THE HUB
Fence Post History
A Little Fence Post-History In March 1991, John (JD) Cathcart started a newspaper of local interest for our community. He named it The Fence Post. This was a printed newspaper. In the beginning, he printed 5,000 copies and distributed them to Three Points, Picture Rocks, SW Tucson, Tucson Estates, Marana, and Sells. John wrote about local history and kept his readers informed on what was happening in the area. The newspaper was supported by local businesses & Service ads. The last Fence Post was published in March 1999. John Cathcart had passed away, and his daughter had created the last editions. Joan Berriman took up the task and named the newspaper The Country Fence Post, and this name was registered with the State. I do not know how long Joan published the newspaper. I know that when my husband and I moved here in 2005, the newspaper was being created by two ladies named Jane Pierce & Jan Gates. I do not remember what the name of their newsletter was, but it was very important to John & me as it helped us feel comfortable in our new neighborhood. At this point, due to the high cost of printing, the newsletter was only distributed in the Three Points area. When Jane Pierce & Jan Gates stopped publishing, Cher Williams took it over, and the newsletter was called “Our Neighborhood Community Newsletter.” Cher published the newsletter from January 2006 through May 2009. During this time, PEPP Tech was operating an alternative school here in our community. They felt it would be a great project for the students to work on. PEPP Tech created the newsletter from September 2009 through November 2011 and called it The Robles Junction Newsletter. They were only able to print 100 copies, and not many people in our community knew it existed.
Newsletter In The Digital Age
When PEPP Tech closed, we were once again without a community newsletter. This was when John Sargent and Pastor Dane Miller got talking about what would need to be done to get our Community Newsletter restarted, have it distributed to a large number of residents, and ensure it could keep going. Dane knew a professor at the U of A who had already done some research on community newsletters. The research showed that current printing cost at approximately $1 for each newsletter would make it to expensive to produce a large amount. Printing a small amount of between 100 and 150 limited how many residents could receive it. In this digital age, the percentage of people who have computers, tablets, and cell phones is very high. If we could create a digital newsletter that could be e-mailed, we could reach the greatest number of readers at no cost. A committee was established to create a set of guidelines for restarting our newsletter. This committee agreed on several important points. E-mailing the newsletter would be the primary method of delivery. There would be a limited number of black & white printed copies. The number printed would depend on the advertising revenue. If we wanted the newsletter to continue, the staff who worked on it should be financially compensated for their time and expense. The newsletter would only contain good positive news about our community. The newsletter would be non-profit. Cher Williams agreed that the Robles Junction Community Council, the 501c3 she headed, would be able to handle the finances. John Sargent recruited his wife Trish to start the newsletter, and she agreed, thinking she would only do it for a couple of months. We polled our community for a name for our newsletter, and overwhelmingly, they wanted the original Fence Post name. The Cathcart family graciously allowed us to use the name once again. In May 2012, our community newsletter was officially restarted. During our first few years the newsletter was small, so we were able to collect email addresses and send the Fence Post out as an attachment. We also printed 150 copies and distributed them to several local businesses who advertised with us. Soon, we realized that trying to keep the size of the Fence Post small enough to send as an attachment was compromising the quality of the newsletter especially the photographs we included. We took the leap to upload our newsletter to the My Friends Closet website and to send our email list a notice when the new Fence Post issue was available and the link to find it. We still print the 150 copies. We are so happy to be part of The Hub, our new community website. We appreciate everyone who has ever worked on our community newsletter. It has been their efforts that laid the foundation for our current Fence Post.
We advertise positive news that is beneficial to our community
We are always looking for good news!
The Fence Post is our local community newsletter. This first version of the Fence Post was started 11 years ago. We are always looking for the good things happening in our community. We want to hear about what’s going on in local organizations like Boys Scouts, 4-H, VFW, and others.
Do you have an event planned that benefits an organization?
We will print Birthday, Anniversary, Graduation, Memorials, Get Well wishes, and any other news.
If you have a Public Service announcement that is sized as a full page, we will be happy to publish it. It will be reduced to a quarter-page size. Please keep in mind that small types should be readable with this reduction.
Please submit the PSA as a high-quality Jpeg or PDF.
If you have information that is of a positive nature that would be beneficial and of interest to our community, we would be interested.
Photographs of your event or to illustrate your article are welcome.
We will not print negative or disparaging articles, nor we will print political articles. There are other venues better suited to those.
If you are interested in submitting an article, please e-mail fencepost3points@gmail.com. Trish Sargent, the editor, will be happy to answer any of your questions. Our firm article or ad submission deadline is the 20th of the month at 5 PM.
Become A Fence Post Advertiser
The Fence Post is our local monthly not for profit newsletter. The revenue we generate goes to pay expenses. If, at the end of the year there is any funds left over, they are donated to the Friends of Robles Ranch Scholarship Fund.
To advertise when the new Fence Post goes on line, we email a notice to over 600 folks who have given us their email address. We do not share their address with anyone. We also put a notice up on the Three Points FaceBook groups.
The Fence Post, could not publish without our wonderful advertisers. We keep our rates as low as we can and have recently implemented a 5% discount if invoices are paid within 30 days. Our advertisers have the ability to write occasional informative articles about their business. We want our readers to be well informed about the products and services available in our area.
If you have a business, even a small home business, you would like to promote, please email fencepost3points@gmail.com. Trish Sargent can create your ad for you at no cost. If you have any questions, please feel free to email the Fence Post.
Fence Post Advertising Rates
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Business Card Size Ad 1 Month $12.00
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Business Card Size Ad 3 Month Deal $30.00
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Quarter Page Ad $30.00
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Half Page Ad $60.00
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Full Page Ad $120.00
Trish Sargent can create your ad for you at no charge.
If you have an already created ad, it must be sized for our newsletter and submitted as a high-quality Jpeg or PDF.
Fence Post Distribution
Due to the high cost of printing, The Fence Post is available as a digital newsletter. The new edition is uploaded to the Friends of Robles Ranch website at www.friendsofroblesranch.org between the 25th and the 30th of the month. You can receive an e-mail reminder of when this happens by e-mailing us at fencepost3points@gmail.com and asking to be put on our reminder list.
We also print 150 Black & White copies and distribute them to several local businesses.
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Ace Hardware & Three Points Grocery
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Bull Dog Bakery & BBQ
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Double E Feed
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Kestrel’s Market
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KJ’s
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VFW