The Newspaper

  The Sidell Reporter was established in May 1888. There have been several owners, and name changes, the past 100+ years. The presses were never silent more than a few weeks at a time between some of the owners.
  The Sidell Reporter is a weekly newspaper published every Thursday in the best interest of the local communities it covers which includes Sidell, Indianola, Fairmount, Jamaica, Allerton and Catlin. Its main function is to report the news of the local governments, Jamaica school and Salt Fork Storm sports cooperative and social activities, as well as provide a medium for the advertisers to reach their customers.

  The Reporter has been owned by Ridge Farm native, Rinda (Todd) Maddox, since May 1991. A resident of the Sidell area since 1974, she has worked with the local publication since 1985.
  The editor is the third woman of the nine owner-editors in the many years of publication. She has owned the paper longer than any other woman.
  Since Maddox took over the newspaper, The Reporter has won several awards. The paper was recognized in September 2000 by the Illinois State Historical Society as a centennial business. The Reporter has also won awards from the Illinois Press Association in advertising, design and editorial categories.
  Rinda, resides in rural Sidell, with her husband Steven and their two cats.

Office Manager
Micki Guthrie

  Micki Guthrie joined the Reporter April 2005 and works one to two days a week. She is in charge of typing articles, proof reading, answering phones and assisting customers. Every time the editor throws something new at her, she has yet to fall short on her capabilities.
  She is a great asset to the editor and the customers.

Inside Advertising Sales
Steven Maddox

  Assisting with advertising is the editor's husband, Steve.  He has helped out around the business since  his wife took over as owner and in recent years has been involved in part-time advertising sales.
  He is also a great gopher – "going for this" and "going for that" as the editor instructs. He makes a good secretary, as well, as opening mail, answering the phone and waiting on customers when no one else is in the office.
   Although he's still waiting on his first "paycheck" he does receive a few fringe benefits of an occasional home-cooked meal and the editor doing his laundry!

Feature Columnist
Margaret Artman

   Margaret Artman is a resident of Sidell and is currently submitting a monthly column to the Reporter, "Reminisce with Me." She is also a published author and her book, "Mustard Valley" is currently available for purchase through the author. Mustard Valley is a depression-era novel about one family's sturggle to survive during the 1930s. Margaret has had many of her articles published in various magazines.
   For more information, or to purchase a copy of Margaret's book, click here.

Reporter/Feature Columnist
Richard Lamb

  Ever since he retired from teaching science at Jamaica Junior High, Richard Lamb has offered a writing hand at the newspaper. His favorite subjects to write about – Salt Fork Storm football and baseball! He does a wonderful job of taking the readers right to the sidelines following every important play of the game. His Storm Watch comments are looked forward to as the rest of the game details.
  Richard also enjoys creative writing and has helped fill the pages with excellent stories over the years. He’s spending his retirement doing things he enjoys and that’s to the benefit of all the readers!
   He recently wrote and published the sports book, "Fifty Years of Tears and Cheers—A Dodger Fan Remembers."

Web Master/Recipe Columnist
Amanda Rull

  The editor's daughter, Amanda Rull was raised underneath the typesetter in the Sidell Journal/Reporter office where her mother started working when she was five years old. Now she resides in Rapid City, South Dakota where she works as a Graphic Designer at the Rapid City Journal. Previously she lived in Idaho and Alaska, where she worked at each of the cities' newspapers.
     She began writing her cooking column while she was making wedding plans back in 2001. She thought that was time to learn to cook!
     Amanda is also the webmaster for thesidellreporter.com. She designed and updates it weekly with the latest headlines. Although she resides a thousand miles from Sidell she is often on duty proofreading, typing and designing ads thanks to the Internet. Since she has the journalism degree Rinda is also calling her for “technical” advice. Her mom figures she'll get some benefit out of the money spent on her college education.

Recipe Columnist
Virlane Torbit

  Virlane Torbit has been writing for the Recipe Box since she substituted in the Sidell Reporter office in 2002. She and her family has since moved Shenzhen, Hong Kong.
  When she's not in the kitchen, she keeps very busy with her sons Ryan and David. She's on the PTC board, leads two Moms in Touch groups and helps out with Sunday School.

Recipe Columnist
Dianne Sanders

   Dianne Sanders has been a culinary contributor to the Reporter since Sept. 2007. Her recipes have been drawing rave reviews and have destroyed many well-intentioned diets.
   Dianne is active in the Catlin Church of Christ and is the proud mother of Brett of Plano, Texas and Kristen, a freshman at Lincoln Christian College. Dianne is still married to Ken and utilizes his enormous appetite to try out new and exciting recipes.....and reduce the leftover inventory in the frig.

Recipe Columnist
Dawn Roark

   Dawn Roark has written for the Sidell Reporter since 2005. When she's not busy running here or there for her very active high school teenagers she enjoys cooking in her very "red" kitchen.
   In 2004 the Roark's bought a home in Sidell that Dawn adores! The same year she started working at Gutterridge Harley Davidson. Even though they don't have a Harley just yet, her husband keeps telling her soon! For now she says she "just gets to look at them all day long and dream of the day we will get to ride!"