The long parade of buy out recipients is nearly at an end. The final four will be leaving at the end of June.
Vertie Brewer, Bruce Edwards, Rickey Hampton and Dan Schantz are bringing up the rear of the parade that started last November and December with Gary Piatek and me. I think the final count is about 80 employees, 40 some from the editorial department, who have taken the money and ran for the hills. For some reason I couldn't make the picture of the four (at the top) any larger.
Because I will be in Alaska (hey, I wanted to have a little fun with my big check) when the party for Vertie, Bruce, Rickey and Dan is held, I just wanted to note the end of an era.
I particularly want to thank Vertie, the head of personnel, for all his kindnesses over the years. It had to be hard to oversee the flood of buy outs and retirements during the past six months and Vertie was a class act about it, even as he knew his career was coming to an end.
Bruce Edwards, who was a photographer when I started in 1989, became a talented videographer in the era of the new media at the Journal.
Bruce was a kind person who I never saw angry and who was always willing to go the extra mile.
Rickey was a columnist for the paper who waxed on issues of sports and community during his long career. I didn't always agree with Rickey, but he was always friendly to me and we shared a number of fruitful conversations. Rickey brought a needed perspective to the paper, one that will be interesting to see how they replace.
Dan Schantz I ran into occasionally, but to him and all others leaving I wish much success and happiness in life after the Journal.
In case you're in town, the party for all four is at Bubba O'Malley's, 1076 S. Belsay Road in Burton on June 26 from 5 p.m. until they throw them out.
Good luck guys.
3 comments:
Hey Jim,
I am an old f*** (fill in your own description here) and have been wandering around your site trying to figure out how this blog thing works. Great stuff, by the way. Nice touch. And where called for, blunt without being heartlessly brutal. As a former editor at the Journal, though, I must say that I can't recall ever seeing you there. Maybe you were the reporter who was out of the office actually covering his beat. Or maybe you were on the lam because you stole my dearest pet and held it for ramsom!!!??? Seriously, someone sent me your blog about the latest departures at the Journal, and in it you mentioned going to Alaska. Since we were there or in transit for 40 days and 40 nights in 2005, I am curious about your trip and your plans. But since I can't quite remember if I ate breakfast today, I'm having difficulty trying to figure out how I can use your blog to contact you. So I thought I would just post a comment and maybe you could figure it out. If you are already headed north to Alaska... nevermind.
Good to hear from you. I'm pretty sure I know who you are. And I was framed in the great "pet" incident.
I did not take it to the City Jail and I certainly did not pose it next to a filthy toilet.
We are not leaving until next Tuesday for the Great White North.
So I would love to talk to you. Feel free to send me an e-mail at (e-mail address removed) with your contact information.
Nice to hear from you and look forward to talking to you soon.
You were not one of the editors that I have discussed here.
(Note: I deleted the previous post because it had my e-mail address, which I left for a friend. I am reposting the entire comment, but without the e-mail address. The friend now has it and I don't want the spam that will result if I leave it here. If you look real hard at this page there are other ways to find my e-mail.)
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