I know what your thinking.

Thursday, April 06, 2000

I know what your thinking.

"It must have been a slow news day at the Austin Daily Herald Wednesday, when they ran Yours Truly’s picture on the front page," you’re thinking. "A real slow news day."

"The newspaper that cares about Austin didn’t care about us today," some of the crueler readers are saying to themselves. Like county board members for instance.

Like I always say, "I don’t write the headlines, I don’t choose the stories that go on the front page and I don’t have anything to do with when pictures get in the paper."

Let’s see – what did you like best? A picture of three people in bunny suits on Tuesday and Lee Bonorden on Wednesday.

Take your time.

Is that your final answer?

God will getcha for that.

As soon as the papers were off the presses Wednesdays, the telephone started ringing.

Well, actually two calls were related to the story on the front page.

Thanks Jim Hayden and Tom Purcell for your calls.

Must have been a slow day in their lives, too, Wednesday.

The man I want to thank is Roman Landherr, who lives on a farm near Taopi and collects Allis Chalmers tractors and machinery.

He graciously consented to an interview one day last summer and kindly showed me his collection and told me all about Allis Chalmers.

Truth be told, there were a couple of things in the story that Mr. Landherr didn’t like, but he called me up again sometime later to tell me about the 35th anniversary of the Meyer family’s Saab dealership in Meyer, Iowa.

And, my colleague, Amy Kennebec entered the story; not I. So, she deserves credit for recognizing a genius’ work all by herself.

Sometimes, I think there isn’t a new story to be told out there.

Then, I have a good time talking to a stranger and remind myself there will always be new stories to be told out there.

Mr. Landherr for what he said and how he said it deserves accolades.

Of course, a third place award, nice though it is, is not the same as the dozen or so awards collected by KAUS AM-FM radio’s news department this year.

Twelve to be sure.

I’d like to congratulate Dan Conradt and the rest at KAUS.

We’re competitors, but we’re all in the business of communicating the truth to the public and there’s room and the need for everyone.

Of course, I could be accused of over-kill. It was only in January that my pictured appeared on the front page of an Austin Daily Herald with a reflection-type story.

We got a bunch of comedians at the Austin Daily Herald. Take our advertising director, Brian Moser for example. He can’t resist the temptation to zing me and this provided him with just the opportunity. Obviously, he’s just jealous.

Mike "Shorty" Schwertdfeger is another wise guy – although he doesn’t try to be. When the story about wining an award came off the presses Wednesday with a picture of Yours Truly, I asked Shorty, "How many extra copies did you print?" His answer was, "None. Just another paper. Why do you ask?"

I called my son at home to warn him what he would see in the paper when he plucked it from the tree out front.

I could still hear him laughing after hanging up the telephone.

Lee Bonorden’s column appears Thursdays