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The travel section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Sunday provided great information on wheelchair accessibility by Steve Wright and his wife Heidi.
Wright, son of Beacon Journal retiree Ken Wright, frequently writes about wheelchair-accessible travel and has won several awards for covering the subject. Steve and his wife, Heidi, are authors of the Accent Press book “Ideas for Easy Traveling: Timely Tips for Those with Limited Mobility.” They were featured in the Feburary, 2001 issue of New Mobility magazine.
Heidi Johnson Wright and Steve Wright, both writers, met at Kent State in the 1980s. Heidi, who has rheumatoid arthritis, has had two lengthy hospitalizations since they've been married.
Steve and Heidi shared the byline for the main article titled "Unobstructed View" which lists 10 diverse wheelchair destinations across America.
"Travelers who use wheelchairs have travel tastes as diverse as all vacationers," the lead states. "Wheelchair users simply have to search a little harder to find barrier-free fun."
There are photos of Monument Valley in Utah, the Brooklyn Bridge's barrier-free pedestrian pathywaty, Detroit's Eastern Market and Utah's Zion National Park.
A second article with Steve's byline is headlined Call to make sure place truly accessible.
Here is the lead on the article:
When your spouse uses a wheelchair, your travel options aren't so much limited as they are dependent on creativity and flexibility.
Long cross-ocean flights, for example, are not out of the question. But a wheelchair user with stiff joints, constant pain and prevalent fatigue due to severe rheumatoid arthritis will cope much better with eight-plus hours of flying if he or she can be accommodated with the roominess of a business-class seat.
The same goes for a place to sleep far from home. On a trip to Spain, we found there are barrier-free hotels, hostels, palladores and apartments, but that only about one in 50 is wheel- chair-accessible and about one in 10 of those advertise the fact that they can accommodate a disabled traveler.
And some places somehow come to the conclusion that they are wheelchair-accessible even though the only route to the front door is via eight steep, slippery steps.
Ask any "wheeler" who has booked a room purely on the inclusion of the wheelchair symbol on a property's brochure or Web site and you probably will hear a near horror story of arriving weary from an all-night flight only to find that the room is on the third floor of a property without an elevator.
So, rather than rely on a vague checkmark in the "property is wheelchair-accessible column," anyone planning a trip with a disabled family member is strongly advised to pick several options via Web sites. That list of supposedly accessible properties is then the starting point for phone calls made directly to the property to determine exactly what kind of barrier-free accommodations are offered.
And Wright concludes:
The hunt for a wheelchair-accessible apartment, be it in old Barcelona or any place far from home, can produce a result filled with unique sights, scents and spaces that simply cannot be found in a soulless hotel room.
With planning, perseverance and a sense of adventure and adaptation, a wheelchair user can win the hunt and savor the flavorful fruit of the pursuit.
Click on the headline to read the full Plain Dealer story by Steve and Heidi.
Click here to read Steve's story
Click here to access the New Mobility magazine containing the profile on Steve and Heidi.
Click here to read about wheel-chair accessible spots in Barcelona.
December 1 will be the last day at the Beacon Journal for Susan Kirkman, Managing Editor of Multimedia & Special Projects. Kirkman is going to graduate school at Kent State University in January for an individualized program in the College of Communication, focusing on new media and the future of news and the internet. She also will teach.
The King County Journal has a new owner. But no one is saying yet what Black Press of Victoria, B.C., publisher of the Akron Beacon Journal, plans to do with the struggling suburban daily.
Peter Horvitz, whose family has owned the Journal since 1994, announced the sale to employees in a hastily arranged meeting at the company's Kent headquarters late Wednesday afternoon.
But he wouldn't disclose the price or say what the Canadian chain has in mind for the paper, which has been losing money and circulation for years.
"I'm not going to speak for Mr. [Black Press President David] Black," Horvitz said in a telephone interview. "It's for him and his people to tell our employees and the community what their plans are."
Black did not return calls and e-mails requesting comment. Horvitz said Black Press officials would visit the Journal on Monday and reveal more.
"One rumor, which Horvitz said was inaccurate, suggested Black planned to transform the paper into a free-distribution tabloid and lay off the entire news staff.
But David Grant, a Journal reporter who heads the paper's unit of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, said Executive Editor Barbara Morgan was telling staff members Wednesday afternoon that their jobs were safe.
"We're hopeful that Black Press will continue to put out the King County Journal as a daily newspaper ... " Grant said. "But I don't think anyone's reassured at this point."
Another employee, who requested anonymity, said Black Press' record elsewhere makes many Journal workers apprehensive.
Horvitz said the sale is scheduled to close next Thursday.
Click on the headline to read the full story in the Seattle Times.
King County Journal Newspapers
Headquarters: Kent, WA
Daily newspapers: King County Journal. Weekday circulation: 39,109
Weekly newspapers: Mercer Island Reporter, Snoqualmie Valley Record
Twice-monthly newspapers: Auburn Reporter, Bellevue Reporter, Bothell/Kenmore Reporter, Covington/Maple Valley Reporter, Kent Reporter, Redmond Reporter, Renton Reporter
Other holdings: Commercial printing operation
Black Press
Headquarters: Victoria, B.C.
Ownership: David Black family, Victoria — 81 percent; Torstar (owner of Toronto Star) — 19 percent.
Puget Sound holdings: Black's Sound Publishing subsidiary, based on Bainbridge Island, publishes 18 papers, mostly weeklies and bi-weeklies, in Western Washington, including the Bainbridge Island Review, Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber and Federal Way Mirror. In September, Sound acquired Little Nickel Classifieds of Lynnwood.
Other holdings: In June, Black Press bought the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, a former Knight-Ridder newspaper, for $165 million. It also owns the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Red Deer (Alberta) Advocate, both dailies, and more than 75 community newspapers in British Columbia.
Edward R. Moss, the publisher of the Akron Beacon Journal, will be the guest speaker at the Akron Press Club at 11:45 a.m. Dec. 15.
Moss joined the newspaper in August, replacing James Crutchfield.
The buffet and program, $10-$15, will at the Martin Center at 105 Fir Hill. Guests are asked to bring a toy for the Toys for Tots collection.
For reservations, call 330-835-4980.
[The Beacon Journal,, Akron, OH Friday, November 24, 2006, page A12 ]
Former derby director, head of Beacon promotions
Ralph Iula succumbs to Alzheimer's; Akron area, charities, journalism students, young competitors lose good friend
By Jewell Cardwell Beacon Journal staff writer
The Beacon Journal and the Akron area have lost one of their biggest cheerleaders.
Ralph Iula died Tuesday at Maison Aine Specialized Alzheimer's Center in Stow.
Over the years, Mr. Iula wore many promotions hats over his trademark jet-black hair. He headed the newspaper's efforts in the All-American Soap Box Derby, the Beacon Journal Spelling Bee and the Beacon Journal Charity Fund.
Mr. Iula was hired at the newspaper in June 1954 as the promotions manager. A month later, he became the Beacon Journal derby director, a job he held for 20 years, said son Jeff Iula, now the derby's general manager. ``He's why I got hooked on the derby.''
Bill Ford became Mr. Iula's first derby champ when he won in 1970. Now a salesman in Austin, Texas, Ford said Wednesday he remembers Mr. Iula fondly.
``I could tell even from a young age that he was extremely intelligent and very well-read. While my family would go off to exotic vacations like Detroit, they were going off to Europe and all points in between.''
Ford said he never saw Mr. Iula lose his cool under the pressure of derby activities, even with as many 600 kids around.
``But what I remember most about him was his ever-present cigar,'' Ford recalled.
Mr. Iula was one of the people who helped to revive the derby after a cheating scandal in 1974 caused Chevrolet to end its sponsorship. He was inducted into the Soap Box Derby Hall of Fame in 1999.
Mr. Iula also ran the Beacon Journal Spelling Bee for 30 years years, making it the biggest one in the country. He had the national champion in 1964 -- Billy Kerek of Cuyahoga Falls, who is today Dr. William Kerek, a physician at Akron City Hospital.
Mr. Iula received degrees from Butler University and Northwestern University, but he began his journalism career at age 14.
``That's when he started Jerry's Journal newspaper, which he sold in his Indiana neighborhood,'' Jeff Iula said.
His professional career began at the Indianapolis Star, where he was a sports writer for three years. He worked another year at a newspaper in Evansville, Ind.
He also taught journalism at the University of Akron from 1968 to 2000.
Although he continued to write, Mr. Iula's greatest contribution was in promotions.
For 31 years, he ran the Beacon Journal's Thanksgiving trip to New York City, which at its peak drew 300 tourists. Traveling was one of his passions, and he visited 77 countries.
Mr. Iula also was executive director of the Beacon Journal Charity Fund from 1986 to 1996, serving as secretary-treasurer for years before that.
He ran the newspaper's Bowling Classic, which was the fourth-largest local tournament in the nation.
Jeff Iula said his father made his children promise never to reveal his age.
Besides Jeff, Mr. Iula is survived by another son, Jay of Cuyahoga Falls, who was his caregiver for eight years; and a daughter, Jerri Roberts of Indianapolis; five grandchildren and two great-grandsons.
Calling hours for Mr. Iula will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Clifford-Shoemaker Funeral Home, 1930 Front St., Cuyahoga Falls, where the funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday.
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Thursday, November 23, 2006, page B1]
Classified obit appears on page B10, col. 3
The Beacon Journal for many years published a list of U.S. postal addresses for retirees in the Tower Topics or Sidebar employee publications just before Chrismas. Due to increased postage costs, or for whatever reason, mailing of the employee publication was dropped. .
Three years ago we asked the company for a list of retiree e-mail addresses and that list has been posted. There is a link to the list on the BJ retirees blog which you are reading and also on our new web site at http://www.acorn.net/bjretirees.
Because of new retirees and deaths elsewhere which we do not learn about , it is impossible to keep the list up to date. We have asked the human resources. department for an updated list, but because of staff cuts or whatever even that is no longer possible
This then is an urgent plea. Please check the retirees USPS address list. If you know anyone who should be on the list, please send us the information. If there is anyone on the list who should be removed, please let us know.
If you are not a retiree but a former Beacon Journal employee and would like others to know your postal address, you also should send us that information. We will keep a list of USPS addresses for non-retired former Beacon Journal employees.
You can send the information to hliggett@sbcglobal.net
A consortium of seven newspaper chains representing 176 daily papers across the country is announcing a broad partnership with Yahoo to share content, advertising and technology, another sign that the wary newspaper business is increasingly willing to shake hands with the technology companies they once saw as a threat.
In the first phase of the deal, the newspaper companies will begin posting their employment classified ads on Yahoo’s classified jobs site, HotJobs, and start using HotJobs technology to run their own online career ads.
But the long-term goal of the alliance with Yahoo, according to one senior executive at a participating newspaper company, is to be able to have the content of these newspapers tagged and optimized for searching and indexing by Yahoo.
In that way, local news — one of the pillars of the newspaper business — would become part of a large information network that would increase usefulness for readers and value to advertisers.
The consortium includes the MediaNews Group, Hearst, Belo, E. W. Scripps, the Journal Register Company, Lee Enterprises and Cox Enterprises. The group owns newspapers in 38 states, among them major metropolitan dailies including The San Francisco Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Denver Post, with a combined daily circulation of 12 million.
Click on the headline to read the full story in the New York Times.
The Akron Newspaper Guild holiday party will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, December 13, at the Printer's Club, across Exchange Street from the Beacon Journal. All recent and not-so-recent retirees are invited. The skits, including the traditional letter readings, will be at 7:45 p.m. The party will feature fine eats prepared by Guild members.
‘”We were there” was the title of a series of articles published by the Sidebar, about historic events covered by the Beacon Journal. Here is the story on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, reprinted from the January 1995 issue of the Sidebar:
Newspapers rarely print extra editions unless something of monumental importance has happened after the p
aper has already been circulated. Unfortunately, the events of Nov. 22
, 1963, met the criteria. The first editions of the Beacon Journal had already been distributed when the news of the shooting of President John F. Kennedy came in. Compositor Cecil Santoferraro was called upon to remake Page One for the extra. He retired from composing in 1983 after 42 years of service
‘Extra’ signals end of era
Compositor records assassination
It was right around lunch time when word came over the wire that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. We didn't know he was dead at that time, just that he'd been shot and it was bad.
We were an afternoon paper then and were printing about seven or so editions. The early ones had already gone out to the outlying areas and we were just finishing the preparation of the final edition when we got the news.
Ben Maidenburg, who was the managing editor, decided that the shotting warranted an extra. So we scrapped the last editions and set about redoing Page One.
Red Rowan, who was the Page One makeup man at that time, wasn't around for some reason. He may have been at lunch or something, but he wasn't there when Maidenburg came to composing to see to the extra.
So I stepped in. I would do Page One when Red wasn't in, so I had done it before, but not with the editor watching every move.
I was engrossed in making up the page when Red returned. Even though it was really his privilege, since we had already started, he just stayed back.
We weren't too affected by what happened right then, because we were so involved with getting our jobs done. We didn't have time to think or worry about it.
You've got to be a certain breed of guy to set hot type. You just can't get nervous, even when the president is killed and the editor is hanging over your shoulder. You just get into a groove.
We got that extra to the presses immediately. As soon as the story was set on the linotypes, we had it out in a half-hour or so. It was then we had time to think about what happened.
William "Red" Rowan retired from composing in 1972 and died in 1991.
The highlight of this full page ad by the Akron Unit of the Newspaper Guild is the number 335 in large type. That is the total years of service of colleagues who either were laid off or voluntarily resigned to save someon’e job. “We appreciate their combined 335 years of servic
e to our newspaper and to our loyal readers." the ad said. "We also salute the newsroom managers and 27 employees elsewhere in the building who left because of staff reductions.” Photos of seven were used.
The list of 24 includes Barbara Albrecht, clerk, 6 years; Dennis Balogh, artist, 21 years; Gary Estwick, reporter, 4 yerars; Mary Ethridge, reporter 18 years; Diane Evans, columnist, 30 years; Tim Good, copy editor, 6 years; Andale Gross, reporter, 9 years; Erin Hill, copy editor, 1 year; Gloria Irwin, reporter 21 years, Jim Kavanagh, copy editor, 15 years; Jody Kraner, copy editor, 3 years, Delano Massey, reporter, 1 year; Mickey Porter, copy editor/Porter’s People, 40 years; Kim Profant, copy editor, 7 years; Tom Reed, reporter/columnist, 6 years; Robin Sallie, photographer, 12 years; Lindsay Sample, photographer, 4 years; Jane Snow, reporter, food writer, 28 years; Kathy Spitz, reporter, 22 years; Chiffon Staebler, copy editor, 6 years; Debbie Stock Kiefer, copy editor/recipe roundup, 28 years; Sarah Vradenburg, editorial writer, 22 years; Judie Wallace, reporter, 6 years; and Jocelyn Williams, photographer, 19 years.
Newsroom managers laid off or took voluntary resignations were Dave Wilson, David Hertz, Susan Kirkman, Michael Needs, Bonnie Bolden and Debra Adams Simmons.
The ad appears on page B6 of the Beacon Journal, Saturday, November 18, 2006. Click on the image for an enlarged view.
Dave Wilson, one of the Beacon Journal staff laid off recently, is on the job market. Wilson is looking for something that puts his skills as an editor, writer and manager (and media connections) to work in such fields as public relations, Web news sites, media manager. Wilson has outstanding editing ability and has been brushing up on his Web skills, including designing Web sites. He was the newsroom's point guy in getting breaking news to Ohio.com. At this point, he is looking beyond print media. "It's just too limiting," Wilson said. "I'd prefer to stay in Northeast Ohio, but I'd definitely move for the right opportunity."
If any of our viewers can help Dave it will be appreciated.
"If anyone knows folks in these or related fields, I'd sure appreciate an introduction," Wilson said. " It's impossible getting past HR departments."
Wilson's e-mail address is Fallsguy@aol.com
The Reader’s Digest Association, the company responsible for publishing some of the world’s best-read magazines, agreed to a $1.6 billion takeover offer yesterday, the latest whitecap atop a growing wave of private media takeovers.
Reader’s Digest, an 84-year-old company that publishes the pint-size magazine; the largest-selling North American food magazine Taste of Home; and the fast-growing Everyday With Rachael Ray, agreed to be acquired for $1.6 billion by investors led by Ripplewood Holdings. The offer is a 43 percent premium over the company’s August stock price, when shares bottomed at $11.83.
The investor group, which includes Merrill Lynch Capital and the J. Rothschild Group, will also assume $800 million in debt, bringing the total purchase to $2.4 billion.
The acquisition comes while other publicly traded media companies weigh private takeovers.
Ripplewood hopes to cut costs at Reader’s Digest and expand sales by marketing to customers who already subscribe to publications sold by Ripplewood’s other media companies. Those titles include the Time Life series, The Weekly Reader and The World Almanac.
Click the headline to read the full story in the New York Times
BAGHDAD – At dawn, a guard at the fledgling Iraqi television station watched helplessly as a death squad - more than a dozen heavily armed men with silencers on their pistols and many with Iraqi police uniforms on their backs - rolled up in a convoy to Al Shabiya TV.
He immediately phoned the station's anchorman, Firas al-Rikabi, at his nearby home. The guard was beside himself, warning Mr. Rikabi to "try to run away." After 75 minutes, the gunmen left the station, and Rikabi arrived to find 11 of his journalist colleagues dead.
No one heard a single shot.
The professional hit, conducted last month, delivered one of this year's heaviest blows to Iraqi journalists. Amid the swirl of sectarian bloodletting and insurgent attacks, the Iraqi media faces the treacherous task of navigating the political differences between parties, and widespread ignorance about their role.
The label "independent" media in Iraq has become a death sentence, in what has become the world's most dangerous environment for local journalists. Already this year 55 Iraqi journalists have been killed - more than any other year - and four remain hostages.
Click on the headline to read more of Scott Peterson's article in The Christian Science Monitor
OK, it has nothing to do with the Beacon Jourrnal or retirees, but we might mention that Dave Heinbuch–a BJ composing room type–has “Beat Michigan” magnets on his refrigerator and always wore a “Beat Michigan” badge 52 weeks a year. The big game is Sat
urday and we found an OSU fan who lives in Michigan, but designed this Lego horseshoe.
The creator, Jim Stricker, tells the story of its creation.
Here it is after 2+ years of work. It is a 1:275 (approximate) scale model of Ohio Stadium, built entirely with Legos. The project commenced in July 2002 and was finally completed in October 2004. I have no idea on how many thousands of pieces are in the model (it would be nearly impossible to count without dismantling), but can say that it weighs around 38 pounds, not including the plywood base. The footprint is 36 1/2" x 46 1/2" and stands 10 feet tall. I devoted around 2000 hours of my time, which includes activities needed to research, locate and purchase the pieces, planning, layout, assembly, disassembly, and much trial and error. The stadium was constructed in sections to facilitate moving in the future.
Stricker says he had to rely on pictures and dimensional information from the internet. "Visits to the stadium were infrequent, as I live over 200 miles from the stadium (yes in Michigan). I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there are no blue or yellow pieces anywhere on this model.”
See an album of other photos of the Lego stadium. You will have to list your name and e-mail address.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press will eliminate the equivalent of 40 full-time jobs after seeing ad revenue drop in key categories, a trend that accelerated in recent months. The jobs will be cut through a combination of attrition, buyouts and layoffs. The newsroom, the paper's single largest department, will cut the equivalent of 20 full-time positions. The other cuts will be spread across the newspaper.
The changes will come quickly, as buyout applications will be due on Nov. 27 and people who get them could be out the door by Dec. 1.
The paper currently employs 745 people and the reductions represent about 5 percent of that work force.
At meetings with employees, publisher Par Ridder [Tony's son] was asked if this set of cuts would be the only reductions at the Pioneer Press, and what the prospects are for ad revenue rebounding. He said he couldn't predict where the business would go.
The buyout package includes two weeks of pay for each year of employment at the paper and health care coverage for up to six months. Health coverage would be available for another year after that, though at a higher cost to the employee.
The Pioneer Press' former owner, Knight Ridder, sold the paper earlier this year. The paper is currently owned by the Hearst Corp. but is managed by MediaNews Group Inc., which eventually plans to own it outright after its financing deal with Hearst is complete.
Click on the headline to read the full story in the Pioneer Press.
See also Thanks, Dad
On Nov. 1, a $1,000 check was sent to each of four former Akron Beacon Journal newsroom employees. The criteria for receiving a check was 1) those who were among the original employees targeted for layoff and 2) were still unemployed as of Nov. 1. It did not matter if the employees declined an opportunity to return, especially since the company has repeatedly asserted there could be more layoffs in 2007 and these people would be at risk yet
again.
There is roughly $2,500 remaining in the fund, which collected a total of about $6,500, including about $750 from an auction of Beacon Journal memorabilia. The Layoff Fund Committee will contact the four employees again on Dec. 1 and make a decision as to how to distribute the remaining funds.
See the Beacon Journal Retirees web site for a list of auction winners. The winners' list will be removed from the web site next week.
Lillian Petraitis, 85, went home to be with the Lord on November 13th, at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.
Born in Barberton in 1921, Lillian had been an area resident her entire life. She was a mem
ber of Immaculate Conception Church in Kenmore. Lillian had been employed as a secretary by both The Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. for 15 years and by The Akron Beacon Journal for eight years.
Mrs. Petraitis was preceded in death by her parents, Theodore and Anna Suie, son, Byron and brother, Ted Suie. She is survived by her husband, John of Barberton; son and daughter-in-law, John and Michelle Petraitis of Columbus; and daughter and son-in-law, Roberta and Tom Anderson of Brecksville; sister, Mary Driesbaugh of Michigan; grandchildren, Sarah, Rachel, and Amanda Petraitis and Erik, Evan, and Kurt Anderson.
The family will receive friends Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. at The Kucko-Anthony-Kertesz Funeral Home, 95 W. Waterloo Rd. Funeral services will begin Thursday at 10 a.m. at the funeral home and will continue with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Interment at Holy Cross Cemetery. Donations in Lillian's memory may be made to The Interval Brotherhood Home, 3445 S. Main St., Akron, OH 44319. (Kucko-Anthony-Kertesz, 330-724-1281, www.kakfh.com)
[The Beacon Journal,, Akron, OH, November 14, 2006 ]
[Note: You may not recognize her from the photo published with her obituary which is evidently one in her younger years. We could not locate a recent photo.]
Since this has been the end of an era year at the Beacon Journal, it seems appropriate to recall another end of an era. This article is from the July / August 1991 issue of Sidedar, then the employee publication. A recent photo of Hagenbush was provided by Bill Hunter. Here is the article:
The Beacon Journal has experienced many changes since the 1920's, but from June 15, 1923 to July 1, 1991 there's been one constant- a Hagenbush working at the paper. But o
n July 1,1991, Frank A. Hagenbush retired, marking the first time in 68 years that there hasn't been a Hagenbush employed at the Akron Beacon Journal.
With the cooperation of Bill Hunter. who is married to Jean Hagenbush, we have put together a list of the Hagenbush history with the company.
It all began with Jesse E. Hagenbush, who worked at the company from June 15, 1923 and retired July 1, 1971. At the time he was hired the Beacon Journal was located at the corners of East Market and Broadway Streets. Jesse worked in Circulation and the Mailing Room. He retired as foreman in the Mailing Room.
Then came brother Harry R. Hagenbush, now deceased, who started on October 10, 1924 and retired in 1968. He replaced Jesse in the Mailing Room and transferred to apprentice pressman.
Joining them was another brother Frank 1. Hagenbush, now deceased, who worked from 1935 to 1944 when he enlisted in the Army.
Now there are four as John H. Hagenbush joined his brothers in 1946 and worked until Aug, 1979. He started as a paperhandler and retired as a mechanic in the Mailing Room.
And the next generation began with Frank A. Hagenbush, son of Jesse, who began in October, 1947 and retired this year. He began as a paper handler and retired as assistant foreman of the pressroom.
In addition, Jean E. Hagenbush Hunter, daughter of Jesse, began at the Beacon in 1951 and worked to 1960. She worked in the Circulation Department and Sara Ann Sipe Hagenbush, wife of Frank A. Hagenbush, worked in Circulation Accounting from June 1953 to October, 1956.
In the 68 years of Hagenbush involvement at the Beacon Journal. the pressroom and mailing room production facility was moved three times and expanded once.
In 1923 it was located at East Market and Broadway Streets, then was moved in 1929 to E. Market and Summit Streets. In 1938 it moved to the facility at East Exchange and High Streets and in 1952 was moved to a new facility across Wheeler Alley. In 1988, the Mailing Room expanded into the new addition.
Frank, the last of the Hagenbush dynasty, was honored by nearly fifty of his friends, retirees and co-workers at a retirement party along with his long-time friend and co-worker, Jim Darr, at the Jednota Club on July 8, 1991.
He received a portrait done by Diane Heinbuch, wife of the Pressroom's Bill Heinbuch, and a cash envelope from his co-workers.
After all the tributes were finished, Frank made a very brief farewell speech to his friends which just about sums up the Hagenbush family's philosophy.
Frank said, "You won't hear me saying anything bad about the Beacon Journal. Every meal my family has eaten was paid for by a check from the Beacon Journal."
It's been a long run - you will be missed.
[Hagenbush lives in Tallmadge, OH]
Eli Broad made his fortune building affordable homes for Southern Californians, while Ron Burkle made his by filling their pantries with groceries.
On Wednesday, they joined in a bid to buy the Los Angeles Times' parent, Tribune Co. If successful, the two billionaires with no newspaper experience might pull off one of their most audacious deals yet.
Broad and Burkle have spent millions cutting separate swaths across the landscape of Southern California arts, culture and philanthropy. Their bid is likely to be countered by another local billionaire, David Geffen, who is expected to make a separate offer for the newspaper.
Like Geffen, who made his fortune in music and movies, Broad and Burkle have egos to match their accomplishments. Some who know them question whether they could work well together as partners, prompting speculation they would divvy Tribune's holdings of newspapers, broadcast outlets and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
"The obvious question on everyone's mind is where does the L.A. Times end up in all this? In whose hands and under whose direction?" said Steve Soboroff, president of Playa Vista, a former Los Angeles mayoral candidate and one of 20 community leaders who in September wrote to Tribune Co. protesting its plans for cutbacks at The Times. "There are all kinds of possibilities."
Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who is an acquaintance of Burkle's and hikes with Broad in the Santa Monica Mountains almost every Sunday, said he was not surprised to hear about the pair's proposal.
Buying Tribune would be "an interesting game," said Riordan, a multimillionaire venture capitalist who restructured Mattel Co. before going into politics.
"The part that would be fun would be selling off the parts of Tribune and being left with the L.A. Times," he said. "But then what would you do?"
Riordan doubts that Broad and Burkle, both of whom have strong personalities, would be interested in running The Times as co-owners.
Two people who know both men in business and civic circles agreed. They described Broad and Burkle as "control freaks" but asked that their names not be used because they didn't want to antagonize the billionaires.
"There is no way they are gonna live together running that newspaper," said one, who described them as "not friends but not enemies" either.
Click on the headline for an L.A. Times story on the Chicago Tribune Co. bidding.
