Social media is a funny thing. I logged on Tuesday and learned a few things about myself that I didn’t know.
Apparently, I am a rich media mogul who doesn’t even live in Collinsville even though I sit on the city council there.
That’s what I was told anyway. My bank accounts and property tax statements tell a different story, but I guess it is what it is.
I am a busy guy. I work a few jobs and, I guess, a casual Google search on me can lead to multiple conclusions. At least it did for one such Facebook user, and it got to me.
It shouldn’t have, but it did.
In one sentence, he said I lived “down south of Dallas.” In another sentence, I lived in Tioga. It was all very confusing.
In reality, I’ve lived in Collinsville— this time— for ten years. Prior to that, we moved around Northeast Texas as I was building my career.
I am a 2001 graduate of Collinsville High School. My family has been in business (in one form or another) in downtown Collinsville since the 1930s.
The Lewters came to Western Grayson County right after the Civil War. We’ve been here for that long.
We bought our home in Collinsville in 2015. We were renting in Tioga at the time and didn’t want to move the kids out of their school— so we didn’t.
They still attend school there, and we are active volunteers with multiple parent groups.
I went to work as a professor at Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas (which is more west, southwest of Fort Worth and not ‘down south of Dallas’) in 2021.
I commute two or three days a week and work from home the rest of the time.
This is a decision we made because we, in fact, love our community and didn’t want to move.
And, again, we didn’t want to pull the kids out of their school. It’s a lot of miles, but it is worth it.
We bought the local newspaper in 2023 which is awesome because this was the first place I ever worked in the business.
We have a great staff, and I split time between the newspaper office and the university.
I also learned that I own other newspapers across the state.
I have owned other newspapers in my career, but I don’t currently own any others.
I am, however, the director of the Texas Center for Community Journalism. This is part of my role at the university.
In that capacity, I am blessed to travel and work with community newsrooms across the state and Press Associations across the country. But, no, I do not own another newspaper.
I also learned that I oversee the City of Collinsville website and social media pages and I keep them scrubbed clean of information.
I was appointed to the city council last year, because no one ran for the office.
They had three seats open that no one ran for. I was re-upped in May with no opposition because, again, no one ran.
We don’t collect a salary for being on the council. We are all volunteers. I do not have editor access to the City’s Facebook page or the City website— nor do I want it. I have enough on my plate.
I am, however, an editor on the Collinsville Chamber of Commerce Facebook page as I have sat on that board for several years— always elected by the general membership.
I am the annual Pioneer Day event chairman— again, my service to the Chamber is completely volunteer.
I am not sure why I feel compelled to share all this with you, because it’s all stuff most folks already know.
But, alas, I am an open book and my coffee pot is always ready. And, like so many have pointed out— I do own this newspaper. So, I guess it is my platform.
That was something else I learned on social media Tuesday— from another post— that my journalistic ethics are questionable.
I appreciate the fact that a simple conversation quelled this quickly, but the conversation should have been had beforehand— before a “gotcha” post was dreamed up.
But all that is water off the duck’s back. I have been doing this too long to get too worked up over journalistic criticisms. It’s part of the job, and I appreciate the conversation.
What I cannot let go of too easily is accusations for defrauding my hometown. I take that seriously.
There are too many good people, in all of our towns, doing too good of work to be drug down by libelous negativity.
It all reminds me of an old Kris Kristofferson song:
“If you waste your time a-talkin’
To the people who don’t listen
To the things that you are sayin’
Who do you think’s gonna hear?
And if you should die explainin’ how
The things that they complain about
Are things they could be changin’
Who do you think’s gonna care?”
It was also Kristofferson who wrote, “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”
Good advice all the way around.
We can gain a lot more ground over a cup of coffee than we can over a keyboard or phone screen.
My door is always open, and the coffee pot is always ready.
But that’s just me. Which reminds me of a song I wrote years ago— in a previous life when I masqueraded as a traveling musician (a different story for a different time):
“If I could only hit the right note
I’d buy me a fur coat
And live like Tommy Lee
But who gives a damn?
This is me.”
With that, I will apologize for cursing twice in the same column, in the same week.
But, I guess a media mogul is afforded that leeway sometimes.