Rusk – Cherokee County feels like a relatively rural place behind the pine curtain of East Texas. The biggest towns in this territory include Henderson and Rusk, and surprisingly over 50 thousand Texans call the county home. While stopping at All Star Bar-B-Q to talk baseball and local politics is a popular pastime in these parts, it’s not the official news source for this area. Instead, there’s a weekly paper that’s been a part of the community for 175 years. “We’re proud of the paper and we’re proud of what it’s done for all these years,” said John Hawkins.
John owns the Cherokeean Herald, which is the state of Texas’ oldest weekly paper. “It’s unbelievable how many people just really rely on that,” said John.
With his wife Penny by his side, the couple has poured their heart and soul into this periodical, and both have dealt with the stress that comes with running this place for a substantial period of their lives. “We’ve been associated with it for 40 years,” said John. “We had never jumped in the fire. The previous owners have passed away and I can see why.”
Originally a 4th generation Houstonian, John moved here in the early 80’s after getting tired of the big city and finding out the hard way that moving to Mexico wasn’t the best idea at the time. “I’d been living in Mexico to get away from everything and I came back here with my tail between my legs because I went broke in Mexico, had to borrow enough money to pay for gas to drive back here from Acapulco and just started driving around looking for a job, and this was the first place they hired me,” said John. “Never expected to stay here this long. I mean, this was a job when I first came, $6 an hour, but I needed a job.”
John quit once to try to advance his career. “Occasionally you have to leave East Texas and make a living,” said John. “I did. Ended up working for some television stations and came back to work here.”
Then he quit again. “The third time I quit, my boss said, ‘John, you’ll always have a job with me,’” said John. “I said, ‘Boss, it’s been three times. There’s not going to be four.’ And then I end up owning it. Go figure that one out.”
John was getting the scoop on retirement when he got some breaking news, and never did he expect his name to be in the masthead. “They called me up and said, ‘we’re going to sell the newspaper or close it by the end of the year,’” said John. “I’m thinking, okay, holidays. That gives them two weeks to find a buyer. And they said, ‘Unless you want to buy it.’ I said, ‘No, that’s going the wrong direction. We’re supposed to be retiring.’”
John eventually decided that he couldn’t pass up the opportunity and didn’t want to see the paper end up in the wrong hands. “When we bought the paper, people were congratulating us and sending us notes,” said John. “And Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn did. Ted Cruz, Lance Gooden, Cody Harris. What’s the old thing? Keep your friends close. Your enemies closer.”
While the commendations from members of Congress and other politicians are prominent in his office, his affinity for trains is even more impressive. But John’s true passion is the paper. “This is a part of Texas history, and I am very defensive of that part of it,” said John. “As a native Texan, we couldn’t let that history die.”
When you live in a smaller town, the importance of having local reporters is amplified. “You know, a community newspaper is really important I think, because we get to tell the stories about people that are going on here and we have a story in this week’s paper about a young man who’s going to the World Disc Golf Championship that lives here,” said John. “One of the best things about a community newspaper is it shines a light on the politicians so they don’t get away with as much.”
While covering stories about local heroes and political affairs are obviously important, another purpose that the Cherokeean Herald serves is preserving the day-to-day memories that are made in Cherokee County. “Every year we do either a graduation magazine or a Lone Star magazine,” said John. “The graduation magazine, we have six schools we cover, and we have all the pictures of all the kids, and parents love it, grandparents love it, friends love it. 20 years from now, they can go back and laugh at how their hair looked.”
Finding stories isn’t tough, but finding advertisers can be tricky. “Our biggest struggle right now, of course is advertising,” said John. “It’s tough in these times right now where we’re having depressed economies per se. A lot of people are saying, ‘Well, I don’t need to advertise. I’ve got Facebook.’ And I could name the number of stores that have gone out of business because not enough people liked them on Facebook. So that’s a struggle. But the community and certain people and certain banks, and like I said, car dealers have really supported us and kept us afloat. We have one car dealership buys a half page every week. Has for years. God bless their soul.”
Fortunately, the Cherokeean Harold does have a solid reading audience, and some even stop by the office just to pick up their hard copy. That, and to get caught up on more local gossip. “We have regular friends that come by here and they pick up a paper every Wednesday,” said John. “They could easily have a subscription and have it mailed to them, but no, they come by here and talk and visit sometimes. We love it though.”
Whether in person or through the paper, having a personal connection with the people of Cherokee County is what the Cherokeean is all about. “We’re not making any money,” said John. “I hate to say it really is doing it for the community, doing it for Cherokee County and doing it for the state of Texas. And something we’re proud to be a part of. Very proud. It’d be nice to make a profit. That would be cool. Wouldn’t have to eat rice all the time.”
Despite his humor about hunger, John enjoys his job of being the man who brings the news to the people of his community. “Horace Greeley, the great newspaper man, he’s the one that coined the phrase, ‘Go west, young man, go west,’” said John. “But he also said, ‘You live, you die, and everything in between is filler.’ Well, personally, I’ve decided I want my life to have good filler in it. You want to have fun in life. I think it’s all about that.”
So the next time you’re in Cherokee County, pick up the local paper to see the latest news in this neck of the woods of East Texas. “We’re just very proud to be a part of Texas history and we’re proud to be able to keep this heritage alive,” said John.