Wallace Weekly Launched Free-Lance Writer Edits Newspaper With Help Of Wife, Desktop Publishing

Judging by the suspenders and the attitude, it could be 1890.

But these days, thanks to desktop publishing, one man can create a newspaper. And that’s what Paul Friend is doing.

“To be a writer, you have to be either rich or devoted. I’m devoted,” said Friend, who is producing the Idaho News Observer, a new Wallace-based weekly.

The News Observer will cover events from Kellogg to the Montana border.

Friend vows that his editorial content never will be influenced by advertisers. He said an editor should consider enemies not a luxury, but a necessity.

“If you’re everything to everyone, you’re dead meat,” he said.

The News Observer’s first issue contains everything from serialized fiction to an editorial blasting the justice system. Most of the paper was written by Friend himself. His wife, Barbara, handles duties ranging from ad sales to reporting.

Friend shares his one-room office with his wife, three chairs, a layout table and a cat named Jaws.

A writer for 30 years, his free-lance stories have appeared in publications including the New York Times and the National Examiner. He moved to the Silver Valley from Billings, Mont., last November.

The News Observer isn’t the first weekly newspaper to hit the Valley.

“I think there’s a niche that needs to be filled. Boy Scouts, 4-H clubs, who visited who - that’s the kind of backwoods news Wallace is missing,” said Gary Corbeill, Kellogg Evening News editor from 1972 to 1985.

Corbeill made the most recent attempt to fill that niche. His Silver Valley Sun was published for six months before he threw in the towel.

“The kids working for me had to go back to school. I put in one 24-hour shift and decided that was enough,” Corbeill said.

Friend and his wife also have put in long hours. But Friend said the first issue of the newspaper, which hit the streets Wednesday, was snapped up like good food.

“The idea is to mirror the community, entertain and inform. If you can make a few bucks in the process, so much the better,” he said.

Judging by the suspenders and the attitude, it could be 1890.

But these days, thanks to desktop publishing, one man can create a newspaper. And that’s what Paul Friend is doing.

“To be a writer, you have to be either rich or devoted. I’m devoted,” said Friend, who is producing the Idaho News Observer, a new Wallace-based weekly.

The News Observer will cover events from Kellogg to the Montana border.

Friend vows that his editorial content never will be influenced by advertisers. He said an editor should consider enemies not a luxury, but a necessity.

“If you’re everything to everyone, you’re dead meat,” he said.

The News Observer’s first issue contains everything from serialized fiction to an editorial blasting the justice system. Most of the paper was written by Friend himself. His wife, Barbara, handles duties ranging from ad sales to reporting.

Friend shares his one-room office with his wife, three chairs, a layout table and a cat named Jaws.

A writer for 30 years, his free-lance stories have appeared in publications including the New York Times and the National Examiner. He moved to the Silver Valley from Billings, Mont., last November.

The News Observer isn’t the first weekly newspaper to hit the Valley.

“I think there’s a niche that needs to be filled. Boy Scouts, 4-H clubs, who visited who - that’s the kind of backwoods news Wallace is missing,” said Gary Corbeill, editor of the Kellogg Evening News from 1972 to 1985.

Corbeill made the most recent attempt to fill that niche. His Silver Valley Sun published for six months before throwing in the towel.

“The kids working for me had to go back to school. I put in one 24-hour shift and decided that was enough,” Corbeill said.

Friend and his wife have also put in long hours. But Friend said the first issue of the newspaper, which hit the streets on Wednesday, was snapped up like good food.

“The idea is to mirror the community, entertain and inform. If you can make a few bucks in the process, so much the better,” he said.