Brand, subject, title: Price: Price Range: - Zip Code:
Exact Zip Code
Name / Business:
Entire Site
New Listings Free Item
   
   
Current Listing (24, 6 New)

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Advertising, marketing, promotions
*Mark Twain's observation for the spider on the newspaper EZ Filing™



EZ Classified Advertizing™, (free or flat fee classified advertising listings) a Nixon Newspapers affiliate   317 844-8189
  Carmel IN #EZ.23177 Exp 12-30
    Website Link:   www.ezclassifiedz.com/classifieds/classified.php?pid=0&cid=101
    Don Nixon, Chief Cheerleader, Editor & Publisher, Proofreader   Email:     Ref:   USPS Direct Mail  



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Advertising, marketing, promotions
Your cash drawer is best measure of effective ads

If you are not putting more money in your drawer, it makes little difference if you have a great rate or your ads win all kinds of awards.

EZ Classified Advertizing™, (free or flat fee classified advertising listings) a Nixon Newspapers affiliate   317 844-8189
  160 W Carmel Dr Carmel IN, 46032 #EZ.12412 Exp 01-31
    Website Link:   www.ezclassifiedz.com/classifieds/classified.php?pid=0&cid=101
    Willard P. Rohrer, General/Business Manager   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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Advertising, marketing, promotions
EZ Classified Advertizing™ SOP, category stylebook

When someone wants to know more about your services, s/he will want to know where you are located and what you offer. Since ads are sorted alphabetically by title, similar services are sorted together. Since the title field is searchable, someone can find your company simply by typing in your specialty.

This category contains several different specific services, so identify the generic subject as the first word in your ad. For instance, if you offer web site hosting and design, say: Internet, web hosting. You could also provide a separate listing which begins: Web site design

Other search parameters: business name, zip code (both 3 digit and 5 digit), price, free items and new items. If you have questions, please use e-mail contact button.


EZ Classified Advertizing™, (free or flat fee classified advertising listings) a Nixon Newspapers affiliate   317 844-8189
  #EZ.7554 Exp 12-31
    Willard P. Rohrer, General/Business Manager   Email:    



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Announcements
A question: what will you do to bring back to life - local journalism
Price: $0.02 / priceless

Indiana Daily Student - comprehensive caledar of events on campus and off
Bowling scores
Name or picture in the paper
High school activities, particularly sports (other school down to kindergarten can get the name in the paper - birthday Class of 1960)
Hillsdale College campaign to improve public middle and high school education
Unlimited content, categories and listings, easy to locate by zip code
Competition between schools in each zip code so all is local and people are interested...remember the old Indiana high school basketball single class and what it
Replace the yellow page directory model (subscription price based on category-church or babysitters)


Creative Thinking, Inc   317 844-8189
  160 W Carmel Dr Carmel IN, 46032 #EZ.56661 Exp 12-25
    Website Link:   ashland.news
    Don Nixon, Chief Cheerleader, Editor & Publisher, Proofreader   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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Animals, pets
♦ Classified SOP, category stylebook

When someone wants to know more about your services, s/he will want to know where you are located and what you offer. Since ads are sorted alphabetically by title, similar services are sorted together. The title field is searchable, so someone can find you simply by typing in a breed or category.

This category contains several different but related subjects, so identify the generic subject as the first word in your ad. For instance, if you want to give away kittens, say: Cat, Siamese, free kittens. You may also provide a separate listing which begins: Pet food, Purina Cat fish chow

Other search parameters: business name, zip code (both 3 digit and 5 digit), price, free items and new items. If you have questions, please use e-mail contact button.


EZ Classified Advertising™, (free or flat fee classified advertising listings) a Nixon Newspapers affiliate  
  #EZ.7563 Exp 12-31
   



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Auctions, sales
♦ Classified SOP, category stylebook


Post your sale bills here, list all your upcoming auctions for a single flat fee and watch your attendance and sales shoot up.

When someone wants to know more about your sale, s/he will want to know where the sale will take place and specifically what items may be unusual.

Since ads are sorted alphabetically by title, similar items are sorted together. Since the title field is searchable, someone can find special items in this sale, which you can list separately with a full description including, model year, color, size, etc.
 
Provide complete information about sales terms. If you have questions, please use our e-mail contact button below.


EZ Classified Advertizing™, (free or flat fee classified advertising listings) a Nixon Newspapers affiliate   317 844-8189
  160 W Carmel Dr Carmel IN, 46032 #EZ.5111 Exp 12-31
    Website Link:   www.auctionsandgaragesales.com
    Willard Rohrer   Email:    



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Advertising, marketing, promotions
♦ Classified SOP, category stylebook - Acceptable ads

One would think acceptable advertising content would not have to have an exhaustive list of that which will not be accepted. But in this day and age, some folks will think of options we have not considered.

All ads we post are subject to our approval and we will look diligently for those which are not appropriate. Click on the "Website Link:" below and in a case like this one, we would hope to catch it so it would not have been posted and then we would follow up and forward all information we have to the proper authorities.


EZ Classified Advertizing™, (free or flat fee classified advertising listings) a Nixon Newspapers affiliate  
  #EZ.13501 Exp 12-30
    Website Link:   www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9859100-7.html
    Willard P Rohrer, Classified Advertising Mgr   Email:     Ref:   CNET Networks - c|net.com  



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Audio, cell phones, electronics, pda
Cell phone -- Do not call lists, DNC

Federal Communications Commission rules used to prohibit telemarketing calls to a cellphone. You can call the national DO NOT CALL list from your cell phone to block your number for 5 years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked.

National Do Not Call Registry   888 382-1222
  #EZ.3477 Exp 12-31
    Website Link:   www.donotcall.gov
    Ref:   Snopes - http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp  



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Heard around town
Cheer for chocolate this holiday season

Dove - Dark Chocolate wrapper  
  #EZ.58316 Exp 11-27
   



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Animals, pets
Contemplating Cats

Contemplating Cats

There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." --Anonymous

"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this." --Anonymous

"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow." --Jeff Valdez

"In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats." --English proverb

"As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat." --Ellen Perry Berkeley

"One cat just leads to another." --Ernest Hemingway

"Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message and get back to you later." --Mary Bly

"Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia." --Joseph Wood Krutch

"People that hate cats, will come back as mice in their next life." --Faith Resnick

"There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats." --Anonymous

"I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior." --Hippolyte Taine

"No heaven will not ever Heaven be; Unless my cats are there to welcome me." --Unknown

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats." --Albert Schweitzer

"The cat has too much spirit to have no heart." --Ernest Menaul

"Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God." --Anonymous

"Time spent with cats is never wasted." --Colette

"Some people say cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities as well." --Missy Dizick

"You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats." --Colonial American proverb

"Cats seem to go on the principle it never does any harm to ask for what you want." --Joseph Wood Krutch

"I got rid of my husband. The cat was allergic." --Anonymous

"My husband said it was him or the cat... I miss him sometimes." --Anonymous

"Cats aren't clean, they're just covered with cat spit." --Anonymous


EZ Classified Advertizing™   317 844-8189
  160 W Carmel Dr Carmel IN, 46032 #EZ.51509 Exp 12-30
    Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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Stories, favorites and great
Darwin awards

Here: The Glorious Winner:
When his .38 caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, would-be robber, James Elliot, did something which only inspires wonder.

He peered down the barrel, then tried the trigger again.

This time it worked.

And Now: The Honorable Mentions:
The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and after a little shopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company, expecting negligence, sent one of its men to look for himself.

He tried the machine and also lost a finger.

The chef's claim was approved.


After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found twenty mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped.

Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff his patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies.

The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.


An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.


A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. After the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter.

The total amount of cash he got from the drawer: $15.
[If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?]


As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store.

The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."



When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street by sucking on a hose, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline, but he plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake.

The vehicle's owner declined to press charges saying it was the best laugh he'd ever had and the perp had been punished enough!


  #EZ.31328 Exp 11-27
    Ref:   Carol Sternecker  



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Heard around town
Do it or do not do it -- you will regret both

~Soren Kierkegaard, philosopher, theologian, poet, writer  
  #EZ.58428 Exp 11-27
   



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Frequently asked questions
FAQ: How to find local information - search by zip code

Step #1:
Enter your zip code. The database will select all items with the first three digits of your zip code, in this case "460" which generally is a sectional center or a 50 mile radius.

Step #2:
If that search displays too many results, click the box for "Exact" zip code. Then the database will select all items in the five digits of your zip code, in this case "46032" which generally is a 10 mile radius.

Step #3:
Click the "Search" button

To see the detail, click the website link below.


  #EZ.30246 Exp 12-31
    Website Link:   www.ezclassifiedz.com/classifieds/classified.php?pid=0&cid=102
    Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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Frequently asked questions
FAQ: How to find specific categories and subjects

Each data base is custom and may have different categories. Look under "Announcements" for a cross reference where to find different subjects.

EZ Classified Advertising™, (free or flat fee classified advertising listings) a Nixon Newspapers affiliate   317 844-8189
  160 W Carmel Dr Carmel IN, 46032 #EZ.30618 Exp 12-31
    Willard P. Rohrer, General/Business Manager   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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Frequently asked questions
FAQ: How to find specific known business #1

Step #1:
Enter the name of the business. The more letters you use in the search the more precise it will be, but if you use fewer letters, more choices will appear.

Step #2:
Determine if you want to search the entire database or only this category.

Step #3:
Click the "Search" button

To make the search more precise, add additional fields.


EZ Classified Advertising™, (free or flat fee classified advertising listings) a Nixon Newspapers affiliate   317 844-8189
  #EZ.30243 Exp 12-31
    Website Link:   www.ezclassifiedz.com/classifieds/classified.php?pid=0&cid=102
    Willard P Rohrer, Classified Advertising Mgr   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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Announcements
Get it first...but...
Price: $1,000,000.00 / and no less

first, get it RIGHT!



Not sure the previous owner but think it was a savings and loan building converted to Nixon Newspapers headquarters, and daily Wabash Plain Dealer with re-plated Times Star for mail subscribers.

Note the PLAIN DEALER name carved above the brass front doors and clock* outside at the corner.

The press was in the basement as was newsprint storage which went under the sidewalks on Canal and Wabash streets.

The safe door for secured deposit boxes was never closed and was permanent since its weight would collapse the floor if an attempt to remove it was planned.

Entering the main front door, you passed the stairs to the basement and the office on the left was Nixon Newspapers headquarters for Wabash, Peru and Michigan City newspapers, Nixon Newspaper Associates, Nixon Newspapers, Inc., and Nixon Newspapers Benevolent Association, Inc.

The office to the right was occupied by Joe Nixon (my father) who was General Manager and the middle lobby divided the teller stations so on the right the Plain Dealer classified advertising and subscription operations and on the left, all general administration work for the newspaper operations was conducted. Willard Rohrer occupied the front office to manage all business purchasing, banking, insurance, payroll, taxes, union/labor agreements.

The far balcony offices were for the display advertising sales people when in the office and the front balcony was for the Publisher, Eugenia Hubbard Nixon Honeywell, who was seldom present at the office.

Beyond the far balcony, stairs to the upper floor and exit on Wabash Street may have influenced visitors dealing with the news department or the daily make up production of "hot metal" typesetting for the news and advertising content of the daily printed product.

*The clock was manually operated winding it every 8 days. It was astounding how many people would notice if and when the clock was not on time.

PS: If the photo is not displayed, click the website link below


Nixon Newspapers, Inc   317 844-8189
  2 W Canal St Wabash IN, 46992 #EZ.53072 Exp 12-30
    Website Link:   www.ezclassifiedz.com/classifieds/classified.php?pid=0&cid=26
    Don Nixon, Chief Cheerleader, Editor & Publisher, Proofreader   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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Heard around town
Holiday cheer begins here.

Dove - Dark Chocolate wrapper  
  #EZ.58191 Exp 11-28
   



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Advertising, marketing, promotions
In advertising, what is the difference between news, advertising

Don Nixon II, former Publisher, Proofreader

Credible sources of information are valuable, respected and reliable. Advertisers like to attempt to gain the same reputation and sources of information often “lend” their reputation to their paying supporters.

It’s begins a tightrope journey from integrity.


EZ Classified Advertizing™   317 844-8189
  160 W Carmel Dr Carmel IN, 46032 #EZ.47262 Exp 12-30
    Don Nixon, Chief Cheerleader, Editor & Publisher, Proofreader   Email:     Ref:   Quora question:  



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Alumni, classmates, news, reunions
Nixon, Don M. II

  Don Nixon developed a custom web database system which permits many options. He now resides in Carmel IN with special time in Naples FL.
 
  He and ACACIA fraternity father, Richard Ford occassionally cross paths working on a promotion project for Wabash, their home town.
 
  The telephone number listed below is Don's direct number. The website link points to one of his custom database projects.


Indiana University - Class: 1964 ACACIA Fraternity   317 844-8189
  PO Box 341 Carmel IN, 46082 #EZ.7559 Exp 06-01
    Website Link:   www.radioad.org/kube
    Don Nixon   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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Stories, favorites and great
Professional helper
Price: $0.02 / my two cents worth

She hurried to the pharmacy to get medication, got back to her car and found she had locked her keys inside.

The woman found an old rusty coat hanger left on the ground.  She looked at it and said, "I don’t know how to use this."

She bowed her head and asked God to send her some help.

Within 5 minutes a beat-up old motorcycle pulled up, driven by a bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag.

He got off of his cycle and asked if he could help.

She said; “Yes, my daughter is sick.  I've locked my keys in my car.
I must get home.  Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?”

He said; “Sure."  He walked over to the car, and in less than a minute, the car door was open.

She hugged the man and through tears, softly said,  "Thank you, God, for sending me such a very nice man.”

The man heard her little prayer and replied; "lady, I am not a nice man, - I just got out of prison yesterday; I was in prison for car theft.”

The woman hugged the man again, sobbing, "Oh, thank you God!  You even sent me a professional.”

*Is God great or what!?!*


Creative Thinking, Inc.   317 844-8189 (O) 777-4389 (C)
  #EZ.58489 Exp 12-04
    Don Nixon, Editor, Publisher, Proofreader   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilyn monroe  



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Business opportunities, Franchises, Investments
Ranking Index: Stadiums and event parks
Price: $0.02 / my two cents worth

..1. = 6,800,000 Madison Square Garden / Pennsylvania Plaza, Pasadena, NY  
..2. = 6,440,000 Grand Park Sports Campus / Grand Park Blvd, Westfield IN
..3. = 6,020,000 Fenway Park / Yawkey Way, Boston MA  
..4. = 5,800,000 Orange County Convention Center, International Dr, Orlando FL  
..5. = 5,640,000 Truist Park, Battery Ave SE, Atlanta GA  
..6. = 5,130,000 Dodger Stadium / Vin Sculley Ave, Los Angeles CA  
..7. = 4,910,000 MetLIfe Stadium / MetLife Stadium Dr, E Rutherford NJ  
..8. = 4,350,000 Spooky Nook Sports / Champ Blvd, Manheim PA  
..9.  = 4,080,000 Citi Field / Seaver Way, Queens NY  
10. = 4,010,000 Wrigley Field / W Addison St, Chicago IL


Creative Thinking, Inc.   317 844-8189
  160 W Carmel Dr Carmel IN, 46032 #EZ.57054 Exp 05-15
    Website Link:   nixonnewspapers.com
    Don Nixon, Chief Cheerleader, Editor & Publisher, Proofreader   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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Stories, favorites and great
There is value to have a proofreader and Tips with English Grammer
Price: $0.02 / my two cents worth

1. Don't abbrev.

2. Check to see if you any words out.

3. Be carefully to use adjectives and adverbs correct.

4. About sentence fragments.

5. When dangling, don't use participles.

6. Don't use no double negatives.

7. Each pronoun agrees with their antecedent.

8. Just between You and i, case is important.

9. Join clauses good, like a conjunction should.

10. Don't use commas, that aren't necessary.

11. Its important to use apostrophe's right.

12. It's better not to unnecessarily split an infinitive.

13. Never leave a transitive verb just lay there without an object.


14. Only Proper Nouns should be capitalized. also a sentence should.

15. begin with a capital and end with a period

16. Use hyphens in compound-words, not just in any two-word phrase.

17. In letters compositions reports and things like that we use commas

18. to keep a string of items apart.

19. Watch out for irregular verbs which have creeped into our language.

20. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.

21. Avoid unnecessary redundancy.

22. A writer mustn't shift your point of view.

23. Don't write a run-on sentence you've got to punctuate it.

24. A preposition isn't a good thing to end a sentence with.

25. Avoid cliches like the plague.


Creative Thinking, Inc.   317 844-8189 (O) 777-4389 (C)
  160 W Carmel Dr Carmel IN, 46032 #EZ.58490 Exp 11-30
    Don Nixon, Editor, Publisher, Proofreader   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilyn monroe  



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Years Ago
Wabash (IN) Nixon Newspapers - 1952 and continuing
Price: $0.02 / my own two cents worth

Willard Rohrer (WPR) became my official mentor when I began to work at the family’s Wabash newspaper business office through the summer of 1960, then full time after IU graduation. 

WPR worked at Wabash’s First National Bank around 1930 before he was recruited by Don Nixon (DMN) - my grandfather, and his good friend, Mark Honeywell (MCH) who inherited a large role at that bank during the depression since he was one of the few in town who still had money. A good portion was there on deposit. Mark hired some hotshots to keep the bank solvent. One, Burt Allen, came from Milaca MN, as did Ralph Sherping. Each had noticed WPR’s proficiency, in particular, how he had always balanced and then readily helped with other assignments by 3:01pm when banks usually closed their only lobby to the public.

Honeywell felt beholden to DMN because MCH spent winters in Miami Beach FL before it was easy to travel back and forth. DMN had taken over during one such absence to fix things after fire destroyed part of Honeywell's local factory.

Shortly after WPR began at the Plain Dealer, a stroke, which impaired his entire right side, left him unable to easily get around. His recovery took longer than usual, too, and throughout, DMN continued to pay his regular salary. From the time Willard returned to work until he retired in 1965, he took no vacations as a means to try to "pay back" what he felt he owed the Nixon family and contributed significantly to its business success.

WPR influenced my selection as his successor as company controller and official Secretary-Treasurer. He outlined the repetitive duty cycle and helped by sitting beside me as I was in his chair each day for a month, then would stay home but was available for the next year, on call for any situation, including International Typographical Union contract negotiations in Peru and Wabash. Although it seemed so much like throwing a non swimmer into deep water, WPR had supreme confidence his training system would work. WPR's one month and its follow up was a more thorough education than any Masters and PhD program of how to best operate a small local newspaper.

He could tell precisely how I was doing by how often I called, what I questioned. He anticipated my problems. I should have had that figured out from my summer apprenticeships as he was actually training me then. I would re-calculate previous years income tax. After reviewing my calculations, his review would often begin, "Well, that's very good work, and we will probably have to file an amended return, but, if you look in this file drawer, in that folder, you may discover information which might influence your outcome." 

Sure enough, there was specific evidence which confirmed his original calculation.

Because of his physical impairment, he was sensitive about feeling clumsy and seldom left Wabash for anything. His wife, Mary, drove him to the office each morning about 7:30 then picked him up just after 4 pm. He kept his current working stack of papers on the left hand corner of his over sized desk in a well worn Art James manilla file folder a couple of inches thick. Usually it was adjacent to the daily exchange newspapers which he paged through each afternoon. 

If you wanted information about any employee or where s/he was, whether in Wabash, Peru, Michigan City or Hammond LA, at any time, day or night, he would know where s/he could be found and likely, too, the establishment's telephone number. The puzzle for how he did remains unsolved. He only kept a Wabash phone book in his office and there was no such thing as a database or Rolodex, but he knew barbers, bars, hospitals, and it seemed, everything else. Although I don't think he ever went to Hammond, trips to Michigan City had ended after his stroke and excursions to Peru were infrequent. 

I speculated he reviewed each canceled payroll check and followed any trail endorsements led.

In the 60's, newspapers were the dominant news source, particularly local news, especially in small communities as Wabash. The local radio station, WARU, which served WAbash and PeRU, concentrated on Peru, a slightly larger market. Television was virtually non existent, with only two Indianapolis stations and one in Ft. Wayne available over the air. A decent outside antenna on a tower with directional motor was required for consistent reception. These stations’ local news didn’t include neighboring counties or any as far away as Wabash was.

Sometimes, an influential advertiser or prominent citizen would drop by our office and want page one coverage on some event s/he had a special interest to promote and more passionately, request or demand something be kept out of the next day’s edition. When requested to downplay coverage, WPR would usually explain his counter, which, after offered, never was accepted.

WPR would permit the person to select any place in the newspaper except the front page, on any day of publication, to publish: "I will pay $5 to everyone who calls me at 563-2131 before noon tomorrow." If s/he paid out less than $100, WPR would permit altering any offending story.

His thought was nothing could be buried inside and not read. Even on the front page it wouldn’t be missed but he felt confident of his offer so he wouldn’t need the most obvious place for exposure. The first rule of effective communication, getting someone to pay attention, was likely influenced by the law of big numbers, which meant even with the Plain Dealer’s 6,500 subscribers, which included about 2,500 through the mail thus delivered the next day, the 4,000 copies distributed the day of publication, were enough for someone to notice the offer and likely incentive to tell enough friends who would also tell friends, so only 20 calls would be needed to cover WPR’s challenge.

Back then, many newspapers placed classified ads as "run of the paper" which meant line ads were used as fillers throughout the publication which presumably made people search through the paper more carefully to find those tiny information nuggets. Incidentally, those “fillers” and other “shorts” which were used to make the lead type completely fill the column in a chase (page form), always had the highest readership marks in content surveys and were still used by the Reader’s Digest until recently. Most older readers remember fillers fondly. WPR was confident 1% of the readers, which would have been more than 8,000 people (160) would respond with a call for a $5 reward. (Incidently, Reader's Digest has re-instated a few shorts.)

Soon after learning about WPR’s method to avoid non staff editing, we subscribed to an advertising copy writing course by Clyde Bedell who claimed this classified ad in The New York Times: "Wanted, person to drive my car to Los Angeles, CA," had nary a single response. Bedell changed one word so it read: "Wanted, person to drive my Cadillac to Los Angeles, CA," and was overwhelmed with volunteers.

Later in the course, Bedell asserted people would read more of a letter with a PS, even direct mail, than one without. Research indicated the PS was often better read than the letter itself. 

About that time someone mailed me a letter using the secretarial signature line you asked about, which I thought was clever. Distinctive enough, I would flatter them, so I began to imitate that practice. Clearly I didn’t want to flatter them enough to remember who it actually was and give credit where due.

I experimented with Gina Lollobrigida, Marilyn, Bernice Kelly (who actually was my secretary) Christie Brinkley, Cindy Crawford and occasionally would get asked the same question you asked. Not too often, but enough to note that traditional mark tweaked enough impression to inquire or comment. Some speculate for every one who does ask, at least ten more want to. I seldom got comments about any of the other test names and not once about Bernice’s.

Rarely, any notion their impression was negative was not easy to misinterpret. Usually a hint of appreciated whimsy encouraged me to continue the practice. Over time, strong advocates subscribed to the mission to change attitudes toward working women as if women had never been required to ever work before at anything. I found out quickly many women had no sense of humor and took every issue pertaining to that issue quite seriously.

Usually my response was to use that tiny device as a litmus test and react accordingly. I would usually edit it for legal responses to be precisely accurate, but not always.

Finally I determined to make regular, routine use of it after I read John Nixon's (JRN) lengthy memo about a complaint he claimed to have received, which seemed to me so frivolous I was surprised JRN would ever invest so much of his time to write a memo to me, let alone try to modify its use or forbid me to use it in my business correspondence. By this time I had enough feedback to know how it served my purpose. I was also convinced he was not owning up to the true identity of his anonymous complainant.

So, after more than a half century of use, I still note when someone notices. And still, I’m always a little smug at each occurrence, so thank you.

Although now I might tweak the end of a letter's information in using an e-mail format, I still get away with using it as my seniority status encourages forbearance for almost all of my idiosyncrasies and offenses which seem to be tolerated, or forgiven. By now, there are also too many who don't know who Marilyn is/was. Especially those who don't understand they have become a beneficiary for the efforts made to respect all working women, which has been long overdue and which I fully support.


See: The New Grave Robbers - NYTimes.com
Today the right of publicity clearly allows people to control the commercial use of their names and images during their lives. What happens after death is much murkier.

Throughout much of the world, the right of publicity ends at death, after which a person’s identity becomes generally available for public use. In the United States, however, this issue is governed by state laws, which have taken a remarkably varied approach. In New York, the right of publicity terminates at death; other states provide that the right of publicity survives death for limited terms. But in Tennessee (whose laws govern the use of Elvis Presley’s image, since he died there), Washington (home of a company that purports to own Jimi Hendrix’s right of publicity) and Indiana (where CMG Worldwide, which manages the identities of hundreds of dead people, is based), control over the identities of the dead has been secured for terms ranging from 100 years to, potentially, eternity.

In a case involving Marilyn Monroe, the California Legislature even created a retroactive right of publicity, establishing new private property interests in the identities of the long dead. (It didn’t work, because a court later found Monroe was a resident of New York when she died. Her identity remains in the public domain.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/opinion/28madoff.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212


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    Don Nixon, Chief Cheerleader, Editor & Publisher, Proofreader   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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Years Ago
Wabash (IN) Plain Dealer: Merv Hendricks

Custom classified advertising‏‏
From:       Merv Hendricks (mhendricks2@isugw.indstate.edu)
Sent: Tue 11/11/08 12:13 PM
To:         Don Nixon II (dmnixonii@hotmail.com)

Hi, dmn (been a while since I typed that),

It will be next week or the week after, though. I am tied up in editing and designing an 80th anniversary publication for the Hoosier State Press Association — you remember it — and I have until the weekend to finish a 64-page tab. I have 20 pages finished right now, so that tells you what I will be doing with my hours away from my day job this week and weekend. I have been so busy with stuff that I must admit that I have not even looked at the links you sent. I will, however, before we meet by phone and will share them with the group.

And while I have your eyes, Don, let me say that I never appreciated how good Nixon Newspapers was and how good you were as a publisher until some years after I was gone. My days in Wabash, as I look back with white hair, were the best of my career. Yes, I was in some ways a bigger dog in Terre Haute at the papers here, but it never was as much fun, it was never as good of a culture, it was never as positive a place as was Wabash. When I think about a paper being connected with its community, I think of Wabash in those days when NNI was in charge. I really felt that we in the PD newsroom — and the PD in every department -- got to know the community and appreciate it, even though we had a changing cast of characters.

I also know now, which I didn’t know then, how much you let us, encouraged us to effectively experiment. Take the Saturday tab for instance. You gave us a toy and let us play with it. That was gutsy, given that we were all pretty much 20-something snots.

I also recall what I call big ideas that you and Ray foisted upon us — the Sunday paper covering the ceremony of the Wabash light, Ray and Harold’s trip to the Jimmy Carter White House, the Jane Pauley tab, the Bicentennial edition, the 1979 anniversary edition, the Ray Kroc tab. That proved to me that it did not take a major metro to do major metro kinds of projects. Hard work — damn straight! — but rewarding, educational and, after the pain ceased, points of pride.

For all of that and more memories whose brain cells have died, I thank you, first. I thank your late, great dad. And as I often have, I thank Ray, who I generally call or e-mail on Sept. 15, the day I started at the PD (1976).

I regret I was not more appreciative at the time and that I was often a problem in my behavior. If I could take back anything in my professional life, it would not be mistakes or bad news judgments, it would be bad behavior. It’s a wonder I wasn’t fired over and over and over. I deserved it too many times. Thank you for your support.

I still have, BTW, notes you sent me, usually written in blue grease pencil if I recall correctly, complimenting the newsroom on one thing or another. Those are still meaningful and will stay in my files as long as I live.

More than you wanted to know, dmn, but I never could write short!

Peace, love and rock-and-roll,

-- Merv

PS Now comes the hard part...getting it done...dmn follow the journey with us. The web site below was an effort to model local landing pages for every zip code with links to local activities. And use the original family newspaper name in Terre Haute IN: Spectator

I designed a custom program for unlimited content for local news and activities. It was modeled after the classified advertising section of the newspaper so it was easy to find specific items or businesses. Still waiting patiently to make progress. See the category following...and click: pickleballgazette.com

Follow up -- dmn


Creative Thinking, Inc.   317 844-8189
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    Website Link:   nixonnewspapers.com
    Don Nixon   Email:     Ref:   dmn:marilynmonroe  



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