Now another great friend and colleague is gone...one that I was closer to then most. We had a lot of deadlines together when he was news editor and I was his assistant. It was a great relationship. We found we agreed on a lot of issues and had the same judgment when it came to placement of stories in the paper..
It takes a certain type of newsman or woman, to be a true news editor..weighing the value of the tons of stories that poured in from at least six different news sources plus the local stories...all vying for Page One or to get into print.
It can't be just tossing a
coin...and filling space...it's reading a couple of paragraphs and,
because of those deadlines, deciding what to do.I first met Dave in 1966. He was on the copy desk and I rejoined it after a six months leave of absence. We immediately hit it off.I took the wire editor's job and that led to us getting the news editor jobs. A fellow was brought in to fill the assistant news editor's spot. He didn't exactly do a good job, as least in my judgment. Once he had set his pages, he couldn't or wouldn't change stories for the latest news....often not even in the next edition.
The final blow came when out vice president of the time was speaking and forgot which Great Lake bordered the city in which he was speaking. Our friend just wasn't interested in a story that that made all the media. I got fed up and when into the managing editor at that time and complained about his news judgment. And I told him that I would like to try out for the job (I had held that job in Columbus) and I thought Dave also would make a good news editor.
We did out job for more than 90 days (that was a deadline set by the Guild) and didn't get a formal announcement of our promotions. But we were drawing the extra 10 percent for the job.So I went into the managing editor and reminded him of the Guild contract. Shortly after that, we got the title and all the headaches that came with it. Things went along smoothly and then a new news editor took over. He decided he wouldn't do the grunt work anymore. So the daily operation of the paper fell to Dave and me.Then the news editor became the managing editor and a new news editor was named: Dave.
And I was his assistant. But that was no problem. We worked well together and for awhile we didn't have a second person to put out the paper. This came at the time I was to attend a seminar at Columbia University and it appeared it would be canceled because I was putting out the paper. Dave would have no part of it. He said he'd do my job while I was gone.
And upon my return to the job, we worked well together. When the one star was put to bed, we'd go to lunch together...our favorite spot was the Brown Derby that used to be on West Market.
If there was flack from some quarter Dave took care of it and it never trickled down to me. One time we were both called into the ME's office about noon. He had heard on the radio that there was a garbage strike in Cleveland and wanted to know why we didn't have it in the paper.
We told him that when the garbage starting smelling all the way to Akron, we'd put in on Page One. It was a good arrangement until somebody came up with the bright idea that the “local” newspaper should assume all the trapping of a metropolitan daily, similar to Philadelphia, Detroit and New York. News Editor Dave suddenly found himself “promoted” to assistant to the Editor.
So dawned the age of assistant ME's for most departments.
We got an assistant ME for news. And then we got an executive news editor who only responsibility was to put out page one. He had an assistat to deal with the inside pages whereas Dave and I were doing both. And these new positions weren't filled from within. New people, unfamiliar with the paper and the communities, were brought in.
As far as I'm concerned, that was the beginning of the end for the Beacon Journal as it was known over the years.
When the editor left Dave was assistant to no-one at the time and told me later he wasn't sure if he still have a job or not.
Of course he did. But out of the news loop. He joined the editorial page staff and finished his career there.
After we both retired we got together for lunch and discussed the old days and what was happening to the place where we spent most of our lives.
I have always thought that if the BJ hadn't quite promoting from within to bring in so-called “hotshots” to fix something that wasn't broken, Dave might have wound up as editor and we wouldn't have lost so many good people to other newspapers. But hindsight is always easy...
Dave was a great problem solver, never lost his cool and handled each situation with no grumbling or gripping.
One problem he had at home was the early morning we had to get up to come to work. A bit of a sleeping problem with 3 small sons in the house. But he solved it...he put a cot in the basement by the furnace.
And sleep came.
Dave, old buddy, I will miss our great gab sections and your companionship. Now you're reunited with a lot of our old friends. Say hello for us still left, and a special hello to our dear Fran.
-----Tom
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