At the Dec. 27, 2011, Wythe County Board of Supervisors meeting, Board members reported complaints from different areas of the County regarding the unwanted distribution of free newspapers from the Wytheville Enterprise’s parent company, Media General. Jim Maxwell, Regional Publisher of the Bristol Herald Courier, advised the County that it is not Media General’s intent to solicit unwanted materials and recipients can easily be taken off distribution lists.

According to the complaints, County residents have received these free papers on their properties on multiple occasions. Maxwell told the County that Media General’s “objective is to address any and all concerns the commissioners have in relation to the delivery of our Mountain Empire newspaper.”

Maxwell attended the January 24, 2012, meeting of the Wythe County Board of Supervisors to address the concerns of the Board and residents. He urged residents who want to be taken off the newspaper’s distribution list to call 1-800-655-1406.

He added the calls to be removed do not always come from the individuals directly. “We don’t receive many of those calls unfortunately and unfortunately a lot of times… the mayor or vice mayor would get a call,” said Maxwell.

With this in mind, he gave each Board member a business card with contact information. Board members were instructed to call him if a constituent requested to be removed.

“We want to be good neighbors,” said Maxwell. “We’re part of this community, part of this County. We wish to respond quickly and effectively to meet the needs of the individuals we serve”

The standard procedure of Media General regarding this newspaper’s distribution is to provide a copy at every addressed house. If it has not been picked up in a couple of days, the deliverers pick the copies up and remove the house from the list of addresses for delivery. These newspapers are not delivered to anyone who has a subscription to the Wytheville Enterprise.

Maxwell noted a crew of six has been assembled and will be going through Wythe County on Saturday, Jan. 28. The crew will remove any materials not picked up and will remove homes where the materials are found.

Media General has met with other communities regarding this concern including the Town of Wytheville and Smyth County.