A year ago on the BJ Alums blog . . .

In December 2009 on the BJ Alums blog we were trying to find fiery former BJ staffer Paul Facinelli to get his reaction to the overturned convictions of two people in the Head Start investigation that became such an obsession with Paul that he got fired from the Elyria paper over it.

We're still looking for Paul. If anyone out there has information about contacting Paul, email John Olesky at Jo4wvu@sbcglobal.net

Also in December 2009:

-- Former BJ State Desk staffers Pam McCarthy and Cathy Strong were preparing for a reunion in Boston. It went off famously, and led to a famous BJ Alums photo of Pam and Cathy in a hot tub.

-- Former BJ sportswriter Bob Nold (in photo), a quiet guy with a University of Kansas degree, died at 78. He was among too many BJ retirees who passed away in 2009, including maintenance retiree Cleveland Phillips and Composing retirees Watson Blanton, Armand Lear, Terry Dray and Trammel Hogg.

-- In another sign of the decline of newspapers, Editor & Publisher ceased publication after 125 years.

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

Let's hope that you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and that 2011 is better for newspapers and for you than 2010.