Who would have guessed?
It was exactly 17 years ago this Thursday, Jan. 29 in 2009 that Slidellians were, I’m guessing, pleasantly surprised to see a Slidell newspaper all over town.
The Slidell Independent debuted on that date, including thousands that were thrown all over driveways—something we stopped doing three years later before deciding to turn it into a totally free paper.
The former Slidell paper, the Sentry-News, had been changed into a parish paper after Hurricane Katrina, so Slidell essentially lost their hometown paper.
I say, “who would have guessed?” since I can’t tell you how many skeptics told me I was a nut for trying to start a newspaper. I even remember my wife saying we were probably the only newspaper that actually started in the past 20 years. As most of you know, newspapers have been getting shut down for years ever since the Internet showed up.
I like to say The Slidell Independent was an experiment—something that was trying to prove the community paper still has a place in our lives. And as I am certain many will now agree with me, it certainly does.
Even with that said, I am not much different than most in today’s society in that I use the Internet frequently to check info for a story, and I planned to announce that I felt a need to go back on Facebook this week since I need it for comments people make on key news issues.
Even though I did get off it completely after an ugly mayor’s election last fall, I’m stating publicly that I have it working again, even though I still do not spend any time reading posts or comments. Never have and never plan to, but in my business, I suppose I have to remain connected with what people are saying, so I will go there occasionally.
But back to what I call our “little” paper, a term my wife would prefer I don’t use. I still feel like we are typical small businesspeople, like dozens and dozens of my friends in Slidell. I feel such a connection to entrepreneurs, just like myself, who saw an opportunity to go for something, did it, and are now enjoying the benefits.
The success of The Slidell Independent, however, has proven much more than the fact that community newspapers still have a place in the present day.
I have been told numerous times in our 17 years that there is an important role the paper played for decades going back, and apparently, still does today.
This publication is the only place you will find extensive, in-depth coverage of virtually every key news story in Slidell, and St. Tammany Parish. If we don’t let you know what the government is doing, I doubt many of them will shout it from the rooftops. And very few of my stories appear in any other publication, other than the biggest news items.
Additionally, we are probably one of the few conservative newspapers in the country, and I feel that is an important thing. The conservative voices have been shouted down too much by the left. Maybe it is because I liken conservative to “Christian,” and that SHOULD mean we show kindness, love, generosity and a general attitude to “love our neighbor.”
Sorry, but I think too many on the left don’t view relationships with conservatives that way. Just look at the story on the front page today when I recounted the way a liberal opponent of restricting sexually explicit books from kids was so mad at our paper reporting that story for three years that she tried to get all our advertisers to quit supporting us.
I loved the ending to that story. Not only did no advertisers stop running with us, but we had a couple thousand bucks in ads come in from locals who wanted to state publicly they supported this paper. Wow, how humble does that make me feel.
Today I wanted to once again thank you, our readers and the local business people, for supporting this paper for 17 years. It is Slidell’s business owners who are the reason you get to pick up this paper every Thursday and know pretty much everything going on in our community. And that’s why I beg you to support our local businesses.
My promise to you is that there are no plans to change anything about this paper. I still love writing stories each week—it’s the best part of my job.
Well, maybe it rates pretty close with my other favorite part of the job—meeting my friends at local functions for fun and fellowship. How tough is that for a job anyway?
Thanks again Slidell for a great 17 years.
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].
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