----- Original Message ----- From: Mic Barnette To: [email protected] ; [email protected] ; Clara Malak ; [email protected] ; [email protected] Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 10:06 PM Subject: Mic Barnette's Genealogical Column Hi Everyone: The Houston Chronicle has had their annual shake-up of editors and the Houston Section has a new editor. My genealogical column in the Houston Chronicle has not run in four weeks. Initially the editor said there was not enough space and it would run the following week. Now she says she wants to gauge the response of the readers. The current column each week has been on the Deaths Page of the Chronicle for the past several years. It was taken offline this past weekend. It was a year ago last Spring when we did this last time. It overwhelmed the editors with the response we got from Houstonians, Texans and readers from outside Texas. I would have thought last year's rally should have held the editors off several years. BUT, there is a whole new crop of editors who evidently don't remember last year. So, here we go again! You might wish to send this or a message of your own to your genealogical friends and each society to which you belong. The more response the Chronicle gets the stronger our message. Here is the information about the column: 1) The column has run in the Houston Chronicle just over 10 years. It has run the last year and a half quite successfully in the Saturday edition of the Houston Section. This section has the movies, comics, crossword puzzle and other items of popular interest. This column goes anywhere the Chronicle goes-worldwide. This is an ideal location and where the column really needs to continue running. . 2) For the initial years of the column it ran in the This Week Section. While it was nice to have the column in the newspaper not just anyone could get it. If someone bought the newspaper in a newstand or outside the metro area of Houston the column was not included in the newspaper. Should the column get reinstituted back in the newspaper we may have to fight to keep it in the Houston Section and not in the This Week Section. Problems with the This Week Section include: The This Week is only delivered within Metro Houston. It would not appear outside the city of Houston.-such as areas of Kingwood and anything north including Montgomery County and Huntsville, plus, Galveston Island, Brenham, Bryan, Victoria, Beaumont, nor anywhere beyond those points. Within Houston the This Week section is a zoned part of the newspaper. There are about 16 zones within the city. Each zone has a different editor and each zone has it's own space problems. This means the column may be published in full in one zone but only partially or not at all in another zone during the same week. 3) The feedback I have gotten from both readers and societies over the years has been awesome. Basically the column has been a great communications facilitator for the Houston (and other areas) genealogical community. So, if you would like the column to continue in the Chronicle please call and or write or both, the Reader Rep and the editor, Jessica Danes. I would appreciate a copy or blind copy of your emails. The emails for all three of us are listed below. James T. Campbell (Reader Rep) E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 713-220-6303 If his email bounces, email [email protected] and ask the online people to direct the email to the Reader Rep. Houston Section Editor: Jessica Danes [email protected] I would appreciate any comment you might have and would appreciate receiving a blind copy of any emails you send at [email protected] Thanks for your support now and in the past, Mic Barnette