By Jim Newell
Review Writer
Orion Township Clerk Penny Shults interviewd Jim Sherman, Jr. and Don Rush,, both of Sherman Publications, Inc., for a segment of Oakland Leadership to air in the upcoming year.
Sherman is publisher of Sherman Publications, Inc., the parent company of The Lake Orion Review.
Rush is assistant publisher and the author of the well-known column“Don’t Rush Me” a weekly staple in The Review.
The Lake Orion Review is celebrating its 135th year of publishing in the Orion community.
Shults interviewed Sherman and Rush at the ONTV broadcast station Dec. 22 about the newspaper, its history, its impact on the community and the importance of community newspapers in general.
“A newspaper, I like to say, is a neighbor to neighbor business,” Sherman said. “Orion’s growing and we want to grow with it.”
Sherman added that the Orion Township Library is going to run a page in The Review, and that Lake Orion schools Superintendent Marion Ginopolis is sending the newsaper updates on the Sinking Fund to publish.
“The easiest thing to do is to talk to your neighbors,” Sherman said. “We are part of the community and we go out and talk to people. We have professional writers doing a very good job and that’s something you don’t find on social media.”
The Review also devotes regular pages to the Orion Area Chamber of Commerce to highlight the business community.
“We are the original matchmaker. We bring businesses and residents together,” said Rush, who has been with Sherman Publications for 32 years.
“One of our goals is to get every kid in Lake Orion schools into the paper at least once before they graduate,” Rush said. “A lot of stories in the dailies and local TV news start at the community news level because we’re out there covering it and then they notice it and pick it up.
“One of the biggest challenges is getting everybody out there to know we’re here,” Rush said. “Daily papers across the country are taking a nose dive. We are a viable newspaper. Most of the time, if we can get the paper into people’s hands, they’ll keep on reading it.”
Sherman, who has long been an advocate for engaging the community in the newspaper, says more readers should write to The Review.
“We try to get all the letters to the editor into the newspaper. We want people to share their ideas,” Sherman said. “If someone takes the time to write to us, we want to share their views on the community.”
“We need dialogue now more than ever, an exchange of ideas,” Rush said.
Shults, whose family has been in the Orion for five generations, is an avid newspaper reader. She said that she’s getting her “snowbird” parents a subscription and recommends others do so.
“You’re helping us,” Shults said. “We do get excited about finding out what’s going on and the events we can go to.”
Shults also shared her views on the importance of having a community newspaper dedicated to the Orion Area.
“Professionally it saves the township a lot of money to have a local newspaper to advertise and post all of our legal notices and other information. The community stays engaged with the township and knows what’s happening regarding issues that affect them,” she said.
“Personally I enjoy seeing all the great things that are happening in our community and I love the history that’s preserved. It also makes us feel like a small town.”
The segment will air later this year. Check the Orion Neighborhood Television channel on YouTube for the video.
The Lake Orion Review will also link the segment on our Facebook page and website, lakeorionreview.com, once it becomes available.
“The interview went great. I enjoyed meeting with Don and Jim and they’re both very interesting to interview,” Shults said. “A half hour program is way too short for so much great information to share.”
On Dec. 19, the Orion Township Board honored The Lake Orion Review as Orion’s “Storyteller” with a Proclamation marking the newspaper’s milestone.
Sherman Publications, Inc. publishes four community newspapers: The Lake Orion Review, The Clarkston News, The Oxford Leader and The Citizen in Ortonville; as well as two shoppers, The Penny Stretcher and The Ad-Vertiser, and a 50,000-plus circulation coupon magazine, The Big Deal.
The Sherman family has owned The Lake Orion Review since 1972, when James Sherman, Sr., bought the newspaper from Marty and Ellen Carlson, who were publishers from Jan. 1, 1964 to Dec. 1, 1972.
The Shermans first began publishing in the area in 1955, when Jim Sherman, Sr. became a partner in The Oxford Leader.