Mount Gilead — The Galion Inquirer and Morrow County Sentinel welcome a new editor that will manage both newspapers.
Rhonda Bletner grew up outside of Bellville, Ohio and attended Clear Fork High School. She graduated from The Ohio State University.
Following graduation Bletner lived in Mississippi, Oklahoma and Colorado. When she returned to Ohio, Bletner became a columnist for The Bellville Star. The second column she wrote became a featured story, and just a year later she was the newspaper’s editor.
Bletner returned to Ohio State for more schooling, then returned to the Bellville Star for a few years. Following that stint Bletner went to the Mount Vernon News as a reporter.
When an opportunity arose with the new digital start-up Richland Source, she was the founding editor.
Coming to the Mount Gilead and Galion area to run two newspapers is something that challenges her to succeed.
“I feel like Mount Gilead is a neighbor I grew up with, and I got to know a little of Galion when I was at Richland Source. I look forward to learning more. A word I will repeat often is ‘community.’ I appreciate communities — the people and the role newspapers can have in them.”
Bletner next moved to Tennessee. Bletner started working for a daily newspaper, The Mountian Press, in Sevier County.
“I didn’t get to meet Dolly Parton, but I did get to shoot [photos] her at a movie premier. And I interview Paula Deen. And I loved hiking in the Smokies, and learning that in Tennessee pimento cheese doesn’t come in a little jar. It’s delicious,” Bletner said.
Bletner returned to Ohio to be closer to family after the death of a son. When she returned, she worked in pagination in Miamisburg, Ohio. Making the move back to a writing role was a simple decision for Bletner.
“I really just missed the writing — just missed the writing,” she repeated emphatically.
“This opportunity came up to work with Vicki Taylor [who she had worked for at The Bellville Star] and I couldn’t pass it up.” Bletner said. “My hometown lost its newspaper and I don’t want to see that happen here. Newspapers can be very real assets to our communities — connecting us all.”
