Chelsea and Daniel Boling understand the importance of The Hancock Clarion’s role in preserving the community’s history and telling local stories. That’s why they aren’t changing much as the new owners of the paper, whose first edition was delivered by horse and buggy in 1893.
Chelsea Boling’s late great uncle Donn Wimmer was the editor of the Clarion for 65 years.
“To do anything for 65 years is incredible,” she said. “He started really young working at The Clarion, then owned it and was the editor for many, many years.”
Boling said that Wimmer, who died in June 2024, first approached her 2 years ago about taking over the newspaper.
“He said he was thinking about who would be next in line to take The Clarion, recognizing that he was aging, and wanted to make sure it was in good hands,” she said. “At first, I had to let that thought sink in for a while and think about if I was interested in something like that.”
The Bolings already had full-time jobs. Chelsea runs the Hello Pop food truck, which specializes in popsicles and shake-ups made with fresh fruit. Daniel is a district court judge serving several counties.
Even though it took a while for the Bolings to decide to purchase the newspaper — which they did in July 2024 — Chelsea said she knew The Clarion’s value to Hancock County and beyond.
“I knew the importance of The Clarion to our community because it feels like it’s not just a paper, it’s our written history of our county,” she said. “I had to think about if it was something I wanted to take on. We would talk about it on and off for a while, but of course (Donn) was very busy and I was busy, too. Conversations got more serious around March of this year and we (finally) took steps toward a transition.”
Boling, 31, stressed that the transition would not involve any unplanned staffing changes.
“I have a great team at the Clarion,” she said. “One thing that was really important was that most everyone stayed. We did have one person retire, but that was a planned retirement. She hired her replacement about 6 months ago and has had the opportunity to train them. Other than that, everyone has stayed on and they know what they’re doing. I am the one learning from them, which is an interesting position to be in whenever you’re the decision maker.”
Donn’s children — Steve, Jennifer, and Linda — are all longtime employees. Steve is the sports editor and also takes photos, Jennifer is the news and features writer, and Linda just retired.
“Some things have to naturally change just because it’s technically a new business structure,” Boling said. “But in terms of operations, things are pretty much running smoothly because they’ve been doing it for a long time, and they know what they’re doing.”
While much of the operation will remain the same, Boling said readers will see some small changes. One of the first things she did was work with the graphic designer to restore the masthead used in the 1970s. She’s also going to increase The Clarion’s social media presence and may revamp the website.
“The culture and the brand I’m creating is to preserve our history, but also move us forward,” Boling said. “I feel like changing the masthead does both really. It preserves that history of what we have used in the past, but it’s new to a lot of people, so it moves us forward at the same time.”
The idea of further preserving Hancock County’s history was perhaps the most appealing aspect of taking over the newspaper.
Boling recently posted a photo of an old edition that had the first Hancock County golf team displayed on the front page.
“I know some of the people in that picture,” she said. “I know their children. I know their grandchildren. So it’s cool, just everywhere you look there’s that history of the county.”
She noted that sports are a big draw for The Clarion, specifically their coverage of youth teams.
“One thing I love about The Clarion is that we cover even down to T-ball. A lot of papers can’t do that,” she said. “One of my oldest newspaper clippings that I have is from 1997 when I hit a double for the White Sox on my T-ball team. Otherwise, I would have never known that if my grandma hadn’t cut that out and kept it for me. I have a pretty big collection of clippings from sports that I played coming through the years.”
Boling said that trying to fill Donn’s shoes is impossible, but she’s going to do her best to keep delivering a product Hancock County can be proud of.
“I really see the value that The Clarion brings to the Hancock County community and beyond,” she said. “I just couldn’t really stand the thought of it no longer existing.”
The Clarion comes out every Thursday in print and also offers an e-edition. Those interested can subscribe on the website, call 270-927-6945, or email [email protected].
