Spotlight was started by former Editor Walt Stevens.

His son, Paul Stevens, also a veteran newspaper man, began writing the column a few years after his father died.

About 100 of Paul Stevens’ Spotlight columns have been brought together in a book entitled “Spotlight 2.0” which is now for sale. Proceeds from the sale of the books will benefit the Webster County Historical Society and the Fort Dodge Public Library.

The book’s title refers to the fact that some of Walt Stevens’ Spotlight columns were compiled into a book called “Spotlight.”

“For 27 years, the accomplishments of Fort Dodge and Webster County residents were chronicled in The Messenger by my dad, Walter B. Stevens, in a weekly column called Spotlight,” Paul Stevens wrote in the preface to the new book. “He wrote more than 1,000 Spotlights before producing his final one in 2005. He was editor emeritus of The Messenger when he died in 2013 at the age of 96.”

“A few years after Dad died, I was surprised and honored when then Publisher Larry Bushman, dad’s close friend, asked me to resume writing the Spotlight columns that dad so loved to produce,” he added.

“My Spotlight columns have appeared monthly in the newspaper and now number about 100,” Paul Stevens wrote. “I’ve had the privilege of interviewing some fascinating people who are present day or former Fort Dodge residents. What great, inspiring stories they had to tell.”

Terry Christensen, the current publisher of The Messenger, gave the book project the green light. Michelle Colshan of The Messenger and Helen Coleman of The Daily Freeman-Journal in Webster City produced the book.

The book project was funded by the Catherine Vincent Deardorf Charitable Foundation, Ann Smeltzer Charitable Trust and the Fort Dodge Community Foundation.

Paul Stevens thanked Randy Kuhlman, chief executive officer of the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way, and Jim Kersten, vice president of government affairs and external relations at Iowa Central Community College, for their help on the project.

How to get ‘Spotlight 2.0’

The books are for sale at the Fort Dodge Community Foundation, 24 N. Ninth St.; the Fort Dodge Public Library by the City Square or the Webster County Historical Society’s Roger Natte Archives in the library.

The books cost $10.

Cash and checks will be accepted for payment, but not credit cards.

Families of people profiled in the book can get one for free, according to Randy Kuhlman, chief executive officer of the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way.

All proceeds from the sale of the books will benefit the Webster County Historical Society and the Fort Dodge Public Library.