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Newspaper Legacy Continues

Dresden, McKenzie Have Change in Family Ownership

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DRESDEN (September 6) — The ownership changed today for Tri-County Publishing, Inc. (TCP), the publisher of the Dresden Enterprise and The McKenzie Banner. Joel and Teresa Washburn of McKenzie, purchased the stock of Jeff and Jennifer Washburn, of Dresden in the family-owned business.
For 71 years, the Washburn family has been involved in the publication of the Dresden Enterprise and The McKenzie Banner. James Loyd Washburn started as a printer’s devil in 1948, shortly after returning from Occupied Japan immediately following World War II. James died in 1985, leaving the business to his wife, Ramona, majority owner, and sons, Jeff and Joel. The brothers purchased Ramona’s shares in 2015.
The sale marks a milestone in the life of Jeff Washburn, as he mostly retires from the newspaper business, where he worked since the age of nine. For 45 years, seven months and two days Jeff served as the managing editor of the Dresden Enterprise, a position he held with pride as he traveled throughout Weakley County covering the events and people of the county.
He began his newspaper career in McKenzie, working in the printshop, writing news stories, and photographing. He was later tapped to work at Associated Publishers, Inc. in 1973 when the new web press was installed at Huntingdon. That sister company printed nine community newspapers, including Dresden and McKenzie. In 1973, Jeff and Kenneth Kee were the press operators for a new five-unit web press. Kenneth Kee, of McKenzie, along with other pressman, still operate that press. Kee has printed the Enterprise and Banner for sixty years.
Jeff is the mayor of Dresden, the city judge in McKenzie, owner of Poppi’s Pizza in Dresden, and law partner in the firm of Washburn and Hutcherson in Dresden. His many obligations are in great part why he chose to sell the publishing company.
Jeff wrote, “During my career here, I have seen, wrote about, and edited literally thousands of stories about the good, bad, and ugly of the everyday occurrences involving the residents of this great county. This job has afforded me the opportunity to celebrate up close and personal the great accomplishments of our citizens and likewise grieve with individuals and families in times of loss and suffering. I have been tremendously blessed by God as he has afforded me the good fortune to come to know and love Weakley Countians from east to west and north to south.
“Over the past few months, as I approached my 65th birthday, I began to realize and accept that the time was right for me to begin getting some of my irons out of the fire as many people have often told me that I have “too many irons in the fire.
“My brother, Joel, and I began talking about me selling my interest in Tri-County Publishing, Inc. and other publishing-related assets to him. The corporation publishes the Dresden Enterprise and McKenzie Banner newspapers as well as operates a commercial print shop and sells advertising specialties.
“Just this week we reached an agreement for that transaction to take place and we focused our efforts on wrapping up that agreement as quickly as possible. September 6 is the day when I will no longer be an owner of Tri-County Publishing and each day reporting for work at the newspaper office.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t see me in the future on the sidelines of ballgames and present at other events across Weakley County with my camera in hand taking photographs and writing stories to continue telling the story of Weakley County. In my new role of helping my brother work to build a better newspaper for Dresden and Weakley County, I have the good fortune of getting to be selective about my assignments and number of hours worked per week. I will no longer have the burden and stress of seeing that the newspaper makes it to the newsstands and subscriber mailboxes week in and week out. This new opportunity also will allow me to sleep later in the morning and spend more time at home at night with my wife.

Some of you may be already aware that I have already eased back on my law practice and have focused exclusively on transactional law areas such as real estate transfers, estate planning, business formation, contracts, social security disability, and other areas that do not involve intense litigation.
This new direction for me today is another step back from that proverbial fire; one that I embrace with enthusiasm to see what the future holds.
Some of you, especially those of you who know that it is not in my nature to not be working, might inquire what my plans are for the future. To answer that, Jennifer and I will continue working to make our restaurant, Poppi’s Pizzeria, a designation place for local fine dining. Additionally, I am planning to become active in mission work through our church and Weakley County Baptist Association. I also foresee that we will enjoy traveling and enjoy this wonderful nation and world that God has given us. You just never know, we just might sign up for the next senior citizen’s bus trip and become regulars on their journeys.
I also will have more opportunity to serve the citizens of Dresden as mayor by working to make our city a better place to live and raise children. In this new role, I will have more time to interact one-on-one with the citizens of Dresden and explore more opportunities for our community to grow economically and culturally.
In regard to the future of the newspaper, my brother had this to say in a written statement to be published in the print edition of the newspaper this next week:
“The Dresden Enterprise will continue as a community newspaper serving Weakley County, said Joel Washburn, publisher. This week, the newspaper has a new design and a new flag - the nameplate at the top of page 1.
“My brother, Jeff and I have been in the publishing business for more than 40 years.
“I thank Jeff for his many years of service to the community and the industry. I will rely on his continued support to improve your community newspaper,” said Joel. “I hope to build on the tradition of the printed newspaper and add new online offerings.
“A community newspaper relies on the support of local citizens and businesses. We thank you for your support in the past and hope to earn your support in the future,” concluded Washburn.
Jeff continued, “In bringing this personal note and announcement to a conclusion, I’d like to close by saying ‘Thank You’ to the citizens of Weakley County for indulging me and helping to guide me as I grew from a very young man new to Weakley County in 1974 to a senior citizen now reaching retirement that has had the opportunity of a lifetime right here and enjoyed every minute and mile of that journey from start to finish. God bless each and everyone!”