Posted June 18, 2008

Our colleagues in Iowa need help from the tornados and devastating floods that have savaged the prairie. You may have used the AP picture in Sunday editions of houses ripped off foundations and slammed into a bridge on the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids. Folks on the ground say that illustrates that this is a disaster of millennial proportions. More than 38,000 have been forced to evacuate, including journalists at The Gazette, KCRG-TV and other news organizations who nonetheless have continued publishing on all platforms.

As president of the Associated Press Managing Editors, I would encourage you to make a tax-deductible contribution to these journalists in need.

Gazette Editor Steve Buttry explains that citizens can't purchase flood insurance unless they live in the 100-year flood plain, but the raging waters went beyond boundaries of the 500-year flood plain. So much of the damage will not be insured. FEMA's assistance will help some, but it won't be enough.

Newspaper employees in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Vinton, Iowa City and other towns in the flood zone face personal losses. Some employees have had their homes and personal belongings destroyed or severely damaged.

You may send tax-deductible checks to:

Iowa Newspaper Employees Disaster Relief Fund
Iowa Newspaper Foundation
319 E. Fifth St.
Des Moines, IA 50309

In addition, the Iowa Newspaper Foundation will assemble two databases – one of the needs of newspapers affected by the flood and one of resources offered by other newspapers.

Thank you in advance for helping colleagues who continue to do their jobs in the face of extraordinary adversity.

David Ledford
APME President
Vice President/News & Executive Editor
The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.

P.S. Should you care to see how Iowa's newspapers are covering the flooding, here are some links:

■ Cedar Rapids Gazette: www.gazetteonline.com

■ Iowa City Press-Citizen: www.press-citizen.com

■ Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier: www.wcfcourier.com

■ Quad City Times, Davenport: www.qctimes.com

■ Des Moines Register: www.desmoinesregister.com

■ Washington Evening Journal, Mount Pleasant: www.zwire.com/site/news.asp?brd=1142

■ Cedar Valley Daily Times, Vinton: communitynewspapergroup.com/cedar_valley_daily_times/front/

■ The Ottumwa Courier: www.ottumwacourier.com

■ The Daily Democrat, Fort Madison: www.dailydem.com

■ Daily Gate City, Keokuk: www.dailygate.com

■ Muscatine Journal: www.muscatinejournal.com

■ The Hawk Eye, Burlington: www.thehawkeye.com

■ The Fairfield Ledger, Fairfield: www.zwire.com/site/news.asp?brd=1142&nav_sec=76130