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Chamber speech by Charlie Haeffner

(The following remarks were presented by Odessa File editor-publisher Charlie Haeffner after he was presented the 2008 Community Service Award at the 119th Annual Banquet of the Schuyler County Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 11, 2008.)

You know, don’t you, that I should be at the Field House covering the Watson Wrestling Tournament. And up at O-M for a basketball game.

But since I’m here, and I have you all here -- and since I operate on donations .... Relax. I’m just kidding.

Thanks to you all. This is a great honor. But I think, standing here and seeing a sea of faces, that you’re not just honoring me tonight, nor the website -- You are celebrating a modern technology that permits such a thing as The Odessa File ... that allows us, by tuning into it, to gain a sense
of community and a more positive take on this wonderful county.

Yes, I put in the late hours on the website -- but honestly, anyone with a smattering of knowledge about writing and photography and computers could do the same thing. And yes, I offer a window onto our world -- but I don’t do it alone. Without donations from readers, and without advertising revenue, this website would not exist.

It’s that simple.

Accordingly, there are two subjects I want to briefly address. First, it’s about those advertisers.

When I started, I had none. But over the past two-plus years, a good many have committed to the website -- and to them I am grateful ... as you should be. For without their ads, I wouldn’t have the financial resources to do this.

The ad that really started the ball rolling came from Mike Learn. He approached me at a Watkins Glen football game, where he was working the chains, and said he would like to sponsor the Sports Page ... and would do so as long as I continued the website. I imagine he was thinking in terms of months, not years -- but he’s still with me. And when he came on board, it seemed to start a domino effect.

I got other page sponsors -- Tom Clifford, Bill Phoenix, Dave Sidle, Curt Connelly, Dan Fitzsimmons and Imprintable Images. And Front Page advertisers like Fred Scott, John Hayes, and Bobby Landon.

And eventually Schuyler Hospital became my chief advertiser on the Home Page, with great support in the Page’s center column by The Arc, and Lorraine Hallenbeck, and SCOPED, and Glenora, and Mike Stamp and Helene Fausold. And side-ad support from Rick Savard and John Senka and Mark Simiele and Red Newt and CCC and House of Hong and Visions Federal Credit Union and SCT Computers and Rotary and United Way, and now from the Hazlitts.

And Jimmy Guild came on board top center -- a great help.

And there was interior ad support from Dirk Stephens and Catholic Charities and Family Dentistry and the Mechanics Club.

There have been others too -- as well as individual donations that are very important to the website’s operation. Without that community involvement in The Odessa File, the Odessa File could not exist.

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Now, having said all of that, there is really one individual who is as responsible as anyone for The Odessa File having lasted five years. And that’s Craig Cheplick. Chep isn’t here tonight. He’s overseeing the wrestling tournament at the Field House. But I’ll say this anyway.

I met Chep about nine months after I started the website -- when I went up to the Odessa-Montour High School to cover an O-M girls soccer game against Watkins Glen. He was leaning against the fence that surrounds the soccer field -- and as I passed by he asked me if I was the guy who did The Odessa File.

I said yes, and he said he had recently been appointed Athletic Director at Watkins Glen, and was interested in getting coverage of his athletes on my website. I said I wasn’t interested -- that I had enough to do without tackling something so daunting as another school ... and especially one full of athletes I didn’t know.

You see, when I started The Odessa File, the intent was to cover Odessa and Montour Falls, not Watkins Glen. The whole operation was intended to be part-time, not full-time.

But Chep was persistent and insistent. He called me three or four times over the next week, and I finally agreed to go down to Watkins and photograph a soccer game. When I did -- I was so warmly received by the students that I tried another sporting event ... and another ... until I was hooked.

And my part-time job became full-time.

Chep is fond of telling visitors to the Field House that The Odessa File started there. He will probably even tell you, if you give him the chance, that the website was his idea.

As exaggerated as that is, the truth is this: Without the move to Watkins that Chep forced me to make, and without the advertising base that has been built as a result, I would long ago have folded up The Odessa File and headed for points west.

Chep drew me in to this community, and became a mentor, and helped devise such features as our Athlete of the Week award, our All-Star teams and our Top Drawer 24 team, which honors scholar-athletes who are also outstanding citizens. He has been invaluable.

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In closing ... it takes a community to create the environment in which a newspaper -- electronic or otherwise -- can operate. It takes readers, and donations, and advertising, and encouragement. But in the end, it can also come down to one person --- one persistent and insistent person -- who can tip the balance in favor of longevity.

That has happened here. So I thank you all, and I thank Chep. God Bless.