for the village, as was his fierce advocacy for justice and opposition to classism, racism and ageism, according to his obituary. Under his tenure, the paper was intentional about covering the diversity of the community, highlighted local sports and youth activities and incorporated full-page spreads of high-quality photographs of village life, along with in-depth reporting. Wallis also became a part-owner, with Champney. When it was Wallis’ turn to retire, at the end of 1991, Amy Harper became the editor. During Harper’s tenure, the News helped galvanize community support for local greenspace and conservation efforts. It also expanded its employee benefit program, adding mini-massages for staff on deadline days. She was the first female editor since Elizabeth Morgan’s brief stint in the mid-1940s and upheld the high standards of community journalism set by those before her. The change in editorship coincided with another major change: the newspaper shut down its old Miehle press, and for the first time the paper was sent out of town for printing. Digital production took hold in 2002, and computers replaced typewriters. The News is now printed at AIM Media Midwest in Miamisburg. It now takes minutes to print the 1,700 weekly copies on their giant offset presses, a far cry from a production time of more than 15 hours when it was printed in house using hot lead. Harper teamed up with fellow employees Doug Hin- kley and Karen Gardner to buy out Wallis and Champney in the early ’90s, along with the one share still owned by Kieth Howard. In 2000, Harper passed the editor torch to Robert Mihalek, who became an owner with News reporter Diane Chiddister. Chiddister took over as editor in 2006, and a few years later she brought on advertising manager Robert Hasek and design/production head Matt Minde as co-own - ers. Chiddister had been asso- ciated with the News since 1983, and worked on and off at the paper for decades as a reporter and columnist. During Chiddister’s tenure, the News was consistently recognized for high quality writing and reporting, winning Newspaper of the Year awards at the annual convention of the Ohio Newspaper (now Ohio News Media) Association in Columbus for eight years straight starting in 2011. Chiddister also was honored with an Antioch College J.D. Dawson award for her bold investigative journalism around Antioch’s closure in 2008, which helped galvanize alumni and community members to support, and eventually reopen, the college. Former News reporter Megan Bachman was the next editor in line, starting the job in 2018. Bachman worked with co-owners Minde and Suzanne Szem- pruch, advertising manager, to see the paper through an intense period of coronavi- rus pandemic coverage, to re-format its annual Guide to Yellow Springs publica- tion into a magazine, and to expand the editorial page to incorporate a wide variety of community-written columns. Yellow Springs native Cheryl Durgans was named editor in August 2021, becoming the first Black editor in News history. ♦ Compiled by PAM GE I SEL , Updated by MEGAN BACHMAN , July, 2021 This list covers the years from 1941 (the earliest printed copy of the News in the paper’s archives) until today. Throughout the years, the News listed its staff in various ways. Sometimes many names were listed in the masthead and other times just the editor and managers were noted. WHO’S WORKED at the NEWS Mary B. Altenbernd Kate Anderson Dave Anthony Nina Anthony Brian Appleberry Eric Appleberry Kim Appleberry Lynton Appleberry Joe Ayres Megan Bachman Michael Beller Mark Bernstein Natalie Bernstein Louise Betcher Rita C. Bird Emmons Blake Landrum Bolling Eric L. Brown Brooke Bryan Leland C. Bullen Kevin Burton Ann Cannon Becky Champney Carl Champney Heidi Champney Jack Champney Ken Champney Sometimes job descriptions accompanied staffers’ names. There were times in the 1980s when the News did not publish a staff list. The names of most staff members listed below appear as they did when they worked here, although it is possible that some may have changed their names. We apologize if any names have been omitted or are incorrect. *An asterisk indicates current News staffer. Peg Champney Prentice Champney Wendy Champney Betsy Cheney Diane Chiddister Barney Cohen Stephanie Collier Ty Cooper Kym Cordell Shane Creepingbear Continued on page 82 BENT I NO’S BE Pizza o f Y e l l o w S p r i n g s hand-toSSed & thin cruSt Pizza gyros • Calzones • Bread stiCks Pasta • Wings • Hoagies • salads 107½ Xenia Ave. 937-767-2500 See full menu or order online at www.bentinos.com/yellow-springs GEC GrEEn EnvironmEntal Coalition Working at the local level to protect the environment since 1990. P.o. Box 553, Yellow Springs 9 37-305-6735 • info@greenlink.org www.greenlink.org