January 25, 2008

Bill and Sandy Bellou: Serving the community

By Bill Highlander
Editor

Bill and Sandy Bellou moved to Evergreen in 1973. Friends and family wondered why they wanted to live in a rural area. But Sandy in particular liked its bucolic beauty and quietude.

Bill is the CEO and publisher of Times Media, Inc., the parent company of the Evergreen Times. Celebrating its silver anniversary, the Evergreen Times was the first of the company’s seven newspapers and with its 25,000 copy press run is one of the largest community newspapers in the United States.

One of the first newspapers in the Bay Area to process its issues digitally, the Evergreen Times and the Almaden Times are the only full-color community newspapers in the nation.

Printing is the major expense, says Sandy Bellou, chief financial officer. “We use a very sophisticated color printing process and a higher quality paper than most community newspapers, but it’s worth it to go full color,” she adds. “Our readers and advertisers tell us they appreciate the quality of our newspapers.”

Although both have been successful in sales and marketing, Bill has taken the lead as publisher and Sandy as financial management. Bill works with the editorial, sales and the production staff of Times Media. Sandy oversees billing, negotiates contracts and leases and ensures the enterprise remains profitable. Their daughter, Tami and her husband, Ryan, were an integral part of the team for 15 years, helping with every aspect of producing the newspapers.

The viability of a newspaper depends on advertising revenue. Sandy says, “We thank the advertisers who have supported the Evergreen Times during the past 25 years. The newspaper would not exist without them. We are also grateful for all of the contributions of our dedicated staff over the past 25 years.”

The business has provided the Bellous with their livelihood for more than a quarter century. But they say it’s never been about the money, rather the driver has been a desire to serve the community.

Bill explained that while producing full color magazines in Northern California, they helped one of the new local businesses in Evergreen advertise its services to Evergreen residents. The advertising appeared with other businesses in a “shopper” publication.

“We attracted nearly 3,000 residents to the grand opening of a new shopping center in Evergreen,” said Bill. “We hired a clown to pass out balloons to attract families to the center, and gave away dozens of prizes,” he said. The opening was one of the most successful shopping center promotional campaigns, and Bill gained a loyal following among Evergreen families and business owners.”

The Bellou’s became aware of a proposed garbage dump to be built near where the Silver Creek Country Club exists today. The Bellous, the community and local businesses joined and supported a grass roots campaign to oppose the dump plan and were successful. The dump proposal coincided with the decision to start a community newspaper to inform the community of important issues. Local businesses agreed and committed their support for the Evergreen Times. The (November-December 1982) of the Evergreen Times’ headline declared, “Dump dumped.”

The editorial philosophy of the newspaper has not changed. “Our aim has always been to serve the community, to give our readers news about their neighborhoods, our advertisers a reach into local consumers, and be family-oriented in our approach,” they say. “We wanted to be part of making Evergreen a great place to live.”

The beginnings of the newspaper were challenging. Fortunately, they found several initial advertisers; some who still are seen on the pages of the Evergreen Times. In the early days, they prepared the editorial content including photography, sold the ads, and arranged for printing and distribution. They laid out the paper on “flats’ hung on the hallway of their home in Evergreen, then hand-delivered them to the printer. Invoices were produced on an Osborne computer manufactured in 1981.

The procedures involved in producing the newspaper got easier with technology and in 1997; the entire process went digital, the first community newspaper in the Bay Area to do so. The Evergreen Times was also among the first 75 newspapers in the world to be published online, and the first newspaper in the Bay Area to be published on the World Wide Web.

The first press runs were 8,000 copies bi-monthly. The popularity of the Evergreen Times prompted them to expand the production to 25,000 copies for bi-weekly publication. If demand warrants it, everything is in place to produce the newspaper weekly.

Bill is a six-generation Californian, tracing his heritage to 1777. His ancestors helped build the missions of California. Father Junípero Serra presided over the wedding of Bill’s grandfather five generations ago. Sandy has lived in San Jose since she was twelve when her family moved from Anaheim.

The couple met while students at San Jose City College and married at the age of 20. Sandy took a full-time job so that Bill could go on to graduate from San Jose State University with a degree in public relations/journalism. An internship led to Bill’s first job in PR at Memorex Corporation in Santa Clara. Memorex offered Bill the position as corporate communications specialist, and was appointed editor of the company’s worldwide magazine in 1972. Later, Bill became division manager of a large publishing company, producing thirty magazines in northern California with an advertising sales force of 28 people. One of the magazines was produced locally for Hulse’s Evergreen Nursery (occupied now by a Koi pond shop) in Evergreen in 1977, and was supported with ads by local businesses.

The Bellous have two daughters and four grandchildren (eighth generation) who also reside in Evergreen. In addition to her fiduciary duties for Times Media, Sandy is always available when needed to tend the grandchildren. She is also a caring daughter who everyday checks on her parents, now residing at the Regency, a senior assisted living facility on San Felipe Road.

Bill and Sandy moved from the Meadowlands to the Villages in 2005, as soon as they reached 55, the age requirement for residency. “We love living here, says Sandy, “we knew for a long time that we wanted to live in the Villages.”

It’s important to both of them that the community has opportunities to come together. They help with that by helping organizations publicize events adding to the quality of life. They sponsor celebrations, contests such as the Boy Scouts’ Pinewood Derby, Day in the Park at Lake Cunningham, Symphony Silicon Valley, music and art festivals, and many others. In addition to overseeing the publishing entity, Bill interacts with community and business leaders to support economic development, such as the Evergreen Business and Professional Association.

Bill and Sandy Bellou continue to contribute significantly to the Evergreen area and deserve to be Beacons in our community.

BEACON

A country song says “you can’t be a beacon if your light don’t shine.”

The Evergreen Times would like for the lights of interesting Evergreen residents to shine through a profile on such persons. Our community has educators, activists, business people, inventors, sportsmen, hobbyists, public safety persons – a plethora of fascinating people who should be recognized by their neighbors as a beacon for community involvement. If you know a person who should be recognized as a BEACON, contact highlander@timesmediainc.com and they will be considered for future issues.