Drawing Straws

photo by anolobb

Ah, summer. Remembering days gone by playing pick-up ball in the empty lot. Cooling off in the ol’ swimming hole. Hearing the whistle of the train, wondering where it’’s going. Dreaming of adventure. Reading George Pogue’s, Drawing Straws, will bring it all back, with murder, too – a great way to spend a lazy summer day.

Courtesy of McDonald County Newspapers

George G. Pogue of rural Pineville, long-time publisher of the McDonald County Newspapers, retired Aug. 31, ending a family newspaper tradition in McDonald County since his parents, the late Ralph and Ruth Pogue, bought the Noel newspaper in 1951.

“It’s just time,” Pogue said of his retirement. “Ralph passed away in 2003. Since then I knew the time was coming. Everything seems to be in good order with the business; the staff is all doing a tremendous job. It just seemed like a good time to get out of it.”

He sold the business to Stephens Media in 2004, but stayed on as publisher. Pogue, 59, started serious involvement at about 12, cleaning up around the shop and folding newspapers (“Boy I hated cleaning mattes”).

At about age 16, Pogue learned from his father how to run the presses. He bought the newspaper from his father in 1972.

The family started the Anderson Graphic and Goodman News-Dispatch and purchased the Southwest City Republic and the McDonald County News-Gazette in Pineville.

“I’m retiring from the newspaper business. I’m sure there will be things around the corner I’ll get into. I’ve written a book; it’s at the publisher’s now.”

Drawing Straws is a fictionalized account of Pogue’s life growing up in Noel and the Ozarks.

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