Scooping the neighborhood

POST FALLS - Kids have the scoop on Summerfield Road.

Lemonade stands have met their match.

The kids on the mountain road south of Post Falls have started the Summerfield Road News, the perfect way of re-connecting neighbors and putting their entrepreneurship skills to work for a fun summer project.

"Some of the boys started to do work for neighbors, but we realized this would be easier and we liked the idea better," said 13-year-old Joe Latham, the senior reporter. "We're doing it monthly, but eventually we may try to do it every two weeks. It does get expensive."

Joe's father, Tom, made the staff a deal that, if it can secure donations, he'll give them a good deal on copy costs.

"We've gotten $5 in donations so far, so that should last about five more issues," Joe said.

Editor Hannah Leake, 10, made a family newsletter two years ago and she and her friends thought it would be nice to do one for the entire neighborhood.

The first issue was printed this month and the kids are working on the September issue that will debut the comic "Scrambled Eggs."

The group takes notes on news that ranges from lost animals in the neighborhood to yard sale announcements to an "Ask the Doctor" column by 9-year-old Marcus Latham.

"We're hoping to get feedback from the neighbors about what they like," Joe said. "But, if we have anything to sell, we stick it in there."

They lay out the newsletter with good, old-fashioned handwriting and drawing skills, a method that can give erasers a workout but one the staff believes increases the quality and adds a personal touch.

"We thought that it looks nice in pencil and it doesn't look like other newspapers that way," Joe said. "And going full color is a little more expensive."

The kids were going to deliver the first issue in mailboxes, but figured, in the name of customer service and making a good first impression, they'd hand deliver it to the doors.

The issue came with an "editor's note" from Leake that captured the immediate attention of readers.

"We love bringing this paper to you absolutely free," she wrote. "But unfortunately ink and paper costs money and your donation of even 10 cents would have one copy of this paper printed."

Leake couldn't believe the response.

"We got donations that very day," she said.

Circulation for the first issue was 10 households, but the staff believes that can be expanded to the entire road based on the early success.

Not all the staffers were convinced the newspaper would be a hit.

"I thought they'd just chuck it in the garbage," said 12-year-old Genny Latham. "I also never thought that it'd get in a real newspaper. I thought it was a crazy, wild idea at first."

The Lathams' mother, Anne Marie, said the project has been beneficial in multiple ways.

"As a parent, it's neat to see kids coming up with something to do on their own, especially when we live so far from town," she said. "They're also already talking to neighbors who they didn't know."

Neighbor and subscriber Dominic Daddato was ecstatic when he received the first issue.

"When I saw the sheet, I thought to myself, this is entrepreneurship from the very start," he said. "We're talking about the future here and these kids are doing this on their own. These kids are serious about this and have a lot going."

Daddato said the paper helps keep the rural theme of "neighbors helping neighbors" in tact.

"We're kind of remote out here and we really need to rely on one another," he said.

Joe believes it's a different twist to the old standby lemonade stand. And he said customers get more bang for their buck.

"It's not like people will look at lemonade over and over," he said. "This lasts longer."