Lehi Boys Basketball

Timpanogos News Weeklies
February 7, 2009

Letter from Publisher

For this second test issue, we look at an column about the need for community newspapers to stay truly independent publications. We also present an account of a crucial Region Four boys' basketball game in the race for the league's final available state playoff spot. Let's get to those items.

Dean Von Memmott
Publisher
deanmemmott@hotmail.com

Publisher's Column

Local Weeklies Must Stay Independent Operations
By Dean Von Memmott
Timpanogos News Weeklies Publisher

When I was in the American Fork Kinko's store Feb. 6, a Lehi man told me that the Provo Daily Herald had decided to quit publishing all of the northern Utah County weeklies that its one-time parent company, Pulitzer Newspapers, had purchased in 2000. The news didn't come as a total shock to me. I knew that once the Daily Herald had dropped the weeklies' sports sections, they themselves would soon be put out of existence.

To my knowledge, none of the reporters still at those newspapers will be laid off. Instead, their stories will appear in the Provo newspaper. That is not much consolation to the citizens who had been longtime loyal subscribers to the northern Utah County weeklies. From talking to them, I have picked up a consensus that they still want to have newspapers that cover only their communities. The latest move by the Daily Herald can only serve to make those residents more unwilling to subscribe to the Provo newspaper and prompt them to become more willing to subscribe to the Salt Lake Tribune or the Deseret News.

The discontinuation of the northern Utah County weeklies is the latest reminder why weekly newspapers must remain independent operations. Once a daily newspaper purchases them, it tends to make them carbon copies of it. That was what happened to the northern Utah County weeklies after Pulitzer bought them.

At first, the Daily Herald let New Utah publisher Brett Bezzant and his Orem-Geneva counterpart Brent Sumner continue running their newspapers the way they had done before the buyouts. However, the Provo newspaper eventually converted both Brett and Brent's newspapers into carbon copies of itself. The Herald also fired both men and went on to make further changes that eventually killed reader interest in northern Utah County's weekly newspapers.

For a weekly newspaper to continue reflecting the personality of the community it serves, it must stay locally owned. As soon as it becomes the property of a nationwide newspaper chain, you can forget about it continuing to reflect the spirit of the community it serves and staying in existence.

This week is not the first time in Utah that weekly newspapers got shut down by daily newspapers that publish them. A longtime ago, a company that owned the St. George Spectrum purchased the Iron County Record and closed it down within a short time.

My advice to publishers of locally owned weeklies is never to sell their publications to owners of daily newspapers. Sell the weeklies instead to other local people experienced in running community newspapers.

Lehi Boys Basketball Team Hammers Spanish Fork
By Dean Von Memmott
Timpanogos News Weeklies Publisher

The Lehi Pioneers improved their chances for a state playoff spot when they won 59-42 over the Spanish Fork Dons in Region Four action at Lehi Feb. 6.

Even though Spanish Fork did get close a few times in the contest, the Pioneers never trailed once in it. It opened with Pioneer Kyle Hinton taking the opening tipoff. He passed to Mua Faleao for an inside shot. Two straight Jacob Obioma buckets gave Lehi a 6-0 lead. Travis Still and Breck Lewis trimmed the lead to 6-3, but Obioma produced a three-point play that sent Lehi on a 12-2 scoring run, which ended in the early second period.

Even though the Dons shot better in the second quarter, they could not reduce the point spread to single digits during that period. Obioma dominated inside the key and scored on offensive rebounds. Teammate Willie Walker became hot in the last four minutes of the first half. Walker's scoring gave Lehi leads as wide as 27-13.

Two straight Taylor Jones treys prodded Spanish Fork into marching back within 37-31 in third quarter. Ren Williamsen guided the Don comeback through his foul pitches and inside shots.

As soon as the Dons had charged within 37-31, Walker undermined Spanish Fork's effort by hitting an inside shot. Corey Smith hit a layup, then a foul shot a couple of minutes later to tip the momentum back into Lehi's hands.

Walker became more hot in shooting in the fourth quarter, enabling the Pioneers to maintain a double-digit lead for the rest of the night. Walker became Lehi's top scorer with 19 points while Obioma chipped in another 17. Williamsen led Lehi with 15 points while Jones and Still each contributed seven points.

Lehi Coach Craig Gladwell said, "We did a better job on running our fastbreaks tonight than we did at their place. We took them out of their game early. We had only one bad possession in the second half. Our guys really stepped it up tonight."