It's always considered to be quite a coup for a public relations professional to place a story in The New York Times.

We started working on a story for Arnold Aviation in Cascade, Idaho, in early April when the U.S. Postal Service announced that it was going to terminate the air taxi's $46,000 annual contract as of the end of June.

I sent out a news release about this unfortunate turn of events, and it launched a great deal of media coverage in Idaho and the Pacific Northwest in no time at all. I wrote the news release much like I would have written the story for the New York Times when I wrote for them on a regular basis as a freelancer in the 1990s, and it found plenty of traction.

The story in the Saturday issue of the New York Times was well-done. It includes a slide show of some beautiful pictures of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and the sea of mountains in Central Idaho.

Happily, this story had a good ending after many people complained, and Idaho's congressional delegation put the pressure on the Postal Service to retain Arnold's contract. Sometimes, the system works. - SS

Labels: Arnold Aviation, backcountry mail service, Idaho, Idaho backcountry, Idaho wilderness, pacific northwest lifestyle, Public Relations