Council Grove ? While most of the nation’s newspapers are leading their front pages with disturbing images of war in the Middle East and economic troubles in corporate America, one Kansas paper is not.

Instead, as it’s done for more than 130 years, the front page of the Council Grove Republican tells stories many papers may not deem Page 1 material.

They are stories about potluck dinners, soup suppers, births, deaths, local sports and weather. And even with little attention to design or layout, according to the paper’s 88-year-old advertising director, Don McNeal, who’s been part of the Republican since 1936, the paper is doing what it does best: community journalism — with a twist.

That “twist” is what makes the small-town paper’s way of delivering news a little different from the way the “Big Boys” do it, he said, referring to big-city papers.

“We want to print all the news, but do it kindly,” he said, quoting acquaintance and renowned Kansas newspaper man of the 1930s, the late Charlie Harger.

According to McNeal, that means handling the news “with a little more concern about whom we are writing,” without jeopardizing the integrity of what is being printed.

A motto McNeal has stood by since he took co-ownership of the paper in 1947, it’s served the publication well. In a time when small-town newspapers are facing tough economic situations, the Republican, the third smallest paper in Kansas, a circulation of 2,140, has stood the test of time. It continues its tradition of daily delivery in a town whose population is 1,000 less than it was when McNeal started at the paper nearly 70 years ago.

“They certainly have shown a commitment to continuing to give the community a daily newspaper,” said Jeff Burkhead, president of the Kansas Press Association. “The McNeals and Council Grove have had that tradition and I do commend them for it.”

Getting the paper out

In 1914, the Republican became a daily publication, and since then, it hasn’t missed a day of being Morris County’s primary source of news every day of the week, except Saturdays and Sundays.

Its longevity, according to the senior newspaperman, is attributed to only one thing.

Don McNeal, 88, edits copy at his desk at The Council Grove Republican in Council Grove. McNeal, who has invested more than 65 years of his life at the Republican, is as much a part of the paper's past as he is its present. Twenty-three years after the community threw him a surprise retirement party, he still works 50 to 60 hours a week. The five employees of the Republican have a combined total of 167 years of work for the paper.

“Pride is what keeps us going,” McNeal said. “Pride in the community, pride in the people … you know that you love them.”

It’s pride, he said, that has helped the paper withstand the changing tides of time.

Even the rising tide of the Neosho River for three consecutive days in 1951 couldn’t stop the press. With water 34 inches deep in the newspaper office, the Republican managed to publish a paper, albeit on a much smaller scale, one by one from a hand-fed press.

Getting the paper out wasn’t optional, especially in a time like that, he said.

“It becomes something that kind of helps settle people,” he said.

Papers were even delivered by boat to reach some subscribers, McNeal remembers.

McNeal graduated from Kansas State University and started at the Republican in 1936 as city editor.

“I ran the streets, the courthouse and the night meetings,” he said.

Maintaining status quo

Nearly 70 years later, not much has changed.

In fact, not much does change at the Republican — except the daily news and a recent 10-cent rate increase, the first in nearly 15 years.

Behind the blue awning at its location on Main Street, the quaint newspaper office is a reflection of its no-frills approach to publishing.

In a building in which the most modern equipment is a Macintosh Plus computer, circa 1980s, the paper’s past is everywhere. Photographs on the walls tell the story of the paper’s first days in business. The antiquated printing equipment tells of the days when hot type was used to lay out a newspaper and before the paper was taken to Junction City every morning to be printed.

Well-rounded employees

Even the employees have become fixtures in the business. The five employees of the Republican have a combined total of 167 years of work for the paper.

McNeal, who has invested more than 65 years of his life at the Republican, is as much a part of the paper’s past as he is its present.

Twenty-three years after the community threw him a surprise “retirement” party, he still works 50 to 60 hours a week and is always the first to arrive at the paper each morning, ready for a full day’s work, according to his son, Craig McNeal, who came back to work at the paper in the mid-1960s and later took over ownership.

“I do what most old newspaper people do,” Don McNeal said, jokingly. “I handle some advertising, I’m the obituary editor, I write a column and cover school board meetings.”

Ask Don McNeal or any of the employees what their job titles are and they may chuckle a little. The title most attached to Don McNeal is “The Old One,” one that he adopted as people in town used it as a way differentiate between the father and son.

It’s not about that, said Craig McNeal.

“We don’t really worry about titles; we just do what we know we need to do.”

For the younger McNeal, that means doing the job of several reporters, covering the police beat, the city and county beats, even sports. He’s also the paper’s photographer and, some days, he even throws a paper route or two.

He makes his rounds each morning to the Morris County Courthouse, city hall, police and sheriff’s departments and the high school. Back in the office by a little after 9 a.m., he has about 30 minutes to write his stories and get them ready for paste-up.

Some days, Craig McNeal has written more than 150 column inches of copy for the paper.

With night meetings and sports events three to four nights a week, it’s a life that doesn’t allow for much time off, he said. The last week he had off for vacation was in 1988.

But Craig McNeal didn’t choose his life to accumulate vacation time.

He works 60 or more hours a week because he loves the variety in his job. He loves the people in town, and he loves Council Grove.

His dad agrees.

“I enjoy it more than I ever have,” The Old One said. “Sometimes you picture what the ‘Big Boys’ are doing, but as I’ve matured, I’ve realized that it’s the people in town … pretty soon, Main Street becomes your street … pretty soon, you feel ownership.”

According to Craig McNeal, not much change is in store for the paper. “We definitely plan to continue as a daily newspaper unless the economy or something unforeseen just forces us to make a change,” he said.

And as far as the paper’s operation goes, the staff at the Republican are pretty happy with the status quo.

“We’re comfortable with still pasting up instead of pagination,” Craig McNeal said.

And he’s not entirely convinced that more advanced newspaper technology would save much time in the end.

“Technology-wise, the day may come when we might upgrade or something,” he said. “But for now, they’re just doing what we want them to do.”