Friday, October 20, 2006

Commentary on magic date

Tomorrow is the magic date ending the 60-day notice period. Surprisingly, it appears that only four or five of those laid off is still looking for a job.

That does not diminish in any way the horrible loss of talent.. Dennis Balogh, chief artist, was added today to the Blog Wall of Honor. The wall now includes 17 veteran staff members who resigned voluntarily–sometimes in hope of saving the job of a friend. The 17 had 291 years of service

The sports department, originally the hardest hit, escaped with all jobs saved. H
ow many newspapers can boast both a Sheldon Ocher and a Terry Pluto? BUT, despite pleas by many, Tom Reed will resign to accept a job as a features writer with the Columbus Dispatch.

The Beacon Journal also will lose Susan Kirkman who will go to Kent State in December to further her studies.

And here’s another paradox–even the personnel guy is leaving. Ed Kemp, vice president of human relations and general counsel, was scheduled to retire at the end of the year, but will retire early. His last day was Friday.

Linda Golz, subject of one of our first reports on layoffs (See the August 25 post) will return as a copy editor.


Balogh, Reed, Kirkman and Golz have all promised to send us more information so the “goodbye” posts will continue for a while.

The Guild is trying to firm up a list which will include some who were laid off and found jobs, some whose jobs were saved and those still looking for career changes.

The art department staff is an example of the difficulty in keeping up with changes. Rick Steinhauser was first laid off and Kathy Hagedorn went from full-time to part-time. Then Steinhauser was offered a job as paginator. He tried it out but did not like it. Then when Dennis resigned he was offered a job to return. He is still trying to decide. And Kathy apparently found she is satisfied just working part-time. [it is difficult to keep score]


And the Final Word: Mickey Porter was replaced today with a feature named “Names in the News.” that included a cutout of Sharon Osbourne and seven items pulled from wire reports. The last item carries the head:

And finally...

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