In a continued effort to ensure accuracy is spread throughout these pages, a very glaring error was discovered. For someone like me, who loses sleep if he thinks there is a minor typo in something I submitted for publication, this naturally spurned the appearance of two more gray hairs.
OK, not really, but let me explain.
At the top of each front page of The Graham Star, adjacent to the price of the newspaper are ”volume” and “issue” numbers.
This may not mean a hill of beans to readers more concerned with fact-checking stories, photo captions or even wording – and thank you for keeping us on our toes; it shows you’re reading – but it is actually an important part of local history.
Anyone should be able to read both the volume and issue number and trace back to a paper’s first-ever publication date. That is the industry standard.
One major discrepancy in this should-be chain of consistency was discovered when The Star celebrated its “50th” anniversary in the March 27, 2008, edition. Then-editor James Budd gathered through some research that the supposed first publication was not in 1958 – as believed for many years – but actually on June 24, 1955.
Therefore, The Star’s 50th anniversary was celebrated three years too late.
Budd later wrote, “The June 26, 2008, issue will be the start of our 54th year.”
After that, I really don’t know what happened. The proverbial train went off the rails somewhere down the line.
While The Star updated in June 2008 to its 54th volume, it has since fluctuated between accurate and inaccurate. There was a stretch from 2013-14 – yes, I researched – where the volume number was one year ahead, then adjusted midway through.
As for the issue number? Well, that is how I discovered the error. This week’s Star would have been No. 52 (incorrect) of Volume 65 (correct), meaning by that math, the first publication would have been in October 1954.
So it has been adjusted. Again.
Do not do a double-take if you see some of the same issue numbers repeat again; it will certainly all come out in the wash.
With each passing week, we will continue to get more than just the little things right. Or at least attempt to.
Keep being our checks and balances, and thanks for reading.
Kevin Hensley is editor of The Graham Star. You can reach him by phone, 479-3383; email, editor@grahamstar.com; or via Twitter @KevinHensley
CNI.