Newspaper Is Topic Of Program

Trenton Republican-Times publisher Wendell Lenhart presented the program at Thursday’s Trenton Rotary Club meeting. Troy Smith was the program chairman.
Lenhart told about the newspaper, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary as a publication. He gave a brief history of the newspaper, which was established on Sept. 4, 1864 by Col. W.B. Rogers, who was a colonel in the Civil War. The newspaper has been owned by three families throughout its 150-year history – the Rogers family, who owned it through 1964 (daughter Carrie Rogers Clark as well as Mrs. Clark’s foster son, Ray VanMeter, also owned and published the newspaper), and Willis Alexander and William O. Lenhart, who purchased the paper from VanMeter. Wendell became the publisher upon the death of his father. He said that the main focus of the newspaper was to provide its readers with community news, which he said can’t be obtained anywhere else. He said it is the community that also supports the newspaper and that Trenton has been very supportive over the years. He talked about changes in the newspaper industry, including the addition of a website by the Republican-Times, which he said is especially helpful to subscribers living out of the area. He concluded by thanking the community for its support.
During the business meeting, tickets were passed out for the Sept. 20 fish fry at the Rock Barn and members were reminded to secure items for the silent auction. An update on the Missouri Day Parade was given, including the announcement that entries are now being accepted on the website, www.missouridayparade.com. Additional flags are also being sold to expand the number of areas of display during the Missouri Day Festival weekend. Steve Taylor gave an update on mega-training held last weekend at Chillicothe.
Next week’s program chairman is Dr. Neil Nuttall, who will have the North Central Missouri College athletic coaches give the program.