My first real experience with media people was in the far away land of Viet Nam. The war there resulted in the deaths of over 50,000 Americans and the lives of countless thousands of Vietnamese. When I arrived there in December of 1967 the media was everywhere. These men and women were in our helicopters, on our boats, around our encampments and were, virtually, anyplace where fighting was taking place. In fact, the coverage of that war was so pervasive that during much of the late 60’s and early 70’s you stood Las Vegas odds of seeing the faces of combat soldiers you knew flashing across your TV screen during the six o’clock news.

I had volunteered for combat service in Vietnam at the ripe, old age of 19. I soon learned that my decision was a really bad one. After only a few weeks in country, I became disillusioned but I was then, as now, always proud to be an American. A couple of casualties into my tour of duty, however, I said to myself, “This war is wrong and it will be through the workings of a free press that the American people will finally demand that the door to this dark chapter in our history needs to close”. This, ultimately, came to pass and I learned that in the larger scheme of things, that just a piece of paper, a camera and/or an audio tape can have the effect of shaping the course of human history.

For those of you who might be considering a full or part-time excursion into the fields of media keep the following in mind. You don’t necessarily need to have college degrees, perfect writing skills or other forms of advanced training. What you do need, however, is a sense of professional ethics, and the ability to bring to the table an unbiased and accurate reporting on a wide range of topics. After all is said and done, it would be through your eyes that the general public is supplied the necessary information for them to make cognitive and sound decisions on important issues of the day.

Personally, I never thought I would ever hold any responsible position within the field of media since I was only a fair student in high school English. While growing up, I really couldn’t have cared less about such things as grammar, sentence structure and book reports. In college, however, where I majored in U.S. history, political science and public administration, I learned some writing skills but after graduation my writing was limited to only the kind associated with bureaucratic genre as dictated by my position as Fuel Management Specialist for the Maine Office of Energy Resources (OER). In those years (1973 – 1978), I assisted governors Ken Curtis, Jim Longley and Joe Brennan with the preparation of position papers and wrote many speeches and testimonials which expressed Maine’s position with respect to state and national energy policy initiatives. On several occasions I appeared before Congress and our state’s elected officials, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the New England Regional Commission (NERC) and the National Governor’s Conference (NGC). I believed my training would always limit me to writing about only those issues that rested in the quasi-political domain.

I certainly never expected to partake in a concerted effort to form a local newspaper but as things worked out my friend and Hallowell musician Billy Beard had been working in the wings and approached me with the idea of doing just that. I learned that he had been discussing such a venture with Vern Warren, former United Press International (UPI) reporter and past editor of the well known Coastal Journal. I had never prepared news copy and, although I loved the idea, I was apprehensive about taking on this set of challenges.

Vern assured both Billy and I that in his capacity as publisher he could provide us with the skills necessary to produce well written copy by affording us editorial assistance, teaching us how to manage photographic input, run desktop publishing programs and also bring to the table approaches needed to develop an advertising division and employ a sales force. The Local Voice was born.

Much like The Valley Voice, The Local Voice publisher put together a team of editors, journalists, columnists and contributors. I was sure many of these people were like I was. They were concerned that they might not make the grade or were apprehensive to accept the challenge of expressing views on topics important to them. Well, if these concerns are holding you back, I can only say that in these economic and social times if you have ever had the desire to express your views The Valley Voice would love to here from you. We would be grateful and appreciative of hearing from you. Our paper will gladly provide you with all the support you need to help us promote our area cities and the many activities that Kennebec valley people are involved in. You can help us make a difference.

Ultimately, my message is that The Valley Voice really needs people willing to learn journalism or provide their journalistic training and become willing participants in our efforts to report on the issues of the day. Whether your interests are focused on the economy, the war, the environment, education, the activities within the walls of city and town hall or any other issue that you might fancy, we could put your thoughts and ideas to good use.

If you have been inspired to contribute in any way, please contact George Tibbetts at george@thevalleyvoice.org or Alex Theberge at alex@thevalleyvoice.org.