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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 10:43 PM CST
JG/T-C office in Charleston to close after this week

By JG/T-C
editorial@jg-tc.com

CHARLESTON -- The Times-Courier/Journal Gazette office in Charleston is closing, effective on Friday.

The newspapers announced on Tuesday plans to vacate the facility in the strip mall at 2110 Woodfall Drive, near Wal-Mart. The office moved to that location more than four years ago from a site across from the post office that is now Miller’s banquet hall.

For now, customers may use the slot in the front door to drop off payments or news items until other arrangements are made for customer service in Charleston. All phone numbers will continue to be active.

“Unfortunately, the economic climate demands reductions in expenses,” Publisher Carl Walworth said. “We will continue to make doing business with us as easy as possible.”

The move does not impact the news content or distribution and delivery of the paper, Walworth said.

“Despite constraints in this tough economy, our staff will continue to make Charleston news coverage and delivery of papers a priority, with our readers, customers and advertisers in mind always,” Walworth added. “It’s our job to bring local news to Coles County and area residents, and the JG/T-C will still be your best source for what’s happening here.”

The Times-Courier and Journal Gazette are online at www.jg-tc.com, where the newspapers receive more than 700,000 page views per month. The newspapers reach 44,000 readers daily in the seven-county area including Coles.

Those with questions may contact Walworth via email at carl.walworth@lee.net or by phone at 345-7025, ext. 6822.

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Tom Andres wrote on Jan 7, 2009 11:07 AM:

" Carl, maybe you should have consulted with some of our local tax masters before making the decision to close the door on the Charleston office.

They'd want to know why on earth you would concentrate on reducing costs when clearly all you had to do was increase revenue! I'll bet our tax-body bosses were scratching their heads in utter disbelief as they read your announcement regarding this brand spankin new mindset called austerity budgeting. "

chucktown3 wrote on Jan 8, 2009 1:32 PM:

" Despite constraints in this tough economy, our staff will continue to make Charleston news coverage and delivery of papers a priority".

Wow, I needed a good laugh, thanks. The Times Courier/Journal Gazette is and always has been a Mattoon newspaper. Pick up any Times Courier and you'll see Matton articles and sports are always bigger and better than anything reported from Charleston.

I can get better coverage of Charleston athletics from the opposing teams newspaper.

I know I'm not alone in my opinion. I'll bet I'm not the only one to comment on this story.

BTW, it certainly was anything but a joy to go into the Charleston office. Customer service was certainly lacking. I for one won't miss the office in Charleston. "

61938 wrote on Jan 8, 2009 3:50 PM:

" chucktown, just for the record it's journal gazette-times courier. and no it is not a 'mattoon' paper just the opposite actually. look at any front page and most of the stories will be from charleston. mattoon news is lucky to make page three most days. then take a good look at he headlines. it's always 'mattoon man gets probation for selling drugs' or 'theft charges filed against mattoon woman' but when someone from the east side of coles county is in trouble the headline will be 'local man gets two years for forgery' or 'probation ordered for area woman.' don't believe me just watch for yourself. "

slap63 wrote on Jan 8, 2009 10:14 PM:

" I see my last comments were "edited". I kind of expected that since it was negative comments about the publisher. "

Billie Brant wrote on Jan 9, 2009 6:08 AM:

" I tend to agree with "chucktown". Not that it's of any importance, but check out the "Glancing Back" feature in the paper. It's, "Mattoon, Mattoon, Mattoon". An article from "yesteryear " dealing with Charleston gets very little coverage. In today's paper 1-9-09 for example there are eight references to news stories with a Mattoon headline, one from Washington, and one from Charleston. It's like this more often than not. I know this section of the paper which looks back into news articles from twenty-five to one hundred years ago isn't a make or break reason to read or not read the paper, but it seems to bolster my feeling it's a "Mattoon paper".

Come on. Didn't anything happen in Charleston 100, 50 or 25 years ago or was Mattoon the only city in the county? "

tammer65 wrote on Jan 9, 2009 9:27 AM:

" I agree with Billie B. and Chucktown. I'll add this: how much of Charleston's limited coverage is devoted to EIU? Don't get me wrong -- I'm grateful for that coverage, esp. as an EIU alum and employee, but Mattoon's coverage doesn't seem to be similarly dominated by Lake Land College. More stories of Charleston interest -- on our schools, businesses, community members, civic groups, history, etc. would be appreciated. "

Harry Potter wrote on Jan 9, 2009 10:51 AM:

" Hey, what about Oakland? They get nada... "

fat kenny wrote on Jan 9, 2009 11:21 AM:

" Nothing ever happens in charleston. dont any of you know that. "

Beaches wrote on Jan 9, 2009 11:56 AM:

" Please - I thought this whole Mattoon/Charleston whining ended when we graduated from high school. Mattoon gets more, Charleston gets more - please. "

Billie Brant wrote on Jan 9, 2009 11:58 AM:

" HP- Oakland has Susan. :-) "

Becky wrote on Jan 9, 2009 1:00 PM:

" Tom, I loved your response! Kudos! "

medic57 wrote on Jan 9, 2009 5:33 PM:

" Unfortunately, the economic climate demands reductions in expenses,

I thought the economic climate was fine in Charleston. There goes the medium income. "

cd wrote on Jan 9, 2009 9:34 PM:

" Ditto Billie.

Medic57, I believe that is 'median income'.

JG/TC: Owner-Same as Decatur Herald,
Main Coverage is Mattoon.
It's been years since Charleston TRUELY had a newspaper. "

Rotty wrote on Jan 9, 2009 11:16 PM:

" Too bad we lost the Coles County Leader.
I enjoyed that paper.

.......

Billie Brant wrote on Jan 9, 2009 11:58 AM:

"HP- Oakland has Susan. :-)"

.......

LMAO!
Amen to that, & they can keep her!
"Ah, feel the love."
(That's my guise of goodness for today, folks.)
LOL!

.......

Good post, Tom! "

medic57 wrote on Jan 10, 2009 8:10 AM:

" My bad, now they will look like Palm Readers, still, maybe they could run the 2 cities better. "

gringa wrote on Jan 10, 2009 8:52 AM:

" LOL! Hate to do it to ya, cd, but I believe it's 'TRULY'. Sorry. "

Chris 2.0 wrote on Jan 10, 2009 4:28 PM:

" Rotty wrote on Jan 9, 2009 11:16 PM:

" Too bad we lost the Coles County Leader.
I enjoyed that paper.

I can't believe this comment made it through the mods "

cd wrote on Jan 10, 2009 4:31 PM:

" Thanks Gringa.

If it makes any difference...Medic's was a wrong word, mine was a mispelling. LOL "

Rotty wrote on Jan 10, 2009 9:48 PM:

" LOL @ Chris
That's why I mixed some other comments in with it - I figured it stood a better chance at surviving with them.
LOL

Thanks for all of your work with that publication, Chris. "

zeldalu wrote on Jan 11, 2009 4:44 PM:

" I read this paper online mostly. And at the top of the newspaper's webpage it says JG-TC serving Mattoon and Charleston. Notice who got top billing in both places. Oh its the things that make you go hmmmmm. I wonder how long it is gonna take to move the courthouse to Mattoon and make it the county seat too. "

gringa wrote on Jan 11, 2009 5:29 PM:

" If we are really interested in seeing the area thrive, we should be moving that court house to the middle of the county along Rt 16. (Jackie Record could make a museum out of the old one.) We should be consolidating all school districts within the county to one larger CUSD - with only one board. We should be combining Mattoon and Charleston city governments - just to survive well into the future. Such a merger would bring the same efficiencies to public service that are seen with corporate mergers - the economy of scale.

But what do you think, would we have a few little problems tearing apart and melding all those fiefdoms? "

cd wrote on Jan 11, 2009 7:59 PM:

" gringa wrote on Jan 11, 2009 5:29 PM:

" If we are really interested in seeing the area thrive, we should be moving that court house to the middle of the county along Rt 16. (Jackie Record could make a museum out of the old one.) We should be consolidating all school districts within the county to one larger CUSD - with only one board. We should be combining Mattoon and Charleston city governments - just to survive well into the future. Such a merger would bring the same efficiencies to public service that are seen with corporate mergers - the economy of scale.

But what do you think, would we have a few little problems tearing apart and melding all those fiefdoms? "
------
Good Grief Gringa, most everything is MATTOON already. We, in Charleston, don't need to be surrendering. Charleston needs to get away from the "Bed & Breakfast" mentality. They don't pay taxes like industry. B&B don't supply jobs like industry either.
Wake up Sleepy Heads!

As in a Rocky movie, Charleston needs to get the 'Eye of the Tiger'. "