In the wake of a close contest over which would be the third newspaper of record for Webster County, the Dayton paper not chosen has filed an appeal.

The Dayton Review filed the appeal with the county protesting the Webster County Board of Supervisors’ Feb. 9 decision to make the Dayton Leader one of the papers of record.

By state law, a county the size of Webster County must choose three papers to publish official county proceedings, and that is a source of revenue for the papers.

The Code of Iowa dictates that a contest between newspapers is decided by whoever has the largest number of qualified subscribers. They are defined as those who live within the county and have been paid subscribers for at least six months.

A news story published by the Dayton Review has alleged that there were numerous errors in the list of subscribers supplied by Leader owner Kendra Breitsprecher.

Glenn Schreiber is the owner and publisher of the Dayton Review and Gowrie News.

Attempts to reach Schreiber and his attorney, Jim Kramer, were unsuccessful Thursday.

Last year’s papers of record were The Messenger, the Gowrie News and the Dayton Review.

The Messenger and the News were selected again this year.

The Review was not – even though Schreiber claimed more subscribers than Breitsprecher – because the proper paperwork wasn’t provided at the Feb. 9 supervisors meeting.

There were 271 bona fide subscribers in Webster County for the Dayton Review, according to Schreiber.

The Dayton Leader reported 236 qualified subscribers, Breitsprecher said.

But the supervisors said at that meeting that Schreiber didn’t submit a list of the names and addresses of the qualified subscribers, as required by code. Instead, he submitted a list of all of his subscribers, they said – even though some didn’t count.

His total list of subscribers was slightly more than 500.

Schreiber’s appeal contends Breitsprecher’s list includes subscribers from outside Webster County.

He also claims the Leader cannot prove its number of subscribers.

The Review included signed affidavits on its subscription list, and had the list notarized, Schreiber said; the Leader did not.

Breitsprecher denied there were improper names on her list.

“I went through the entire list by hand, and I didn’t see that,” she said. “I don’t know what list he’s looking at, but the one I sent to the county – I have documentation on everyone on the list.”

Breitsprecher said she doesn’t know what Schreiber means when he said she should have filed signed affidavits.

She also said she was contacted by more than 20 people who would sign affidavits saying they “just started receiving the Dayton Review.”

“They didn’t order it, they didn’t want it,” she said.

Schreiber previously told The Messenger some of the subscribers on his list are gift subscriptions – that is, the subscription is paid by someone else. He said those can only count towards his total if he receives a signed affidavit from that subscriber saying they want to receive the paper, and that he went through his list to only include the correct ones.

The appeal was filed with the county auditor’s office, as per Iowa code, according to First Assistant Webster County Attorney Ryan Baldridge.

Now, the auditor’s office must file meeting minutes and other documents relating to the decision.

The files will go to Webster County District Court, and the court will make a determination, Baldridge said. He wasn’t sure how long this would take.

“We’re at the very beginning of the process,” he said.