Fred-the-Printer stayed newspaper man to end
By DICK ELAM

Reader, if you wonder what (30) means, you probably don't know that telegraph operators signaled the end of their message when they tapped (30).

Newspaper reporters adopted the tradition and typed (30) to signify end of the story.

Our Publisher, Fred Barbee (30), died Tuesday.

Fred knew about (30) starting at age 12 when he worked part time as a "Printer's Devil" at the Brownwood Bulletin. That nickname meant he dismantled the leaded pages, and recycled lead used to compose headlines, advertisements and news stories.

At age nearly 18, Fred worked as a "Printer Apprentice" at the University of Texas, even before he enrolled as a student.

From Austin, Fred went to Miami, Oklahoma, and sold advertising for Charles Woodson of Brownwood.

Charlie Woodson sent him out west to Lamesa to manage that newspaper.

Next, Woodson and Barbee partnered and bought the Seminole weekly.

In 1968, Fred, Woodson, and college roommate Dick Elam -- who argued politics often with Fred -- bought the El Campo Leader.

Fred Barbee moved from dry, West Texas, marveled at 60 inches of Wharton County rain, and began his finest publishing job.

As a journalism professor, I counseled my Austin editing students how to work with hard-bitten printers who wore leather aprons and smoked cigars.

"Here's how you get along with Fred-the-Printer," I would lecture. Chris Barbee who follows in his father's footsteps, survived one of those semesters hearing about "Fred-the-Printer."

Fred learned how to run, and repair, computers that composed type. He traded in his manual typewriter and learned how to type electrically.

Fred kept abreast of technology, until e-mail arrived. At that juncture, Fred balked.

He fought off the Internet, saying "I'll keep my typewriter."

But I think all of us at the newspaper still know how to get ahold of "Mr. B."

Enter < www.Fredtheprinter.heaven >.

The owners and staff of three Wharton County newspapers will try to emulate the community compassion demonstrated by Fred Barbee.

(30).

--Dick Elam is co-owner of the three Wharton County

newspapers… The El Campo Leader-News, Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express.