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By Karen Range, Resident While attending Mount San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) in the early 1970s as a Journalism major, I also worked as a reporter/ photographer for the El Monte Herald newspaper. As I fancied myself a Lois Lane type, I accepted the position with visions of it being a stepping stone to a job at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and eventually to the Los Angeles Times (my dream at the time). e El Monte Herald, a small weekly newspaper, was one of many newspapers that were part of the Intersuburban Hometown Newspapers family. My title was Staff Writer, but I was a 'Jaclyn of all trades.' I reported on everything from City Council meetings, City Planning Commission meetings, and local election results, to women's club social events. I had to take pictures, too, so I always had my professional camera with the large flash attachment with me. Sometimes my trusty camera let me down. I was sent to cover an important event hosted by Marty Ingels, an actor and comedian who was married to the actress Shirley Jones. I do not recall the name of the event but it was held in a ballroom with many people in attendance. I stood up in front of everyone to take a picture of Mr. Ingels and my flash would not go off. I slunk (well, at least walked slowly) back to my table to fool with my camera and the flash went off ! Mr. Ingels seized the moment to loudly say, "NOW your camera works!" which got laughs from the attendees and an embarrassed face from me. With the intrepid Lois Lane as my role model, I guess danger would be part of the job. My supervisor at the paper must have thought so too when he asked me to climb up a very narrow single-rung ladder to the roof of J.C. Penney to take a picture of the outdoor mall's Christmas decorations. Climbing up that narrow ladder carrying my heavy camera was not easy. Had Lois Lane been climbing, it would have been a good time for Superman to swoop in and fly her to the roof. If you are wondering if my time on the El Monte Herald led to those journalistic stepping stones, the answer is no. I had a full class load while working and I was also the Editor-in-Chief of the Mt. SAC Mountaineer. Back then, if you missed too many classes, you would be dropped, and my job was beginning to conflict with class attendance. I decided to prioritize my education and ended my time as a girl reporter. I transferred to California State University, Fullerton, and earned my Bachelor of Arts in Communications (Journalism emphasis). While I never achieved that L.A. Times goal, I continued to write (policies and procedures, technical articles, assessment findings, and audit results). And now as a retiree, I enjoy contributing articles, like this one, to e View Magazine. 12 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | APRIL 2026 MY TIME AS A GIRL REPORTER

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