Jarod Tracy, 12, a Gazette newspaper carrier, just built a computer with money he saved from his hilly Grandin route.
He'd read Bill Gates built his first computer before he was 14 and wanted to break that record.
For the past six years Tracy shared an 80-house route with his brother and judiciously saved his money to buy a laptop, a portable PlayStation and an iPod Touch. Recently he inherited the route from his brother and next on his list is constructing a full-fledged operating system.
“It'll take a lot of hours, but it's digital parts. It's not much money,” says Tracy, speaking with the assured voice of a young entrepreneur.
Throughout the past half dozen years, he's gotten to know many of his two-legged neighbours and a few others as well.
“I know most of the dogs' names,” Tracy smiles.
Like Tracy, most of the 210 carriers delivering newspapers throughout St. Albert and Morinville are a special link to the community.
Great West Newpapers CEO Duff Jamison speaks volumes about the importance of carriers in the chain of print news delivery.
“The carriers are the first word in everything. If the carriers don't get his or her jobs done, our readers don't get the stories,” Jamison said. “Reporters, photographers, advertising all become meaningless. Nobody knows the work we put in. If you want to put it in perspective, they are the lifeblood of the paper. Without carriers there is no Gazette.”
The Gazette's carriers run the age gamut of eight years to seniors and special needs. With more than 400 routes averaging about 80 houses or apartments, some carriers tackle double routes.
Today, the newspaper is printed at 25 Chisholm Dr., bundled and delivered twice a week to carriers' homes, where they're dropped off on the driveway.
But in 1966 when the Jamison family purchased the Gazette, St. Albert was a lot smaller, with a population of less than 6,000 residents.
“Old Grandin Road was on the edge of town. Albert Lacombe School was an empty field,” Jamison recalls.
The paper was “a wispy little thing,” maybe only 12 pages once a week. It was printed at Central Web Offset. Patriarch/publisher Ernie Jamison would drive to Edmonton, pick up the printed copies, load them in his old Chrysler and drive back to St. Albert.
In the early days carriers were required to collect money from subscribers. While most residents paid up front, some people were perpetual cheapskates. In the '70s, the paper moved from collections to prepaid subscribers. In 1996 the Gazette introduced free newspapers.
From 1973 to 1978, the now retired Olive Vest was the paper's circulation manager, organizing 98 carriers.
When Ernie Jamison dropped off the newly-minted copies from Edmonton, Vest made sure carriers came down to the office after school, selected their papers and delivered them in the right mailboxes.
“The city was smaller and it was easy for them to pick up the papers,” she says.
At that time, many young boys came through looking for a job to earn a bit of money and experience. Hundreds of carriers delivered including Dr. Darryl LaBuick, now a physician at Grandin Clinic.
“He never missed a paper,” Vest says.
“Mr. (Ernie) Jamison always said that any children delivering papers would become wonderful citizens. They were reliable and they knew what responsibility was,” she said.
Fast forward to 2011. Current circulation manager Sherri Lawrence is just as protective of her extensive brood as Vest was.
“In winter what they go through is incredible. Some people don't shovel their sidewalks and icy patches jeopardize carriers. And if they're carrying a heavy amount of flyers it can be hard. There have been a lot of falls over the years,” she said.
Like Jamison, Lawrence passionately believes carriers are part of an unbroken chain that is crucial to the survival of the Gazette. She plans to keep instilling a sense of pride in the role her carriers perform.
“Each area from beginning to end is vital,” she said. “If one area is dropped we can't complete the service.”
