BJ sendoff for Jewell, Dave, Jim, Bill and Olga

Fond farewell today to latest BJ 6-pack exodus

Jewell Cardell on her final day at the BJ

Cheryl Scott Sheinin, a BJ Finance Dept. retiree after 45 years at Old Blue and the wife of former BJer Neil Sheinin, offers her congratulations to the latest 6-pack to leave the BJ today, via the buyoutsl.

“Thinking of you wonderful people that have left home for their last day at the Beacon Journal. You had terrific careers in making our editorial paper Ohio's best. Congratulations on this new chapter in your lives. The editorial department will not be the same. You did you best work, loved your jobs (I hope) and served the public with news and meaningful articles that touched all of us.

Best to all of you, Jewell Cardwell, James Carney, Dave Scott, Olga Reswow, Laura Ofobike and Bill Lilley. You've done one hell of a job for our newspaper and we thank you.

Jim Carney leaves home for his
final day at the Beacon Journal

Jim Carney’s BJ farewell post

BJ reporter Jim Carney, among five Guild newsroom members who got the BJ buyout, posted this Facebook farewell:

“I am leaving the paper tomorrow after 35 years. It is a very scary and beautiful thing. 

“I loved my job. Honestly, I could never have worked anywhere else for so long. Too much ADD or ASS, as my dear sister in law Alice calls it - Attention Surplus Syndrome.

"Too much focosity, as my Dad would say.

"Took a buyout with four other Guild members and one manager at the paper.

"It is time. Mesh cap time. Hopefully, we saved some jobs.

"Dear KT remains. She is happy as a clam, doing food stories.

"I loved every minute of the work and am looking forward to jumping out of the plane and seeing where I land. I was blessed to have met so many beautiful folks and heard amazing stories that still break my heart and inspired me and worked with wonderful people in a dream job.

"I saw much and learned much. Hope to travel a bit with a certain band.

"Gentlemen, start your engines."

KT, of course, is Jim’s wife, BJ reporter Katie Byard. The “certain band” is The Black Keys, with Jim’s son, Patrick Carney, and Patrick's former Firestone High classmate Dan Auerbach, and their truckload of awards including annual Grammys.

Jewell Cardwell,  Bill Lilley, Dave Scott and Olga Reswow are the other Guild members chosen for the buyouts, among about a dozen who filled out the paperwork.

That drops the Newsroom staff to 60 or fewer, less than one-third the total in 2001 before the carnage began.

One exempt (management-level) buyout also was accepted, chief editorial writer Laura Ofobike.

The BJ lost more than 1,000 years of BJ service in the previous exits in 2001, 2006 and 2008, and that doesn’t include the years that the expatriates spent in newspapers before coming to the BJ.

At least 12 sign for BJ buyouts

With Monday’s deadline approaching a dozen people have applied for the BJ newsroom buyouts, according to our sources.

Since management’s original agenda was to get six Guild and one exempt to take the buyouts, which include a year’s salary, management must decide whether to take all 12 – or any others who sign up by Monday’s deadline – or choose from among the applicants.

The consensus is that reporter Jim Carney and Jewell Cardwell will be at the top of the buyout grants.

The buyout application form specifies that if the applicant puts anything negative out about the BJ, or details how it operates, that their buyout offer will be rescinded. A gag order is part of the price of departure.

Word about the eventual winners of the buyout lottery should creep out late Monday or on Tuesday.

A previous BJ Alums blog article listed the buyout applicants as:

Kathy Antoniotti – Pets column, southern Summit/northern Stark reporter.

Carol Biliczky (Levandoski) - Higher education reporter, Sunday community news.

Jewell Cardwell – Slice of Life columnist.

Jim Carney – General assignment, military affairs reporter.

Bill Lilley - Former sports writer, now copy editor.

Ed Meyer – Courts and crime reporter who came to the BJ as a sports writer.

Dave Scott – Regional issues reporter and former deputy Business editor.

Joe Thomas – National editor.

Olga Reswow – Copy editor.

MAYBE Laura Ofobike, chief editorial writer.

9 or 10 sign up for BJ buyouts

On April 10 former BJ political columnist and writing coach Abe Zaidan named Jewell Cardwell, Dave Scott, Jim Carney and Bill Lilley among those signing up for a possible buyout. 

Abe said management would accept five applicants.

The BJ management offer was for 6 union people and one exempt person to take the buyouts, which include a year’s pay as an inducement to leave Old Blue.

Another source – not Abe -- told us the names of 9 or 10 who applied for the 6 or 7 buyouts.

They are:

Kathy Antoniotti – Pets column, southern Summit/northern Stark reporter.

Carol Biliczky (Levandoski) - Higher education reporter, Sunday community news.

Jewell Cardwell – Slice of Life columnist.

Jim Carney – General assignment, military affairs reporter.

Bill Lilley - Former sports writer, now copy editor.

Ed Meyer – Courts and crime reporter who came to the BJ as a sports writer.

Dave Scott – Regional issues reporter and former deputy Business editor.

Joe Thomas – National editor, who was a part-time BJ sports statistician while a Kent State student (and, later, a KSU graduate).

Olga Reswow – Copy editor and sometimes Russian translator for BJ reporters dealing with those who spoke Russian better than English. Olga survived her car being rear-ended in 2011 by a drunk driver that for a while put her in a wheelchair. 

MAYBE Laura Ofobike, chief editorial writer.

Jim and Kathy and Ed won Cleveland Press Club awards for their reporting. 

This will leave Metro with only eight reporters and the newsroom with 60 survivors, give or take a few. That’s barely one-fourth the total when I retired in 1996.

Abe names BJ buyout candidates

Former BJ political columnist and writing coach Abe Zaidan names the people he thinks will get the year's pay to leave the BJ staff. Management wants five buyouts.

Abe says Jewell Cardwell, Dave Scott, Jim Carney and Bill Lilley are on the list. Food writer Lisa Abraham resigned to accept the same job at the Columbus Dispatch. 

If more than five apply for the buyout and year's pay, Abe says, the top BJ editors will decide who to let out the door.