The Vicksburg Post may have a little competition on its hands. Ten-year-old Tate Loper — soon to be 11 in September — has started his own newspaper, the RollingWood News.

A fifth-grade student at Redwood Elementary, Loper said he decided he wanted to start a newspaper because, “I thought it was kind of like a cool idea.”

The handwritten copies of Loper’s first edition hit the streets in May, and he has since put out 10 more. Loper said his newspaper has been a weekly publication, except for the two weeks he was on vacation with his family.

Working pretty much as a one-man show, Loper is the reporter, designer, serves as the publisher and he even makes the deliveries.

“I ride my bike and have a little brown bag that I have on my bike (to hold the newspapers),” he said.

Tate’s mom Holly Loper said her son has 13 subscribers, and they can expect to find reporting on the weather and sports.

Loper also includes a dog-of-the-week section, a feature story and a cartoon section that he hand-renders himself.

“I really like drawing the cartoons,” he said.

Loper’s newspaper initially had a business section. “But I got rid of that,” he said.

And as for classifieds, Loper’s mom said Tate’s older brother once took out a want ad with hopes of finding a job.

“But (Tate) didn’t charge him for it,” she said.

For those curious as to why Loper is not using a computer to produce his weekly newspaper, his mom said it was because she wanted him to work on improving his handwriting skills.

“It would probably be easier if we did convert to the computer, but I’ve been wanting him to practice some handwriting because they don’t do enough of that,” she said. “But it would probably be a faster process if we went to the computer.”

And much easier for edits. Holly said they have learned a lot about white out.

In addition to being a newspaper man, Loper is in the GATES program, and he serves on the Redwood Elementary Superintendent Advisory board. He also enjoys taking piano lessons and playing golf.

Having published 11 newspapers, Loper has written many stories. His favorite, he said, was about a snake.

The Story

By Tate Loper

Today I ate at Chick-fil-a. We decided to eat outside. Suddenly Whitt spotted a snake in the drive-through. A car drove over it, and the snake hopped in. Shortly after, it fell out and the manager killed it.