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Dayton Review shuts its doors

DAYTON — In print since 1877, the Dayton Review published its last edition last month.

“We ceased publication after the June 21 newspaper,” said Glen Schreiber, owner and publisher. “It was a hard decision to make, but it was primarily because of health reasons.”

The paper had already changed its format to have a more Christian focus, after losing the county paper of record designation two years in a row to another Dayton paper, the Dayton Leader.

Last week Schreiber said a 26-foot U-Haul was loaded with desks, computers, filing cabinets and electronic equipment which was donated to Goodwill of Central Iowa.

Schreiber said he suffered a heart attack in January, and has spent some time in hospitals getting answers to issues he was having with fatigue.

“There were just some things I needed to do, and I did get those done, and I’m doing real well now,” he said. “UnityPoint was excellent. I had good doctors, good nurses.

“I needed to get out. It was a hard decision to make.”

Though it was hard, Schreiber said he feels good about the decision.

“I prayed about this a million times, thought about it, talked with friends about it,” he said. ” I don’t feel bad about it. It was meant to be.”

Several weeks ago Schreiber started the process of refunding Dayton Review subscribers on a pro-rated basis, he said.

“One of the things I felt good about was, we had the Dayton alumni banquet Memorial Day weekend,” Schreiber said. “I was there in attendance for that one, and also for the Boxholm one held the same Memorial Day weekend. … I stayed on long enough to get coverage of those events.”

Schreiber was also happy he was able to provide coverage leading up to Lehigh River Days, and putting in photo coverage the week after.

Schreiber previously owned the Gowrie News, which he sold to a new owner in March.

Around that time the Dayton Review’s focus changed, with an increase in Christian content while also covering local events.

The Dayton Review only served as a paper of record for about two months in 2016. Webster County Supervisors chose the other Dayton paper to publish meeting minutes and official county proceedings, which is a source of revenue for the paper.

The county’s decision was overturned in court after Schreiber appealed it, but the appeal wasn’t heard until November 2016.

In February this year the Leader again edged out the Review as a paper of record. An article in the Feb. 22 Review states the Review lost a total of three government legal publications. Votes were held over one week while Schreiber was in the hospital, the paper said.

The Messenger and the Gowrie News are the other two papers of record for Webster County.

Schrieber got his start as a journalist at the Hudson Star Observer where he worked for 14 years. He was with the Pocahontas Record Democrat before selling that publication, and purchased the Dayton Review on Feb. 1, 2001.

“I’ve been here 16 1/2 years, I guess,” he said, “and we’ve had just wonderful people in Dayton and the whole area that were very supportive.”

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