An unspoken dream fulfilled

The first time I got paid for writing a newspaper story, I was 16 years old. I wrote sports stories for a weekly newspaper in Pine Bluff that has long since closed its doors. I was paid 25 cents per column inch — about $15 to fill up half a page.

Fast-forward 37 years and I’m pinching myself because I’ve finally fulfilled a dream that was in the back of my head for years, although I never allowed myself to say it out loud.

Effective Jan. 1, I’ll be the majority owner, editor and publisher of the Carroll County News and its sister publications. I’ll own the paper along with my partners, David Bell and Steve Johnson.

I’ve made my living as a professional journalist for my entire adult life. It’s all I’ve ever known. As I look back, I think about that 16-year-old kid and I know that if you’d told him that one day he would own a newspaper, he wouldn’t have believed. That young man’s goal was to be a professional beat writer for a major league baseball team. That never quite worked out, but I’m not complaining.

I think about all the people who helped me along the way, starting with my late mother, who would type up the stories I wrote out by hand each week and then drove me more than 40 miles round-trip to drop off my work at the old Pine Bluff News.

My mom was my biggest supporter. Without her encouragement and her belief in me and my potential, I almost certainly wouldn’t be in the position I’m in today. I only hope that she is watching and that she knows how much I owe her.

I think about the late Rick Joslin, my first editor, who encouraged me and who introduced me to the late, great Dean Duncan, journalism professor at the University of Central Arkansas.

I wasn’t a good college student. I didn’t handle my newfound freedom well, and that’s a huge regret. But I paid rapt attention to everything Mr. D said, and the things I learned from him stay with me today.

There have been many others, of course, who’ve helped me along the way. No one succeeds completely on their own, and I owe a huge debt to all those who encouraged me and taught me over the past 37 years.

I always thought maybe I’d someday buy a little paper somewhere. I never thought it would be this newspaper, the newspaper I’ve come to love almost as if it were my child.

I’m overwhelmed. I’m humbled. I’m a little nervous. But most of all, I’m excited.

I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this newspaper and for the community we serve.

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Scott Loftis is managing editor for Carroll County Newspapers. His email address is SLoftis@cherryroad.com.