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November 2, 2009

Webb City set to honor newspaper editor

By Emily Younker

eyounker@joplinglobe.com

WEBB CITY, Mo. — Bob Foos, longtime editor of the Webb City Sentinel, will be honored Thursday night at the Webb City R-7 Schools Foundation’s annual Distinguished Citizen Dinner.

“It’s a big honor,” Foos said Monday. “In our community, we probably have more pride in our schools than anything else.”

Dave Collard, who has been on the school board for 20 years and is a past board president, called Foos “a longtime supporter of Webb City.”

He said Foos has remained loyal to the town, including during tough times.

“Webb City kind of considers him like its own son,” Collard said. “He is well-respected in our community as being fair and honest.”

Foos, in his 30th year with the Sentinel, began his newspaper career at The Carthage Press, where he worked during the mid-1970s.

After two years at the Press, he and his wife, Ann, moved to Illinois, where he was a photographer for the Joliet Herald. By 1979, they had moved back to Southwest Missouri.

“My goal was always to get to a larger market, and then when I got there, I realized I was more of a community person,” Foos said.

Foos, who received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, helped buy the Sentinel that year. He initially did photography and layouts. Now Foos’ official title is editor, though he also is a photographer, reporter and page designer.

“I had an instructor in college who kind of encouraged us to be a one-man band, being able to do everything,” Foos said. “And I suppose that fits my skills.”

Co-owner Merle Lortz handles printing and advertising, Foos said.

Vicki Groff, the Sentinel’s bookkeeper, said the paper at times resembles a one-man show.

“Bob not only covers what’s going on with city government, but what’s going on in the city, the schools,” said Groff, a six-year Sentinel employee. “He’s always at every football game, and when the (high school) band goes to Pasadena (for the Tournament of Roses Parade in January), he’ll be there.”

Foos said the Sentinel has been published for more than 100 years and once was a daily newspaper. It now is printed once a week, on Fridays.

When Foos bought it, circulation had dwindled to 100 subscribers, he said; he now has about 2,000 subscribers.

“We had a lot of support from the community in the beginning, and we still do,” he said.

Foos said the best part of his job is being involved. His wife was a first-grade teacher for more than 35 years, and she recently retired from the Webb City School District.

The dinner, tickets for which already have been turned in to the caterer, will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Butchers Block, 499 W. Fountain Road. Information is available from the school district’s administrative office, 673-6000.





Scholarships

Thursday’s banquet serves as a fundraiser for the Webb City R-7 Schools Foundation, which has an endowment that funds scholarships for graduating students. Since 1986, the foundation has awarded more than $334,000 in scholarships to Webb City students.

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