IN 1987, THE COURIER FOOLED ITS READERS
JEREMY WALTNER – PUBLISHER
The 1980s was an extraordinarily difficult decade for the Freeman community. Not only was the farm economy in the tank, but a series of hard-hitting and tragic stories locally littered the timeline.
Not to dwell on it, but the litany of tough breaks is worth noting:
A fire destroyed a Main Street grocery store, Jerry’s IGA, in 1981.
In January of 1983, a well-known Freeman resident and manager of Custom Coils, 33-year-old Dennis Cokeley, was killed instantly in a traffic accident on the way to Menno from Yankton. Three months after that, 4-year-old Sterling Pankratz drowned in a stock dam near the family farmyard, and a month later, on May 21, another 4-year-old child died in a car accident at what was a dangerous intersection at Highway 44/81.
May of 1984 was also the month that the community was stunned after local horse farmer Jennis Hofer shot and killed a 63-year-old father and his 28-year-old son, Andrew Wipf and Andrew Wipf Jr., in a field near Freeman over a drainage dispute.
In August of 1985, a fire destroyed the Salem Mennonite Church — a tragedy made all the more painful when the community learned it was arson.
Three months later, the Freeman Junior College/Academy Corporation made the difficult decision to close the college.
Just a few weeks after that, in early November, an explosion at the elevator in Marion killed three people, and the following January, another car accident claimed more lives — this time Christ J. and Delilah Kaufman, who were returning to their Freeman home from Yankton.
And then, Oct. 2, 1986, the community was stunned once again at the sudden loss of 26-year-old Lisa Letcher, who died at her home following the coronation ceremony at Freeman High School, where her husband, Brad, was an assistant football coach for the Flyers.
Just how much can one community take?
Lightening the mood
The gloom and doom of the decade wasn’t the only deciding factor behind it, but it certainly played a part in the Freeman Courier’s decision in 1987 to publish an April Fool’s Day front page filled to the brim with made-up stories.
Read the April Fool’s page here.
“I think that was part of what motivated us — that we needed to do something to lighten the mood,” said retired publisher Tim L. Walther, who had purchased the newspaper three years earlier. “We had been through a really tough period in this community.”
Waltner’s idea to trick the town quickly gained the support of his staff, including then-advertising manager Ricky Schrag who worked alongside Waltner in brainstorming ideas for what would become a memorable front page that had everybody talking — particularly about the lead story.
On April 1, 1987, the Courier announced that President Ronald Reagan would be attending Schmeckfest; his familiar presidential portrait that showcased Reagan’s warm smile accompanied the story.
“That immediately rose to the top (of the brainstorming) because the April Fool’s issue came out the week of Schmeckfest,” Waltner said. “That was just too easy not to do.”
The foolishness didn’t stop there. Another headline noted that a petition was being circulated by Freeman Academy alumni to trade the Bobcats mascot for “Doves,” because Bobcats was too fierce for a school rooted in peace.
The Courier also noted that Freeman Public was considering adding billiards to its activities, that oil had been discovered below the Freeman Swimming Pool, and that the world’s first museum of farm clothing would be opening in Freeman by a group known as the American Association Accumulating American Agricultural Art And Artifacts (AAAAAAAA).
The entire front page was made up — right down to the index.
“We ended up going whole hog,” Waltner said. “We had fun with the bylines; we had fun with the headlines; it was all just goofy. And we had enough time that we could tweak it and make it even better as we went along. I look back on it now and think, ‘That was really some pretty good writing.’”
Decision/reactions
Waltner said April Fool’s tricks by newspapers weren’t uncommon in the industry at the time, although they were controversial.
“There were some newspapers who said, ‘You cannot do that; it will diminish your credibility as a newspaper,’ said Waltner. “And yet other papers did it routinely.
“Generally speaking, most people in the industry were pretty skeptical about whether it was a good idea or not.”
But Waltner and his staff took a “why not?” approach.
“It wasn’t controversial in the office,” he said. “Once we made the commitment, it was too much fun to let it go. Once we got rolling, we were all in.”
The staff spent about a month brainstorming and planning for the issue
“We looked for stories that were on the edge of believability,” Waltner said. “It couldn’t be, ‘Elvis sighted in town.’ You wanted somebody to say, ‘You know what? That could be true.’”
The response from the public was largely positive.
“Just for the record, it’s nice to know that a sense of humor is alive and well in Freeman,” Waltner wrote in the following issue. “In fact, never has the Courier received a more direct response to something we’ve written. We’re very happy that this community is able to laugh and enjoy the lighter side of life.”
But there were a few who felt differently after missing the signs that it was a joke — the APRIL FOOL!!! note at the bottom of the index and the for-real cover printed on page 3.
“There’s a lot about people not picking up on it that doesn’t make sense, but we’re casual readers,” Waltner said. “You read a headline like ‘President Reagan to attend Schmeckfest’ and you get excited. One person called all their friends and said they had to come to Schmeckfest because Reagan was going to be there.”
“There were several people who came back to us, either directly or indirectly, who were very upset, but most of those people were embarrassed that they had believed it,” he continued. “One individual called and said he was going to help organize a welcome to Freeman caravan at 44 and 81 to bring Reagan into town and we had to tell him it was a joke. He was utterly disappointed.”
The April Fool’s Day front page made news outside the community and even the state. Waltner remembers one writer from out of state commenting on it in a national publication.
“He said it was fun, but there was also a cautionary note,” he says. “The takeaway was, if you’re going to do something like this, you better be careful because there could be consequences.”
Waltner says he probably wouldn’t try to pull something like that off today.
“In today’s social setting, when credibility of news organizations is at a pretty low point, anything that diminishes being taken seriously … I guess I’d be pretty cautious doing something like that today because of that. I’m not sure people have the same sense of humor today as they did then.”
But he has no regrets about the April Fool’s edition. In fact, he says it was a career highlight.
“Absolutely. Being a community journalist is fun at so many levels. Sometimes it’s hard and sometimes it’s painful, but generally it’s fun. This just took it to a whole new level. It was creative writing to a tee. It was entertainment at its best.”
