Mid-America Publishing and The Sun announce the addition of R.D. Keep to the editorial team at The Sun. His duties will be to assist in writing news and sports stories in covering Mahaska County.
Keep is not unknown to Mahaska County residents. He has more than 20 years experience in newspaper writing and photography. Keep has lived in the county for a quarter of a century after calling southwest Iowa home.
The Sun is pleased to add his award-winning talents to the newspaper. He is a past winner of feature writing, sports writing and photography by the Iowa newspaper Association and The Associated Press. Keep’s newspaper experience began with Mid-America’s first paper, “The Weekly Times.”
“I am grateful for this opportunity to join The Sun,” said Keep. “My first experience was working for Mr. (Willard) Archie delivering newspapers back in the late 1960s.
“Newspapers are changing greatly in this electronic age. For small communities they are still the window to local happenings. I believe there are stories just waiting to be told. I hope I am the one who can tell them.”
Keep is most known for his coverage of high school and college sports, but is also active in his community. He is the team leader with a group building an off-leash dog park in Oskaloosa, an active member of the Oskaloosa Optimist Club, and the public address announcer of William Penn football and men and women’s basketball.
Keep is married to Karen and the couple has two adult sons. They make their home in Oskaloosa. The youngest, Jeff, has been seen on the sidelines covering North Mahaska sports and is a regular contributor to Friday Night Scores and More on KBOE Radio. “Too many stories go untold because we fail to know about them,” said Keep. “My goal is to assist in telling those stories. It is also important to take national and international stories and find the local angle or the impact on locals.
“In 1996 there was an Oskaloosa woman participating in the Olympics. Her parents and some others from Oskaloosa were out there at the time of the Centennial Park bombing. I was able to contact them and use pictures to tell the story from their perspective.”
Keep knows not all stories are as dramatic as that one, but he has the desire to tell the story. Keep is hoping to utilize The Sun Facebook page to reach out to area residents for story ideas. Story ideas and leads may be sent by email to thesun.map@gmail. com or by calling 641-637-4031.
“It will take me a few weeks to learn the names and organizations, but rest assured I will be available,” said Keep.