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Floor Speech

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Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, my hometown is Plainville, KS. The population, according to Google just this morning, is 1,746. I rise this morning to recognize and pay tribute to my hometown newspaper, the Plainville Times.

Several months ago, the headline of the paper--the very top story was--``Newspaper for Sale.'' Last month, the Times published its final edition as a standalone newspaper and announced it will merge with a neighboring town's newspaper, the Stockton Sentinel, to continue news coverage for local residents. So I take sadness in the demise, the departure of my hometown paper. I take pleasure and pride in its continuation with the news being covered by the Times Sentinel.

For more than a century, the Plainville Times has served the surrounding communities by providing information, education, and timely reporting. The paper first began in 1800, though it changed its names several times over the years, and it became known as the Plainville Times in 1904.

Growing up in this small town in western Kansas, I saw firsthand how the newspaper supported the community and brought neighbors, friends, and even strangers together. Community journalism pulls us together. National journalism has the habit of tearing us apart.

Over the years, the Plainville Times has kept the community informed on important local issues like a new business coming to town, a city council meeting, or the score of a high school football game. Rural papers bring community residents together for special moments. It is where we see when we have a new birth. It is where we see when we lose a fellow citizen. It is where we celebrate with others about a 50th wedding anniversary. It is the joys of graduation and holiday celebrations. It is about ribbon cuttings. It is the pain of funeral services and natural disasters and really everything in between.

Community journalism is important to the future of communities across Kansas and the Nation. Today, community journalism faces growing challenges with a rapidly changing media environment, as well as workforce struggles and financial strains. Many rural newspapers have very limited staffs, and it is not uncommon for one person to fill the role of reporter, photographer, and editor.

Those who dedicate their lives to this profession, in so many instances in newspapers across Kansas, I find the person that is just doing the job because nobody else would do it. Despite these challenges, that newspaper, including the Plainville Times, leaves lasting marks on the rural towns they cover.

As a kid growing up in Plainville, then representing my hometown as a Member of Congress, and now as a U.S. Senator, I had the opportunity to know and speak with, get acquainted with the Times editors during my lifetime, including Harlan Lill, who was the editor when I was a kid; Carol Van Dyke, who then replaced him; and the current editor Candace Rachel, whom I grew up with in my hometown. She is a longtime native of Plainville, and Candace is deeply committed to our community and has devoted her life to providing news and information to Kansans.

Whether I am attending a Lions Club meeting or visiting the local high school, Candace is always there with her pen and pad and a camera slung over her shoulder. She is one of those editors who does it all. Candace is always there at everything. She loves supporting local sports, the athletes, their parents, their families. She loves to celebrate the victories and bemoan the losses. She always can be spotted on the sidelines of a local football field, the basketball courts, and at baseball games. I appreciate her. I appreciate her love for our community, and I appreciate the way she treats every citizen of my hometown--with the greatest of respect.

I want to thank the Times' publisher, Frank Mercer of Main Street Media, as well as its staff, Bret Greenwood and Tonia Goertz, for their commitment to local journalism.

Over the years, the Plainville Times has been dedicated to pursuing the truth in informing local communities and providing a critical service to rural America. The paper has gained a reputation for informative, fair reporting, and it has earned recognition from the Kansas Press Association for its work.

With the merging of the Plainville Times with the Stockton Sentinel-- Stockton, incidentally, being our cross-county rival--the unified paper will continue to cover Plainville and Rooks County. That is the good news.

I want to congratulate the owners of the Stockton Sentinel, Bart Hamilton and Susan Hamilton Schneider. I am grateful for their investment in local journalism and their support for Stockton, for Plainville, for Palco, for Damar and Zurich, for Codell--for the communities that make up our small county.

I look forward to staying informed on local news. I receive the Plainville Times every week. When I get home, it is in the stack of newspapers that I have yet to read. It is the very first one. My wife would say my first comment is: Oh, the Plainville Times is here.

I look forward every week to seeing what is going on in my hometown, and I appreciate the publication that has provided me and so many others with that information. The Plainville Times and now the Stockton Sentinel Times will be important to every resident who lives in the area.

I again thank those who made this newspaper what it is, and I congratulate and wish the best for those who will make what this newspaper will become.

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