Salado Village Voice serves community for more than three decades

Fleischers publish local newspaper for 28+ years

The Salado Village Voice newspaper has seen more than three decades of service to the Village of Salado.

During that time, the newspaper has always been a family affair, since its founding by Dayton Kelly in 1979. After Dayton’s death, his sons Dennis and Bill operated the newspaper until the Fleischer family purchased the newspaper in 1988.

Salado Village Voice is locally owned and operated. “We are vested in Salado and invested in Salado,” says publisher and editor-in-chief Tim Fleischer. 

As we begin 2016, Salado Village Voice staffers would like to re-introduce themselves to the community they serve.

Salado Village Voice has a staff of four, including publishers Tim and Marilyn Fleischer. Other staffers are Stephanie Hood, advertising composition and Royce Wiggin, office assistant.

In addition to individual awards by staff members, Salado Village Voice has been honored by the community and state. The newspaper was the first-ever Business of the Year, awarded in January 2003 by the Salado Chamber of Commerce.

For more than 20 years, Salado Village Voice has published Salado: A Jewel in the Crown of Texas, a quarterly magazine. The newspaper also maintains an active website at www.saladovillagevoice.com and has electronic editions of the newspaper available for subscribers.

The newspaper joined the Texas Press Association in 2010.

Tim Fleischer

Tim Fleischer has been a newspaperman since he was 16, working for both weeklies and daily newspapers. “I got the Devil’s Ink at an early age and haven’t been able to get rid of it,” he said of his 32 years in the newspaper industry.

For more than 28 years of it, he has been the editor of the Salado Village Voice.

But his love for Salado has been for more than three decades. “I came to Salado with my parents for the Art Fair and Gathering of the Clans when I was growing up in Coryell County,” he said. “I drove through it every day on my way to run a small newspaper in Florence.”

Tim and Marilyn Fleischer have published the newspaper since 1988. During that time, the newspaper has grown from an eight-page tabloid to a full-size broadsheet newspaper with four sections.

“We have grown with the community and are a reflection of it,” he said.

In those years, the newspaper has won several awards from the Texas Community Newspaper Association, where Salado Village Voice competed against newspapers from San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Austin and around the state.

Tim has won several TCNA awards: advertising design (third in state for large ad format and third in state for advertising series);  editorial work (first in state for editorial writing, third in state for editorial writing, third in state for column writing) and second in state for community service (for articles during the incorporation election).

Fleischer has been named to the Texas Association of School Boards Media Honor Roll several times during his tenure at the helm of the newspaper, including the 2015 Honor Roll. Media are recommended and nominated for the Honor Roll by local school boards for their coverage of schools.

He has also served the community in a variety of capacities, including three different terms on the board of directors of the Salado Chamber of Commerce and six years on the board of directors of the Institute for Humanities at Salado. He was president of the Salado Chamber of Commerce and treasurer for two years of the Institute for Humanities.

Fleischer is in the third year of his third term the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He recently completed a one-year term as Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce board of directors during the transition period in which the Chamber and Village of Salado Tourism Department have partnered together.

He served a term on the inaugural board of the Salado Community Foundation. He was also on the first board that established the Mentoring program in Salado.

Tim is also a Mason and twice Past Master of the Salado Masonic Lodge #296. He served as District Deputy Grand Master for Masonic District #48 in 2011-12 and is the current Secretary for the Salado Lodge. He is the Lodge Flag Committee chairman.

Tim is also active in the Salado Rotary Club.

He is known to grandson Nate Timothy Potter as DoDo (like the bird).

He and wife Marilyn share responsibilities at the newspaper. “She runs the office and makes the business decisions and I make editorial decisions,” he said.

Marilyn Fleischer

Marilyn got the Devil’s Ink in her blood after meeting Tim 30 years ago. She is managing editor and advertising manager of Salado Village Voice.

She worked in the corporate world prior to the purchase of the Salado Village Voice in 1988.

She also owned and operated a business in the Killeen/Copperas Cove area for several years while raising her three children.

During their years in Salado, Marilyn has served the community in many ways. “I think I have been most satisfied with my work with the Salado Family Relief Fund,” she said. In addition to her work to establish the Family Relief Fund, Marilyn has also been Art Fair chairperson for two years, and served three years as a Chamber of Commerce Director. She served two three-year terms on the Salado Civic Center board of directors.

She was on the founding board of the Salado Community Foundation.

She has also won awards from the TCNA. She has twice been honored. She won second place for Best Feature Photo and second place for Community Service for her work with the Family Relief Fund.

The Fleischers helped to establish what became known as the Public Arts League of Salado and the Salado Ambassador Program.

The Fleischers’ children — Royce Wiggin and Jenny Potter, both graduates of Salado High School — have grown up in the eye of the community.  Royce graduated in 2007, beginning in second grade in Salado schools. Jenny began her school career as a kindergärtner at Thomas Arnold Elementary School and graduated in 2009.

Marilyn welcomed her ninth grandchild to the world in 2015. Beren Crow Baggett was born on August 26, 2015.

Royce Wiggin

Royce Wiggin is one of those rare species: a native of Salado, born here in 1989. His first home was the historic Levi Tenney House in Salado’s Pace Park.

He has attended school in Salado since second grade graduating in 2007. While in high school, he was a trumpet player in the Salado Eagle Marching Band and a tennis player.

He began work at the newspaper over the summer of his junior year in high school. His responsibilities include photography and reporting, classified advertising, placing and rotating ads on pages, directing phone calls in the office, proof reading, typesetting and a myriad of other duties.

He is the son of Tim and Marilyn Fleischer, owners of the newspaper, and is glad to finally get paid for all the hours he spends at the newspaper office.

He is attending college at Temple College, while working full time at the newspaper.

Stephanie Hood

Stephanie is a hometown girl at heart and a third generation graduate who is raising a fourth generation of eagles.

“I am a country kid, I was ‘raised here’ as they say. The history of Salado and Bell county is intertwined with the history of my family. With that comes a certain respect for the old buildings, farms and the old timers who built the community we now call Salado.”

“The creek was the favorite swimming hole when I was a kid and not just for Salado,” she said. “The tree lined banks were the perfect place to find a cool retreat from the sun. You had to behave though, if you acted up your parents would get a phone call before you even thought about going home.”

Stephanie joined the newspaper in 2006 as the composition person. With a background in photography and documentary style videography she excels at conveying ideas with concise images.

Stephanie is an active community volunteer, serving on the board of Salado Historical Society and the Public Art League of Salado. She also volunteers as a superintendent for the Bell County Youth Fair, coordinating judges and checking in entries for the annual event.

She enjoys spending time with her granddaughters Roselynn Rogers and Sarah Trujillo.  “It is nice to have them close enough to spoil. I grew up with my cousins nearby and it is nice to see that kind of family connection continuing.”