A milestone reached

     As is announced elsewhere in this week’s edition, the 131-year-old Goldendale Sentinel is under new ownership as of this date. We congratulate Lou Marzeles and Leslie Geatches and wish them well in this new endeavor. Certainly, they are more excited about this new direction in their lives than we are in our own new direction, one without our personal investment in The Sentinel.
     Our ownership of The Sentinel spans 26 proud years, the last 16 while living and working in Idaho and managing from afar with the conscientious help of quality managers and staff members.
     Just like eastern Klickitat County, The Sentinel’s history is one of hardships, changes and successes and has survived through relatively few ownerships.
      While the founding of the state’s third oldest community newspaper is a bit clouded, it is generally observed that The Sentinel found its beginnings in 1879 and was born from the mergers of at least two nameplates, the Goldendale Gazette and the Klickitat Sentinel.
      It’s well worth the mentioning that communities in Klickitat County had, at one time, a newspaper, owing to the idea that all you needed were sheets of paper and an ample inventory of Linotype lead to melt and fold into type—more than just a little reminiscent of today’s on-line newspapers and Craigslist.
      The Goldendale Sentinel survived this onslaught of competitors, and I suspect Klickitat County’s largest newspaper will survive within the confines of this electronic age with, of course, the continued support of subscribers, readers and advertisers. We have great faith in community newspapers which continue to look to their community first for news and advertising dollars.

     1878 - C.K. and K.A. Seitz, 7 years
     1885 - R.O. Dunbar, 14 years
     1899 - Wm. F. Byars, 9 years
     1908 - E.C. and N.L. Ward, 2 years
     1910 - Irving S. Bath, 26 years
     1936 - Harold Fariello, 20 years and Archie Radcliffe
     1956 - Pete May, 18 years
     1974 - Hood River News, Inc., 10 years and Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
     1984 - A.J. and Lynda McNab, 26 years
     2010 - Co-owner Lou Marzeles and Leslie Geatches

     It is timely we also note these names and dates of previous owners of this newspaper, two of whom were still living in Goldendale when we purchased our first newspaper. In 1978, while working for Eagle Newspapers, Inc., I had the honor of meeting and visiting with Harold Fariello. Mr. Fariello and his bride, Mabel, owned and published this newspaper for 20 successful years.
     Also reaching out to help a newspapering wet-behind-the-ears publisher during this same timeframe were Pete and Jerrine May, owners of The Sentinel for 18 years before selling to Eagle.      The Mays were careful not to cross the bounds of interference but were also vigilant in helping a new publisher realize the importance of truly local news coverage.
     We would be honored were the same asked of us.
—Andy and Lynda McNab

A milestone reached II

     It’s a new era at The Sentinel, and that’s saying quite a lot for a newspaper with such a rich and celebrated history.
     I can’t begin to express my deep appreciation for Andy and Lynda McNab, for their years of guiding of this publication, for their concern and investment in this community, for their personal friendship and counsel. Leslie and I will lean heavily on the latter in the coming months, as we draw upon their invaluable experience in the charting of our course for the years ahead.
     I also want to acknowledge two additional people without whom none of this would have happened. One is my late wife, Shelley, whose desire to return close to her family was the immediate impetus to move here and who passed away weeks after our arrival. The other is my partner, Leslie Geatches, whose faith in this community and this newspaper is enormously inspiring. Her presence here, I have no doubt, will prove enormously beneficial.
     It’s an honor to be here, in Goldendale and at The Sentinel. I so appreciate the remarkable staff of the newspaper. I am only beginning to fully appreciate the extraordinary nature of this community and its environs, and I look forward to proactively reflecting that nature in the pages of this publication.

—Lou Marzeles