by Peter Weinberger

Happy holidays, everyone!

Hope you all had a merry and jolly holiday and New Year’s celebration. I’ve written numerous times about the lengthy and costly production process behind publishing a newspaper. As we enter the new year, here’s a brief roundup of the people who actually make the Claremont Courier happen.

Dee Proffitt

Dee gets to go first because she’s our longest-tenured staffer at 30 years. Her focus is accounting — billing, customer service, paying the bills — and most importantly, making sure our books are ready for tax preparation by our incredible third-party vendor and nonprofit consulting service, BryteBridge. Located in Winter Park, Florida, BryteBridge handles our complex filings and keeps us compliant with the IRS.

Dee has long been the Courier’s utility infielder, working behind the scenes to ensure our business and subscriber needs are handled quickly and correctly.

Grace Felschundneff

Grace, like just about everyone else at the Courier, could have several job titles. Her primary focus is designing advertising and our classified section (those last nine pages of the paper). She also manages and sells advertising to real estate clients, which is the main reason our real estate revenue has jumped 75% over the past three years.

Grace has an incredible attitude, is a talented designer and copy editor, and thrives under deadline. To say her glass is half full is an understatement: her glass is overflowing.

Skylar Anderson

Editorial designers are a rare breed. They combine news judgment, editing, and design into one very valuable person. Skylar has a creative eye for making the Courier easy to read and navigate, which is critical for any newspaper or website. She designs our popular newsletters, updates the website and social channels, and edits photos as well. Skylar has that unique ability to juggle tasks, embrace deadline pressure, and still produce beautiful pages for our readers, all while maintaining her cool composure. It’s a rare and much valued skill in the journalism business. Her job is so important that former Courier editors — including my father Martin, Kathryn Dunn, and yours truly — were all deeply involved in page design.

Tom Smith

In a world filled with lofty, exaggerated job titles, Tom insists his title should simply read “driver.” So let me clarify: yes, Tom is our official Courier driver; he picks up the print edition each week, gets it to our mailing crew, fills our news racks (yes, we still have those), and makes sure they actually work despite whatever junk pranksters shove into the coin slots.

But Tom is far more than a driver. If your paper doesn’t arrive, he’s the guy knocking on your door, hand-delivering a copy. He’s the go-to when we need help. He assists with circulation, prints about 2,700 labels each week, and is the primary photographer behind “Where am I?” When Tom took time off this year, it took an army to fill his shoes.

Morgan Kelly

Morgan manages classifieds, legal notices, and subscriber services. If calls need to be made, she’s the person; she has a smooth, radio-quality voice people actually enjoy hearing. Morgan also oversees delivery to new residents, who receive a free four-month subscription — a key tool in gaining new paying subscribers. Managing legal notices requires strict rules with consequences if not done precisely. Morgan’s job is filled with details that demand follow-through, and she’s the one who delivers.

Andrew Alonzo

Now meet the Courier’s reporting staff. Okay, maybe that’s not entirely accurate — we have a great stable of stringers, and Mick Rhodes and I write — but still, it’s not far off. I’ve been in this business 50 years, and the best way to produce great journalism is to hire qualified reporters. Andrew takes “general assignment” to new heights. He’s our sports, city, calendar, feature, Our Town, photographer, and general-assignment reporter. His business card really needs to be legal-sized.

Andrew is conscientious, sweats the details, hates mistakes, and is very hard on himself. But his work ethic and people skills are turning him into our most recognized staff member. Every week we hear from readers about his professionalism.

Anna Hoy

As advertising director, Anna may have the toughest job at the Courier. In two years she has built an enormous contact list and is overflowing with marketing ideas. She’s an experienced salesperson who must convince clients of the Courier’s value in an industry, print journalism, that’s supposedly dying.

Anna’s can-do attitude and willingness to dive into different parts of the business have been invaluable. Her communication skills are excellent, and she’s become our behind-the-scenes organizer. She also keeps an impressive snack inventory in her office, which I greatly appreciate. Without her work, the Courier would not be in business.

Mick Rhodes

Editors get a clear view of what makes a community tick. With 10 years at the Courier and nearly four as editor, Mick is that person. He edits every word of every story in print and online — dozens each week, 52 weeks a year. He is always on the clock and ready for breaking news. Mick is also our resident expert wordsmith and editorial leader. His bible is the AP Stylebook. He’s a prolific writer with strong opinions, but listens to contrary viewpoints. And with roughly 30,000 readers a week, there are plenty of those. Mick is calm and professional, a team player who leaves his ego at the door. His passion for truth and accuracy is a perfect fit for the Courier mission.

Peter Weinberger

Gone are the days when one person — like my father Martin — could serve as both editor and publisher week after week. But my position still requires that I play whatever role is needed to keep the presses rolling, especially as a nonprofit.

The new model for local news is digital-first: raise money through grants and donations, sell sponsorship-style advertising, and build a membership subscription base. Because we are a hybrid — print and digital — we’ve taken all that on and added a newspaper in the mix. And given the strong subscriber support for print, I still believe it’s the best way to serve this community.

I turn 70 in 2026, and my focus will remain on journalism and photography, while helping raise revenue any way I can. I may not be able to do it all, but I have no intention of backing away from this mission. My job is to do whatever it takes to keep the Courier strong and independent.

At the end of the day, we are a tiny crew publishing a full-sized newspaper and website for a very demanding, very intelligent community. We argue, we laugh, we panic under deadline, and then we do it all over again the next week, because Claremont cares about facts, context, and truth. That support keeps us showing up. As we enter another year of fact-based local journalism, we all want to thank you for reading, subscribing, donating, and stopping us on the street to tell us what we got right (or wrong). We’re here because you’re here, and we’re not going anywhere.

Happy New Year.