317 Project: Old hands guide community weekly publication based in Southport

John Tuohy, Indianapolis Star
·2 min read
From left, staff members Bob White, publisher Kelly Sawyers, Jeanne Piersall, Denise Summers, Fred Shonk, Al Stilley and Steve Page, of The Southsider Voice weekly newspaper, gather Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, inside the Cardinals Nest hospitality room at Southport High School. Summers helped Sawyer establish the paper in 2009. "We are 100% good news," Stilley said. "Kelly has just a huge passion to do this weekly newspaper and to make it a good news newspaper."

The 317 Project tells stories of life in all of Indianapolis’ vibrant neighborhoods – 317 words at a time.

The Southsider Voice might be the perfect community newspaper for contentious times.

It’s the familiar place where 60,000 readers in Perry and Decatur townships learn what their neighbors have accomplished, how the high school baseball team fared, where to find a good plumber or who just died.

Its mission, splashed atop each page: “Sharing positive news.”

Who better, then, to deliver the news than editors and writers with years — and years — of experience. The Southsider Voice likely has the hardest working staff of 70 and 80-somethings in the business.

“I pinch myself every day to be 78 and still active,” said Editor Al Stilley. “It’s rewarding when readers say picking up the paper is like meeting an old friend.”

Voice owner Kelly Sawyers, a mere 57, drops bundles at 400 locations. She started the paper in 2009 when Spotlight folded after several decades.

“When I deliver, they're waiting for us,” she said. “When I go for the extras, they’re gone every week.”

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The Voice, headquartered in Southport has features, a crossword puzzle, Sudoku, horoscopes, obituaries and five pages of ads. Sawyers hired sales executive Jeanne Piersall, 77, and correspondent Steve Page, 75, to help fill the pages.

The paper might be a throwback but most readers are online, where they voted the “Reminiscing “and “Personal Recollections” features as faves.

In Reminiscing, you’ll learn that 60 years ago this week, Fred Falender built Hill Valley Estates or who the students of the month were at Perry Meridian High 30 years ago.

In Recollections, Fred Shonk, 80, writes about old friends, businesses and neighbors, like that time in 1956 when Jack and Minnie Whalen were burglarized and Roy Drake got arrested for it.

Stilley said no local reference is too obscure because southside families tend to stick around a lifetime and the connections endless.

“We are touching fourth-generation families,” he said. “It’s the true meaning of community newspapers.”

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418. Follow on Twitter and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Old hands guide Indianapolis' Southsider Voice community newspaper