Why is it October always seems to be the longest month in the entire year? Maybe it’s the weather. Not winter yet, but definitely not fall either. I’m not much on being a “betweener” on anything. Either it’s one way or it’s another. Period. Give me a crisp, sunny fall day or bring on the blizzards. Enough with the dampish, not-really-coat- weather stuff that always (Yes! Always!) brings my worst cold of the year, followed up with a nasty two- to three-week round of bronchitis!
Well, lucky for me and other nasal sufferers, it’s almost over. The teeth-chattering cold will be with us soon, and hopefully that’s all we will need to surrender to – cold. ‘Course, this being Minnie-Sota, doncha know – we’ll have plenty of visits from Mr. Frosty Snowman, too.
TIMES ARE A-CHANGING
Like most things in life, change is simply part of the game, and so it is for the FM Extra as well. We’ve had a few changes in the past few months and are expecting a few more in the near future. One of the changes we’ve experienced since July has been new management within the distribution area.
The delivery of a newspaper or any publication – be it newspapers, feature papers or magazines – is how you, Jane and John Doe Public, become aware of what we each have to offer. Where newsstands are placed and routinely filled each week so it is easily accessible for everyone to find our printed product is a major “tell-tale” sign of how well it is seen and read. That and several other factors all lead back to one major component that makes the wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round: ADVERTISING. Yes, even “free” publications have to make revenue in order to stay in business. So asking which is more important, the placement of racks and papers for pick-up or the advertising within, is something akin to asking which came first, the chicken or the egg? Both are important because without either one, all other efforts in making a newspaper viable are pretty much a moot point.
The FM Extra is delivered to hundreds of venues throughout Fargo, Moorhead, Dilworth, Glyndon, Hawley, Sabin, Barnesville, in the southern valley as well as in the northern valley in Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, Hillsboro, and Ada, to food and fuel stations, libraries, bars, restaurants, clinics, hospitals, liquor stores, apartment complexes, coffee shops, retail stores, hardware stores, car dealerships, radio stations, gambling casinos, and of course all the major grocery stores up and down the Red River Valley.
And a new route has recently been established; we have already begun delivering to these towns west of West Fargo – Horace, Kindred and Casselton.
I am now managing the distribution of the FM Extra. We’ve made some personnel changes recently, but our new delivery drivers are timely and responsible, and they all start delivering the FM Extra by at least 9:00 in the morning – some even earlier. Nonetheless, it does happen in some of our venues with heavy traffic that the papers are all picked up by four o’clock in the afternoon. Periodically someone will call the office to let us know where papers may be out. We appreciate this, a lot. However, there’s only one person who can remedy empty stands or empty stand slots in the grocery stores, and that person is me. So if the Hornbachers in Moorhead (or up at Northport or out at West Acres) has a run and needs to be refilled, that’s great! However, I’m only one person and so far I’ve not figured out how to be in two places at the same time. If a stand is empty and needs to be refilled with new papers, just give me a call and I’ll make certain it gets refilled within the hour. My phone number is 799-0992. Thursday is a hard day to find someone in the office, so don’t be shy about calling my number if we have a run one week and you cannot find a paper. And yes, to answer someone who recently asked “Do you refill your stands during the week?” Yep, you betcha! The grocery stores are refilled at least twice during the week. Sunmart and Hornbachers all have stands and the FM Extra is in each one throughout F/M. We also place them in the Cashwise on 13th Avenue. Unfortunately, we are not in the Cashwise in Moorhead. But we are in the K-Mart stand in Moorhead and in the Fry’n Pan on east-10.
A COUPLE OF REMINDERS
Amy Haugen, the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota’s Outreach Coordinator for Eastern ND/Northwest MN, wants to remind all interested persons that the ADULT CONNECT meeting is MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH from 6-8 PM at the Sanford Health South University Campus. The meeting will be held in Conference Room 1A-1 and the topic for this week will be on Vagal Nerve Stimulator as a treatment option. Heather Werdel from Cyberonics will present basic information on the VNS treatment option. This will be a great learning meeting. Even if you have never considered (or heard of) VNS treatment for your seizures, please join us to learn more! It may not work for you, but it could work for someone else you know with epilepsy. Please RSVP if possible (encouraged, but not required) just so Amy is sure we have enough materials, and treats!
The Cass County Sheriff’s Office would like everyone to know that if you haven’t read about the law on hitting deer, turkey, moose or any other lost critter that might find its way onto the highways we travel, the Accident Law regarding road kill has changed. This is the reminder notice they sent out:
CASS COUNTY, N.D. (October 29, 2013) – Just a reminder to drivers, effective August 1, 2013: motorists who strike a deer or other undomesticated animal no longer need to report the crash to law enforcement if the crash results in property damage only, regardless of the amount of damage to the vehicle. The driver may proceed to their home if the vehicle is able to be driven.
All crashes involving an injury still need to be reported. Law enforcement will respond to the scene when requested to provide assistance or when the vehicle has been disabled.
That about wraps it up for this week! Have a spooky and terrifying Halloween, but above all BE CAREFUL and don’t forget to share your bounty with MOM AND DAD!!