40% of our population is “government dependant”!I pay over 1/3 of my wages to Federal and State taxes, which takes care of the “government dependant”! I pay more for goods to make up for the thievery that the “government dependant” do.
I pay more for my healthcare because I have to also pay for the healthcare of the “government dependant”! I pay more for the stuff my kid does at school to cover the costs of the kids of the “government dependant”! (Full story)
Dear Joe, We write to personally thank Jay Kerner for the item he wrote regarding our work as “Barney & Clyde”. We hope that it brought back tons of good memories to the many, many kids that we worked to each Saturday morning. All shows being taped on Saturday mornings and aired throughout the following week allowed us to work one on one with untold numbers of St. Joseph Children. These years of Professional Clowning brought us personal satisfaction that we shall never forget. I have been a member of The Masonic Fraternity for 54 years now, and as a member of Saxton Lodge #508, A.F. & A.M., I will be assisting my Lodge in ringing the bell for The Salvation Army on
Dear Joe,
A late congratulations on your first year.
As I’ve been preparing for family to arrive, buying all of the groceries typical this time of year and putting out all of the extra bedding I thought a lot about some of the stories, features and events you have done in your first year.
I don’t always agree with what I read in your paper, but I have always been pleased with your position. This is a wonderful community and I, like so many of your readers, am proud to be just a Regular Joe!
Please keep us posted through this holiday season as to ways we can help take care of our other Joes. And keep pushing for the local organizations like Grace House and Second Harvest….they too are Regular Joes!!
A proud, yet Regular Joe,
Jessie Brown (Full story)
Dear Joe, I saw your puzzle on page 3 of the last issue, and I have to tell you, that’s the hardest damn thing I’ve ever seen. I’m usually pretty good at this kind of stuff, but I’ve been over the entire issue with a magnifying glass and I can’t find the teaser anywhere. Will you print the answer in the next issue? I sure hope so because I like puzzles. Puzzle Guy Dear Puzzle Guy, When you put out a publication like this with the skeleton crew we use, we occasionally miss stuff. For instance the throw away “find the teaser” line inserted as a space saver when laying out the paper. In theory, that was supposed to remind the editor to find the teaser (a phrase used to entice the reader to seek out a specific column.) We’re sorry you invested so much time and energy looking for an answer to a puzzle that never existed. Puzzles aren’t a bad idea though. It might be a good addition to The Joe if we can come up with something. Let us know what you think. Joe (Full story)
Dear Joe,
As one of your many senior readers, let me tell you how grateful I am for your larger type size. Its not as large as the large print books at the library, but considerably bigger than most newspapers. This may not be that big a deal for a lot of folks, but for others it could be the difference between enjoying a publication and skipping it for something easier on the peepers.
While other publications seem to be getting smaller and smaller, I’m glad to see The Regular Joe holding fast to its standards.
Mel Claypold
Dear Mel,We appreciate your kind words and yes, we’ve heard from others expressing gratitude about our font size. We’d like to tell you it was a carefully thought out decision, but we have to fess up. Bumping the size a point or two is a carefully disguised plot to stretch the content. This saves us something like half a page per issue. Thank goodness we get the contributions we do, or the whole thing could look like this:Thanks for reading,Joe
Dear Joe,
We love your live music calendar, but we notice some venues seem to be a little hit or miss, and some are missing completely. What gives?
Music Lover
Dear Lover, (Sorry, too intimate?)The Regular Joe is committed to promoting live music. We ask, we prod, we cajole, to get bands and venues to email us their bookings. There is no charge whatsoever for this service, all we ask is that you email it to us. Some send it to us regularly, for others its like pulling teeth to get the info. Please, if you’re in a band or follow a band, if you run a venue or just hang out in one, please send us your calendar so we can include it in ours. No karaoke or DJ nights though, just live music. Our goal is to be the number one source for it in St. Joe, but we need your help.Joe
Dear Joe,
Like most readers, I have my favorite places to pick up your paper. Lately though, I’ve had to go to my second, third and sometimes fourth stop to find a copy. What gives?Laura Crenshaw
Dear Laura,Sorry you’ve had trouble finding a copy. One of the things we’ve had to learn over the last twelve months is how and where to distribute the Joe. As our readership has increased we’ve adjusted our drop numbers. We’ve also found out that some businesses that aren’t on our list of stops grab a stack from somewhere else and take them to their place. That’s fine with us, but if you’re going through a lot of copies, let us knows so we can add a stop for you.Before we got started, we did some research and found that most free distribution papers average about a 50-60% pick up rate. That means you’re considered successful if half of your copies go to the recycler. We hit that figure with the first issue. By issue 6 we hit 90%, and have averaged around there ever since. As we go forward in year two, we’ll be looking at possibly increasing our printing numbers to meet the demand. We’re estimating that between copies picked up, copies read and put back, and our online version, around 10,000 different Joes read each issue now. That’s pretty awesome, but we think it will continue to go up for a while yet. (Full story)
I thoroughly enjoyed your article on the 1972 world champs. I grew up in St. Joseph and played little league baseball as well (though not as good as the players on this team!) It’s also a pleasure to see a great moment from one’s hometown and remember all of these types of events with a sense of pride. I couldn’t help but notice the plug you gave Lafayette HighSchool…….perhaps you went there and/or know Steve Bundy and Greg Lile… good for them. However, you failed to point out that Bart Geiger and Steve Harris made contributions later in high school as well. Both of these gentlemen played football at BishopLeblond High School in the 1970’s and was part of the 1975 team that finished 10-0 and yet failed to make the playoffs. They were both members of the 1977 baseball team that finished 4th in the class 2A state tournament. And Bart Geiger was on the 1977 2A state champion basketball team. We went to the smallest high school in St. Joseph at the time yet we routinely beat the other larger schools in most sports. I don’t think the student athletes today put as much emphasis on this as we did. Anyway, there is my plug for Bishop Leblond High School and some athletes who made great contributions there later.
Greg HoppeBishop Leblond class of ‘79
Dear Greg, (Full story)
Dear This (Neutered) Joe, You are a disgrace to all Regular Joes in the Joe-Towner Zip Code. When did your wife have you neutered? What happened to a guy being able to beat his chest and grunt to spend some extra special time with his wife? Obviously used missed all the episodes of Al Bundy, which any Regular Joe knows was the King of Joes. You let many Regular Joes down by writing such an article because all women in the St. Joseph area are now going to expect such things from all Joes. You have started a virus that could spread and know no boundaries. As desperate as you seemed in your article last issue, there is no doubt you had a personal agenda and wanted to achieve your goal at the cost of all Joes. Oh, I would have to agree she is very deserving of this status, but for you to acknowledge these great achievements openly is detrimental to all that is sacred in the scratch and sniff world. Face it Neutered Joe, a Regular Joe is going to read your article and say this guy is just trying to get some brownie points and score tonight. Please try and grow back what you have lost and remember us Joes need to stay the course. How are we going to be able to hog the remote, watch football, have Edith run for a beer, scratch and adjust (obvious you have forgot about this one some time ago) when you have lowered the bar so much. Remember my fellow Joe, all is not lost. You can redeem yourself in future articles. Just set the bar back where it needs to be. Joe-Towner Joe
Dear Towner,In light of the current accusations against the writer of This Joe, I think it high time to address a common misconception: Jay, not Joe writes This Joe. In fact, if you look over each issue you will see that other than responding to fan (and foe) mail, I don’t do any of the writing. I will gladly pass your note onto Neutered Jay.Regards,Joe (very much intact)
On a trip through St. Joe in April, I picked up a copy of your paper at a restaurant. I really enjoyed reading it as we drove home to
I was wondering how your park clean-up project turned out? I’m in charge of Earth Day activities at the school where I teach. I’m always looking for ways to help take care of our planet! Thanks for the inspiration and keep up the good work.
I will continue to enjoy your publication on line!
Sincerely,
Shelly Smith
In response to the unsigned letter regarding people in need, here are a few words:
Dear Perfect Life,I hope you thank God everyday for having such an awesome life, where you have never found yourself hungry, alone, without clothes or without a home of your own.
Maybe illness has not reached your door in a great degree? Maybe sleeping by a river bank may seem serene? Maybe sitting under a bridge listening to the traffic above just beats sitting alone where all you hear is your own breathing and count the empty days? (Full story)