Sept. 16, 2005

Dear APME Colleague,

Your contributions to the APME Katrina Aid Fund have started to arrive. We will get the funds to the managing editors of affected newspapers in the next couple of weeks so they can use the funds to help staffers meet emergency needs.

Incoming APME Treasurer Karen Peterson has reached several more Gulf Coast editors to get their stories:

Wind and water damaged about 85 percent of the homes in Slidell, La., and left the office of the Slidell Sentry-News unusable. The Sentry-News' sister paper, the Covington News Banner, was more fortunate. The Covington office was one of the few places in town to have power when Managing Editor Sandy Cunningham and her staff returned. Her biggest concern, however, was that six of the 14 people who worked in both newsrooms were missing. Even their homes had been destroyed. Both papers normally print at the Bogalusa Daily News, which has been without power. Bogalusa's depleted news staff got together a 14-page paper Sept. 10 printed in Natchez and another this Wednesday.

Ronnie Agnew, executive editor of the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., said his newspaper did not lose power although most of the town did. Ronnie and his staff were able to help their sister paper in Hattiesburg, which had to run on generators and a severely damaged phone system.

Many of the stricken papers used the Web to stay connected to their readers. The editors at Bogalusa said it all when they posted the following: "We know this isn't the perfect method of communication, but it is a start. We are confident that our community will rebuild and be even better in the future. For now, our prayers are with you and all our neighbors, and our hopes are for better days ahead."

You can contribute to the APME Katrina Aid Fund two ways:

Through your local U.S. Bank branch.

By check made out to APME Katrina Aid Fund. Send it to:

APME Katrina Aid Fund
c/o Deanna Sands
Omaha World-Herald
1334 Dodge St.
Omaha, NE 68102

Our hope is to distribute money by Oct. 1.

Deanna Sands
President, Associated Press Managing Editors Association
Managing Editor, Omaha World-Herald

P.S. We're planning a special Katrina session at the APME annual conference. Look for details at www.apme.com/conferences/2005/080205schedule.shtml.