Tribune Celebrates 19th Anniversary

By William R. Dixon
Owner-Publisher-Janitor
Tribune Recorder Leader

Thank you to all of our readers and advertisers for 19 years of patronage. This week marks the beginning of our 20th year at the Sandusky Tribune. We resurrected the hereditary title of our maternal grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ Sandusky Republican Tribune as we began this 4th generation newspaper enterprise. We first hung out our shingle on October 13, 2003.
Mark Twain once said, “All you need is ignorance and confidence and success is sure.” The aforementioned should likely be our company motto.
We have certainly seen a lot of changes since we first hunkered down at the Yale Expositor and pasted up and produced the first few editions there. Aunt Bonnie Brown, Uncle Art, along with cousins Barb & Jim as well as Janis Cork were instrumental in the fledgling weeks that would follow.
Most new businesses fail, ours prospered. Thank you for that.
We took on the responsibility of the Deckerville Recorder when the title was purchased from Doug Regentin in January 2010. The Recorder had been in continuous operation since 1893 and we were pleased to also inherit the Buhl legacy of both Carsonville Journal and Port Sanilac Times. We combined the Tribune and Recorder into a single masthead shortly thereafter.
The Marlette Leader was acquired from Hearst newspapers in June 2014. The Leader had been in business since 1878 before being combined to make today’s Tribune Recorder Leader.
Current employees Mike Dixon, Patti O’Connor, Jackie Salowitz, and Lori Herman, along with myself, share the duties of today’s newspaper.
A number of individuals over the years have also helped us achieve this milestone.
There are likely unintentional omissions here. So let me state that if you had a hand in our success, your efforts were and are appreciated. Terry Dixon, Dr. Chelsea Dixon-Dionne, Paul Dionne, Phil Dixon, Sarah Fitchett, Dave Fredrick, Gary Fetting, John Scott, Angie Marks, Birchfield Studios, Marc Wilson, Tyler Coats, Casey Jones, Scott Franzel, Richard Pirie, Janet Hull, Lisa Kenny, Harry Mageski, Erica Pierson-Gageby, Michelle Barnett, Kortney Cole, Matt Cole, John Frazier, Joanna McCoon, Corey Alfaro, Melanie Thompson, and Shelly Adair.
A great number of our student writers went on to become high school valedictorians and salutatorians. A few, like Emily Morris, have made journalism into a career.
The newspaper remains a labor of love and we are blessed to have the honor of your trust and support as we look forward to the future.