Crawford wants newspaper to eat its words

San Antonio EXpress-News ^ | 09/30/2004 | Rebeca Rodriguez

[Ramonan]

CRAWFORD — Photos of President Bush hugging diners and mugging for the camera adorn the walls of the Crawford Coffee Station, a popular cafe in this small Central Texas town Bush calls home. But the rack that once held the Lone Star Iconoclast — Crawford's weekly newspaper — now is empty, thanks to a blistering indictment in Tuesday's paper of Bush's presidential record and a call to elect Democrat John Kerry in NThe firestorm began Tuesday morning, when readers opened up the newspaper to Page 2 and found an entire half-page criticizing the president for a variety of failings, and calling for the election of Kerry in November Iconoclast publisher W. Leon Smith, who co-wrote the editorial with two other writers, is unapologetic.

Smith is majority owner of the Iconoclast, the Record of nearby Clifton and the Bosque Globe. He's also the mayor of Clifton and a Democrat who was defeated twice in campaigns for the Texas House of Representatives.

Wednesday, staffers were busy putting together the Record, which hits stands today.

They also were busy fielding phone call after phone call from curious journalists, emotional readers, and angry advertisers.

"Some of them do use colorful language," marketing director Melanie Milbradt said with a grin.

As of Wednesday morning, more than a dozen readers had canceled their subscription and six advertisers had pulled their spots from the paper.

Smith expects there will be more, and he's preparing for the worst.

"It will probably put us under," he said.

[cricket]

"I bet he was closing his doors anyway and just decided to go out kicking."

. . .right!

[expat_panama]

Failed pol and now a failed publisher.

Not really.  The Clifton Record has been the hometown newspaper for years and IMHO is here to stay.  W. Leon Smith lives here in Clifton TX., Bosque Co., which is a very blue county in the middle of a very red state-- so Leon fits right in.  If you don't believe me, you can email the paper at new@cliftonrecor.com, or call the paper (toll free) at (800) 241-5504, or (what the heck) call Leon at home at-- naw, on second thought that wouldn't be right.

 

[expat_panama]

Email error in my post..  Should be:

 

For inquiries, call (254) 675-3336 or write to:

The Clifton Record
P.O. Box 353
Clifton, TX 76634

E-mail:
   Editorial Department: news@cliftonrecord.com
   Advertising Department: ads@cliftonrecord.com

 

[LuigiBasco]

"As of Wednesday morning, more than a dozen readers had canceled their subscription and six advertisers had pulled their spots from the paper. Smith expects there will be more, and he's preparing for the worst. "It will probably put us under," he said."

Cry me a river!

[Balding_Eagle]

A few weeks ago, a reporter for the paper wrote and posted a column here at FR. It's pretty informative:HERE

[Rocky]

"He's also the mayor of Clifton and a Democrat who was defeated twice in campaigns for the Texas House of Representatives. "

The fact that he was defeated twice tells you that, although he has support in Clifton, his support in the area outside of Clifton is not very strong. I'm guessing he does not speak for the majority of people in his district.

[thegreatbeast]

Smith expects there will be more, and he's preparing for the worst. "It will probably put us under," he said.

Not really.

I sourced my comment on what the man said in the article.

[expat_panama]

...he has support in Clifton,...

And Clifton (where I'm writing from at the moment) is different from Crawford and different from the rest of Texas.   This place is like Austin around the University-- a place I got to really keep my mouth shut.

What really ticks me off about this whole business is that the MSM is trying to make it look like Crawford wants Kerry.  That's a lie.  Clifton likes Kerry but not Crawford.

 

[LuigiBasco]

"Clifton likes Kerry but not Crawford."

Makes senses to me!