History of the Sheridan Express

This is a reprint of a history of the Sheridan Express, for those of you who are new to the paper. This was written in late 2011 or early 2012.

By Jerold Drake

The history of the Sheridan Express newspaper cooperative may or may not be known to the readers of the newspaper. The face of the printed edition has from the outset been the editor, Jesse Stark. However, the newspaper is owned by its members, directors who are responsible for hiring a manager (editor) who puts out a weekly paper and supplements it with a blog on the Internet.

The Sheridan Express began after a previous newspaper, the Quad River News, ceased publication. It was felt that an effort should be made to save a valuable community asset. Supporters gathered, and each organizing member contributed $100 which was the purchase price of a membership share of what was to become a separate legal entity (consumer cooperative) chartered by the State of Missouri. The cooperative adopted a set of governing bylaws and acts as the artificial person it is. Since the Express is a successor newspaper under Missouri law, the subscribers of the former paper were used as a base for circulation. The following persons became cooperative members: Bill Mozingo, Jerry Drake, Herb Petty, Janet Larison, W.T. Osborne, Becky Parman, J.C. Parman, Larry Warren, Berkley Carr, Linda Gray Smith, Dick Thomas, Kaye Havner, Becky Cameron, Carrie Cameron, Jonathan Pintado, Bud Allee, Richard Supinger, Charles Trump, Maurice Peve, Richard Welch, Natu Patel, Edith Miller, Beth Meek, Brock Pfost, Patricia Burke, Darold Hughes, Barb Rowe, Joe Stark, Viveka Stark, Glenda Wyer, Vivian Coleman, Icle Young, Retha Floyd, Dale Rowe, Leland Wake, Scott Houk.

The financial history of the Sheridan Express has been difficult. Much of what has been accomplished has been done with volunteers. The paper itself is run on a shoestring. However, there recently (Late 2011 – ed) have been some positive signs that the newspaper can look forward to a period of better financial health. Scott Houk and Leland Wake have formed an ad hoc group to support the paper which includes the service of bookkeeping. Mary Jo Riley has joined the groups and thanks to her sales efforts, the paper is beginning to run in the block. In light of these events (which can truthfully be described as a turnaround), we believe that memberships can be marketed in a horizontal fashion to new prospective members as an investment and not necessarily as a donation only. Members share any profit equally regardless of the number of shares they purchase. For this reason, one of the first thing members do after they receive their paper is to look to see who is advertising in the paper. It is a targeted market which is different from that of the shopper mailings, which usually are immediately discarded.

There is, and will continue to be, criticism of the paper’s content. For some, it is too right wing, for others, it is too left wing. Everyone wants more reporting. Any given article can cause an uproar, but as participation increases with the addition of new members, there will be no question but that it will reflect community values.

Every printed newspaper in the United States is undergoing crisis at the present time. Many are ceasing publication altogether. Others are cutting back on investigating reporting, and the number of reporters. Efforts are being made to compensate for the loss with the news of nonprofit investigative groups, blogs, and YouTube videos. For the most part, these efforts have been financed with gifts and donations. The corporate media itself has taken on a life of its own and information we get tends to be short on facts and heavy on propaganda. 

We offer the democratic cooperative as an alternative structure for the dissemination of information. Democracy is not something that exists in a vacuum. It is something we do. If you are not presently a member, we invite you to invest in democracy and join our cooperative.