A final -30- for Polly

Did everyone notice the neat floral tribute left by Nancy (Yockey) Bonar at the calling hours and service for Polly Paffilas? It was a 30 formed from red roses.

For those who might be too young to know, this “30" sign is an archaic term that was used in journalism up to the early 1980's. The sign was at the end of copy that was submitted to the newsdesk, to mark that this was, indeed, the end of the news story. It is still used - albeit rarely - to mark the end of press releases and other non-published copy.

At one time, journalists had to submit their stories by telegram; they would do so and mark the end of the story by "-30-" - after which they could include personal messages to their editors.

Journalists seem to be following telegraph operators as a thing of the past. My father and grandfather were both railroad telegraph operators in their younger years and I seem to recall that there were several codes that were used. These oldtimers are both gone now and there are many ideas about how the 30 got started. If you know anything on the subject, please add a comment at the end

The -30- mark's true origin is hard to determine. It has been used as one of the telegraph signals meaning "end of story". However, the -30- has probably been around since before the telegraph was even invented,

There are numerous theories regarding possible origins for the -30- sign:

* Eighty means farewell in Bengali; an English officer used 80 in the end of a letter to the East India Company in 1785. Adopting this, the EIC mistook the 80 for 30.
* The first message during the Civil War. The number "30" was placed on the bottom of the telegraph after it was written out. This was later picked up by other telegraphers.
* The end mark during early newspapers was the hash sign (#). Typists, either by mistake, or to save time, didn't go to upper case, hence "3". A zero and two dashes were added for the look of it
* When AP (Associated Press) was established, each member paper was entitled to 30 telegraphs a day. The 30 marked the last telegraph.
* Back in the day, when typesetters still manually placed slugs, a typesetter would place his #30 slug at the case to symbolize that he was finished with his article - so another typesetter could take over the cases
* Press wires closed at the half-hour mark - 30 minutes past the hour.
* Press offices used to close at 3'o'clock. This was later abbreviated to 3'o, and finally to -30-
* Some people believe that this is a reference to the bible (ignoring that we are talking about journalists here, which almost by definition rules out the theory), in that 30 silver pieces caused JC's death
* When newspaper stories were handwritten, X meant the end of a sentence, XX meant the end of a paragraph, and XXX meant the end of the story (XXX is of course 30 in roman numbers)

Whatever the use was, the -30- sign has been with us for a long time, and was only killed off when computers started to gain foothold. But not completely: In the pamphlet "What's Your Story - A Guide For Getting News Into The Washington Post", published recently by the Washington Post, the 30 sign is mentioned. In their directions for faxing press releases, they say "Type 'end' or '30' at the bottom of the last page."

-30-

Country roads took him home

to a place called Monongah

You can go home again

I had a memorable weekend over the Memorial Day weekend.

I attended my Monongah High School alumni reunion for a dinner/dance and meetings with former classmates for the first time, in some cases, in 55 years. To sweeten the situation, I visited Monongah, where I was born in my Olesky grandparents’ house. Hey, it was the Great Depression and people made do.

Actually, I was repaying a favor. My sister, Jackie, had attended my 50-year reunion in 2000. This time, Jackie’s class was the 50-year class (of 1955).

The reunion was at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 28, at Westchester Village in Fairmont, WV. So, that morning I drove to Monongah (childhood playground of Miami Dolphins coach Nick Saban) and had my photos taken in front of my birthplace, in front of the house we rented and then the house that my parents bought from Consolation Coal Company because it had indoor plumbing and ours didn’t. I was 12 the first time I used the bathroom without winter windburn on my bum.

Other photos were taken:

-- At the edge of the holler (yes, I know how the outside world spells it) where I had wrecked by going over the edge with about every vehicle that my parents bought me. Once, a neighbor knocked on my Mom’s door and, when she answered, handed my unconscious body to her with “Here’s your son.”

-- At my aunt’s grocery where I hung upside down while clinging to a second-floor metal railing 15 feet above the concrete till a customer grabbed me by the ankles.

-- The steep Jackson Street hill where we did our sledriding at tremendous speeds because we poured water on the road in winter so it would freeze, and the Jackson Street residents countered with coal ashes, which we counter-countered with more water.

-- The concrete steps above the street car station (electric trolley to young whippersnappers) where daredevil Bill rode me double (I was on the handlebars) on his bicycle as we bumpty-bumped down, by my count after looking at the photo, 49 steps.

As I said, I had been to my Class of 1950’s 50-year reunion in 2000 with my late wife, Monia, but there were several who didn’t make it then who showed up this time, including the classmate with the deerskin suit (he shot it; someone else stitched it together). And some who didn’t make it to the evening’s dinner/dance showed up at the 1 p.m. lunch I arranged at Say-Boy Restaurant on Country Club Road, just down the street from Country Club Bakery, birthplace of the pepperoni roll (Food TV cable network had a piece on the bakery).

I can’t wait for the Class of 1950’s 60-year reunion in 2010. By then, it may be a Wheelchairs R Us event, particularly if I decide to take on that holler again.

Memorable Stories: An unopened bottle

Beacon Journal Sports Editor Larry Pantages contributed a moving Memorial Day story for A1 of todayÂ’s newspaper.

Phil Masturzo also had a great photo of Larry's father, Billy, holding a bottle of "“31" bourbon that has remained unopened since three Pantages brothers decided not to open it until all returned home from World War II. There also is a view of a gold bracelet engraved with the name, military ID and blood type of Gus Pantages who was killed Feb. 13, 1945 when his plane hit some trees and detonated the bombs under the aircraft.

There also is a photo of Gus'’ mother, Mary Pantages, who continued to operate the family business after her husband was killed by a robber in 1937 and while her sons, Jimmy, Gus and Billy went off to serve in World War II. The General Cafe closed in 1957 when the property was sold to make room for Akron'’s expressway. Mary died in 1969.

It was 60 years ago that Gus was killed and the bourbon bottle remains unopened in Billy'’s kitchen cabinet. There also is a photo of Billy, his son Larry and Larry'’s sons William and Alexander,-- three generations who remember their family'’s contribution to World War II.

Gus W. Pantages has no grave marker in Akron. His funeral service was in the Philippines. But he is remembered along with 1,529 other Summit County veterans whose names are cut into marble walls adjoining the entrance to Memorial Hall at the University of Akron. Larry made a rubbing of his uncle'’s name as did his sons.

Unfortunately, you cannot see the photos unless you get the newspaper or the digital BJ, but you can read Larry'’s story on Ohio.com by clicking on the headline above.

His story gave this blogger a little bit of renewed pride in the BJ which devoted its editorial pages today in a tribute to some 70 Ohioans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan with mug shots of all but 14 of them.

This is after all Memorial Day.

Going, going, gone: End of an era

The end of an era came Wednesday, May 25, 2005, as a crane
lowered the Akron Beacon Journal's old clock tower onto a flatbed
truck. The 26-foot, 4,800-pound tower, part of the city's skyline
since 1966, will be stripped for parts by junkyard artist P.R. Miller.
(Beacon Journal photo by Paul Tople)

Polly Paffilas 1921-2005

Pauline Katherine Paffilas

By Marilyn Miller
Beacon Journal staff writer

A colorful character in the newsroom, Polly Paffilas, the former food writer and About Town columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal, died Thursday. She was 83.

A supporter of the arts and an animal lover, she had an affinity for hats and enjoyed dressing up. .
Friend and colleague Nancy Yockey Bonar of Medina said even after Miss Paffilas retired she would get up every morning, put on her makeup, get dressed and select her earrings and rings.

"That was her daily ritual, she'd be up and at 'em, ready and dressed. She was still the lady."

She loved to cook and always. used her good china for guests at lunch, dinner or bridge parties.

"Polly was one of the grand dames of journalism,' said her former longtime colleague Mickey Porter. "She'd tackle any kind of story."
Her newspaper career covered more than 45 years before she retired in 1987.

She and colleague Frances B. Murphey, who died in 1998, broke into the business as temporary hires through Manpower. When the staff was short in the newsroom during World War II, they were called in.

It was a male-dominated business when Miss Paffilas signed on in 1942, in the low-tech days of pencils, typewriters and hot metal type.

Hired at $23.50 a week as a clerk in the reference library, she tried to learn every job at the paper. She even learned how to operate the manual elevator.

Miss Paffilas became a cub reporter on the city desk. She later moved to the Woman's Department, where she became food writer, women's editor, and spent 10 years as the About Town columnist. She interviewed many greats, including baseball's Mickey Mantle and former. President Truman.

Bonar's favorite story was when John F. Kennedy was running for president and spoke at the Akron Armory.

"We were practically running down the street trying to get there, when Kennedy passed by us in the motorcade and winked at us," she said. "When we got to the Armory there was no way we were going to get through the crowd. But Polly whipped out her Women's City Club card, held it up high and elbowed her way in, shouting `Press, excuse me, press.'

"We didn't have press cards, but she managed to get us right up front. She was amazing.

Kent State University professor Tim Smith, a former managing editor at the Beacon Journal, said Polly had a great sense of humor and was very outspoken.

"She was a remarkable woman, uninhibited, frank and very candid in her food reviews."

He added: "She spared no one's feelings when it came to preparing food well. She had a lot of influence as a food writer."

And readers weren't shy about imposing on her when they needed help. One called her on a busy Thanksgiving morning to ask her how to stuff a turkey.

"She was the last of the newsroom icons that readers knew by name," said friend and colleague Joan Rice. "Polly got piles of mail She got so much mail, the compare had to hire a secretary to handle it -- the head of the department didn't even have a secretary!”

Readers remember the moving story she wrote about the death of her dog, Molly Brown.

And when she learned she had diabetes, she also shared it with her readers .

"There I was - March 31,1973 - a date I'll never forget - a middle aged, fat diabetic," she wrote. "Frightening thoughts crossed my mind."

She went on to lose 80 pounds and shared her expertise, strength and hope with readers.
Mentor to colleagues

But as food lost its appeal, she took over the social writer beat.

Food writer Jane Snow said Miss Paffilas was her mentor. "She was always available to help a young reporter. She was a tough old newswoman who started in this business before women were really accepted."

Snow added: "She'd walk through the newsroom in an elegant outfit and a big hat smoking a cigarette and barking orders, but behind that crusty exterior she was one of the most warm-hearted, friendliest people you'd ever want to meet."

Snow said when Miss Paffilas left she had stacks of recipes. Those recipes are being categorized by the Akron-Summit County Public Library and will be available in the special collections library at the main library.

"Polly was always fiercely proud of her Greek heritage and the food beat," said retired col-league Russ Musarra, who took the About Town mantle next.

"It was daunting following her on the social beat. Polly knew the town inside out, she grew up here and wrote about all these folks before she took the beat. I came in as a street kid from Cleveland with barely any social skills at all."
Proud of heritage

Miss Paffilas was born Aug. 8, 1921, in Parkersburg, W.Va., but lived in Akron all her life, attending Crosby Elementary School and graduating from West High School.

She was always proud to be a Greek, said her nephew, Steve Paffilas of Cleveland. "She was a very caring, giving, strong-willed, hard-working lady. She had a sense of order and was very meticulous."

He recalled his visits to Akron and all the great meals his aunt used to cook, especially the Greek food. She was caregiver to her parents, who came to Akron in the early 1900s.

A member of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Miss Paffiilas earned many writing and civic awards, including the prestigious John S. Knight award.

In 1980, Akron General Medical Center named a 20-bed facility for the treatment of diabetics in her honor for her tireless education efforts, both in print and as a member of the board of trustees of the Akron Diabetes Center.

She also started the Sugartown Express, a major diabetes fund-raiser.

Funeral service, calling hours
A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 129 S. Union St., Akron. Friends may call at the Billow funeral home in Fairlawn, 85 N. Miller Road, from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday and at the church one hour before the service Tuesday.

Memorials may be made to the American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 2680, North Canton, OH 44720 or the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Friday, May 27, 2005, page B1]

Polly K. Paffilas dies

Polly Paffilas died in her sleep this morning (Thursday, May 26, 5005) at her apartment in 900 W. Market St. She had suffered from complications of diabetes..

Calling hours, tentatively, will be Monday evening at Billows with services Tuesday at Greek Annunciation Church. Burial will be next to her parents at Rose Hill Burial Park.

Always thinking ahead, Polly wrote her own obit several years ago and last year had thje family plot re-groomed. Cat Harvey is already at his new home in country with a Polly friend as was pre-arranged

Obit will probably be in Akron Beacon Journal on Friday. Donations may be made to American Diabetes Association,1815 W Market St, Akron, 44313 Tel: (330) 835-3149

[Information is from Nancy (Yockey) Bonar]

Tales from the Seven Star *******

By Charlie Buffum
In the days when dinosaurs ruled journalism, the Beacon Journal was a strange land, filled with smoking wastebasket fires from careless smokers, and peopled with curious “Front Page” characters. Some of them, children, did not even have college degrees!

It was a time when the owner, John S. Knight, came to work every day, in a suit and tie, and actually cared about every word that appeared in his paper. His chief Allosaurus was Ben Maidenburg, who bullied and sneered but wasn’t above lending ten bucks to a needy printer or reporter when needed.

It was a time when Fran Murphey, who favored bib overalls, ran a half-column snapshot of a circus in her “Around Town” column and regularly climbed into the back of her cluttered car in the BJ parking lot to catch a 4 a.m. nap after writing a column all night.

Speaking of women journalists, it was not very distant from the time that the newspaper’s distaff legend, Helen Waterhouse, in her 80s, had rushed to cover a raid on a mismanaged old folks home in the Portage Hotel. On the elevator going to the scene, one of the assistant DAs turned to the wispy-haired, disheveled Waterhouse and asked, “How are they treating you here?” Witnesses say she sputtered for weeks over that one. But Helen is a story for others to tell.

Anyway, children, at this golden time, there was a young man named Bill Berger.

Bill, now departed, had a ‘40s pompadour haircut that he retained throughout life. He had served in World War II as a Marine Corps “airdale,” the back-seat gunner in a lumbering torpedo plane in the Pacific. He once almost shot off his own tail, he claims, but being an airdale, he missed. He was later recalled to almost single-handedly win the Korean War, too.

Berger was for many years the BJ’s cop-shop reporter. He got so close to the police that he was considered one of them by both the cops and the editors. But he was always conscientious. (For his journalistic reward, he ended up handling Soap Box Derbies and Spelling Bees for the Promotion Department. Ah, meritocracies… But that’s another story, too.)

Bill was a great practical joker. He had a desk and typewriter at the Police Station, outside the Detective Bureau. The detectives, headed by a jolly guy named Carroll Cutright, once decided to give Berger some of his own medicine. They taped a dead fish under his desk. For days, Bill couldn’t figure it out. When he finally did, his first thought was, “Don’t get mad; get even.”

Cutright was a natty dresser, sort of the sartorial equivalent of former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Hank Stramm. Cutright had a new fedora hat of which he was very proud, Bill noted, and his retaliation plot was hatched.

Every day, Berger carefully folded a strip of toilet paper and slipped it inside the hat’s headband, adding a strip a day. As a result, Cutright’s hat rode higher and higher on his head. He knew something was “fishy,” but couldn’t figure it out. It went on until the chapeau was set precariously high on the Chief Detective’s head and a strip search was indicated. They didn’t mess with Berger again.

Another time, a cop who didn’t trust the practical jokers hanging around the station decided to lock and park his brand-new car in a parking lot across from the BJ, rather than keep it near the Police Station. Bill found out. It was winter, and at the time when computers were coming in, and IBM punch cards were in vogue. Bill collected piles of the little punch-card confetti pieces.

With the help of two police accomplishes, he went to the parking lot and, after flashing badges, the cops used master keys to open the new car. Bill carefully fed the confetti into the car’s windshield defroster vents. He and the cops hid by a BJ window to watch.

The victim cop came to the parking lot, looked around, unlocked his car, and got in. A puff of blue smoke as the engine started. Next, the driver turned on the defroster. This was clear because the inside of the new car immediately looked like one of those snow globes, shaken, not stirred.

As Bill told it, the cop jumped out of his car, drew his pistol, and screamed. He demanded to know from the lot owner how this happened, and the conspirators saw the poor operator wave his hands, obviously explaining that “It was the police!” The guy started looking around for the culprits. “If he could have found us right then, he might have shot us,” Bill laughed, clearly without remorse.

Ah, journalism. How could people like that put out such a damn good paper, one that people actually read … and believed?

McEaneney hired by AkronWatch.org

Retired BJ reporter Dennis McEananey has been hired as the leg man for AkronWatch.org which will bird-dog the City of Akron’s spending habits.

Retired steel fabricator Larry L. Parker launched the site on April 29 and reported 27,000 hits in the first six days. The site says the city has “squandered millions of taxpayer dollars on so-called economic development projects over the last 25 years. He hired McEnaney to prowl city hall and check public records. The site targets city debt which exceeded $500 million in December for work past and present on Canal Park, the expressway, the Inventors Hall of Fame and the John S. Knight Center.

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellicd told reporters Wednesday that Parker is a liar who is wasting his money rehashing old issues.

Click on the headline to check out the site.

Dismantling the old BJ clock tower

Beacon Journal columnist Bob Dyer reports on the dismantling of the BJ clock tower in a story in the newspaper on Thursday, May, 19, 2005 on page B1. The huge tower will be lowered to the street next week and given to renowned junkyard artist P. R. Miller and trucked to his workplace at 414 N. Howard St.

Miller will give dozens of floodlight bulbs to Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts for use in a student project. The big red plastic BJ letters will go to Bob “BJ” Jones, owner of Business Interiors and Environments on S. Broadway. Miller will then strip any parts he needs for a public art project. Whatever he does not use will go to Annaco Co., a scrap metal company on Hazel Street. Annaco then will write a check for $1,000 to United Way. BJ officials originally thought the tower was made of stainless steel worth $1,500 to $2,000, but only the outer covering is stainless and the inside galvanized so the actual value is somewhere between $400 and $750,

Robert W. Leitch dies

Robert Leitch

Robert W. Leitch, 89, a loving husband, father, and grandfather, passed away Sunday, May 15, 2005, after a short ill ness. He was born in Akron on Sept. 9, 1915, to William and Albertine Leitch. Robert graduated from Ellet High School, served as a captain in the Army during World War II, and retired from the Akron Beacon Journal in 1985 after more than 50 years of service. He was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Akron Typographical Union, and volunteered for many years for the Akron Civic Theater. He was preceded in death by his wives, Virginia in 1997, and Jean in 2003. He is survived by his daughter, Amy (Frank) Beverly; stepdaughter, Susan (Gary) Zimmerman; grandchildren, Kurt Arnold IV, Laura (Brian) Hall, Zak Arnold, Ryan and Cory Zimmerman, Derek, Joshua, Allisonn, and Alesha Beverly; sister-in-law, Vivian (Dick) Lindenberger; nephews, Rick (Toni) and Jeffery (Margaret) Lindenberger. Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. SUNDAY, May 22, 2005, at the Billow FAIRLAWN Chapel, 85 N. Miller Rd. Funeral
services will be at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 23, in the Mausoleum Chapel at Rose Hill Burial Park on West Market Street in Fairlawn. (Billow FAIRLAWN Chapel, 330-867-4141.)
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Thursday, May 19, 2005, page6, col. 5]

Costello to get stent for heart problem

Retired composing room printer John Costello will have at least one stent and possible two put in place next week because of blockage. John, who had a double heart bypass in 1990, said he passed a stress test just fine in April but later he became short of breath so he went in earlier this week for a heart catherization when the blockage was discoverd. He is to see his family doctor on Monday and cardiologist on Tuesday.
(Stents are metal devices that are placed permanently inside an artery to help keep it open.)

Audrey swinging the bat for Walsh

Audrey Hoiles, one of my three young visitors in times past (See Jan 2 post), is making news on the sports pages again.

Audrey hit a double and a triple in the 17-0 Walsh Jesuit softball win over East High on Monday in the first district finals at Kent State. The Walsh Warriors are the defending Diviision II champion.

Audrey is the daughter of BJ attorney Karen (Chuparkoff) Lefton and retired BJ reporter Bob Hoiles.

Zippy beckons students to McDonald's

Zippy is 7 feet tall, made from recycled stainless steel

This photo has nothing to do with the Beacon Journal, but former employees and retirees will remember Zippy as the mascot of the University of Akron. The giant stainless steel Zippy is now beckoning students from the corner of the new MacDonald’s restaurant at 246 E. Exchange St. in the university area.

Zippy is made of recycled stainless steel and is seven feet tall. He stands on a pedestal which is about 5 feet tall so he rises 12 feet into the skyline. Zippy is the creation of local artist John Comunale who operates from his studio at Communal Structural Concepts which he started in 1991. The studio is on the sixth floor of Canal Place, the old B.F. Goodrich complex at 540 S. Main St., Akron,

The idea for Zippy came from John Blickle, president of Heidman Inc., a local McDonald’s franchisee who knows Comunale from grade school. He had seen other pieces done by Comunale and asked him if he could fashion Zippy. Zippy actually is made from old McDonald’s stainless steel work stations and restaurant equipment.

Zippy and similar creations by Comunale start with a stainless steel wire skeleton. Comunale then cuts pieces of stainless he fits over the skeleton and welds and hammers into place. He used UA’s newer Zippy logo as a model.

Comunale, now 54, graduated from Firestone High School in 1968 and attended Ohio State University and the University of Akron. He has done everything from custom work for home and restaurant interiors including gates, railings, brackets, tabletops and light fixtures. He spent a number of years in North Carolina working as a carpenter and sculptor on movie sets for such films as Mr. Destiny, A Few Good Men, The Last of the Mohicans and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle film.

Work by Comunale includes a stainless steel bull he did for the Rib Doctor, a barbecue vendor, a giant steel cockroach climbing up an exterior wall of TNT Exterminating, a clock outside the historic Everett building downtown and a big stainless steel catfish at Furnace and Howard streets..

Projects in the works include one for Omicron Delta Kappa honorary society in the Student Union which will show five birds soaring with trailing ribbons that flow through the ODK logo. He also is making a sign for a coffee shop called Mocha Maiden that will open on Maiden Lane.

Changes on BJ Business Desk

Notes from the inside on changes in the BJ Business Desk:

Business Editor Steve Berta left the Beacon Journal on May 8 to accept a position as A.M.E. Businsss of the Indianapolis Star. David Hertz, who has been working in Metro, has become interim business editor. Deputy business editor Dave Scott has gone back to reporting in the business department and business reporter John Russell is the new deputy. Likely successor to Berta is Mitch McKenney, deputy metro editor.

Elbert Starks III, who also left the newsroom staff on May 8, is going back to college to get a teaching degree. He said he couldn't be a student and work at ``big'' paper like BJ, but can do it back home in Fort Wayne, IN., which is paper he came from. He also has some elderly family members there.

Revolving BJ tower gone forever

BJ tower under construction: May 12, 2005

The revolving BJ clock tower is gone forever. In its place will be a concrete tower with a stationary time and temperature display on four sides and a wrap-around LCD message board for streaming news, announcements and–if a zoning variance is approved–advertisements. The old sign had 12-foot tall plastic letters. The 26-foot-tall, 4,800-pound stainless steel top is now lying on the roof of the building. It will be given away or carted off to the scrap yard where the scrap would sell for $1,500 to $2,000. The new tower will be 15 feet shorter than the last one, peaking at 105 feet above the sidewalk. The new tower will resemble the original 1930 tower. Changes from the original were made in 1939, 1935 and 1966. The new tower should be in place by mid-summer.

Columnist Bob Dyer writes about it in a piece on page B1 of the Beacon Journal on Thursday, May 12, 2005. Accompanying the story is a sketch of how the new tower will look.

Click on the headline to see it.

Gleaned from Hot Type

United Way Award goes to BJ
The Akron Beacon Journal was this year’s recipient of United Way’s Spirit of Caring Award. The award was presented in gratitude for the newspaper’s outstanding support of United Way and year-round commitment to the community. The Akron Beacon Journal donated nearly $184,000 to the 2004 campaign through employee pledges, special events, matching funds and corporate contributions. Publisher Jim Crutchfield was community campaign chair.

Circulation and ad revenue (Period 4 through Week 5)
Daily circulation down 3,767 from same period 2004. Total daily 141,991
Sunday circulation down 9,089 from same period 2004. Total Sunday 176,778
Ad revenue up 5.7 percentd fxrom same period 2004

Moving on
Steven Berta and Elbert Starks III, newsroom, left the company May 8.
Patrick Bryant, advertising, left the company May 9.

Condolences
To Jane Hecht, administration, on death of her mother, Evona Danner, May 5.
To Michael Marcus, creative technical services, on death of his wife, Linda, on May 4.
To Neil Page, circulation, on death of his mother, Kleda K. Page, on May 4.
To Sue Reynolds, newsroom, on death of her brother, William K. Probert, on April 29.
To Dave Wilson, newsroom, on the death of his father, Lee C. Wilson, on May 4.

Death
Donna Schmid, who retired from finance in 1980 with 36 years of service, died April 18.

Emil Hartman dies

Emil Hartman


STOW-- Emil W. Hartman, 64, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and uncle, went home to be with the Lord on May 4, 2005.

Living in Stow for 36 years, he enjoyed working at the Akron Beacon Journal for his first career, and was a mentor and teacher of ASL at Kent State University for his second career. He was an avid member and president for numerous years of the Akron Club of the Deaf. He was also actively involved with AAAD, CAAD, CAD, and enjoyed golf.

Preceded in death by his parents, George and Mary, he is survived by his wife of 43 years, Barbara J.; daughters, Debbie Hartman Bell (Jon) of Stow, Lynn Hartman Oblisk (Brett) of Stow; grandchildren, Brittany and Hannah Bell, Jeffery, Justin, and Nicky Oblisk; twin brother and sister-in-law, Earl and Barbara Ann Hartman of Tallmadge; and many nieces and nephews.

Pastor Eloy Pacheco will conduct services Monday, 6 p.m., at Redmon Funeral Home, where friends may call from 3 p.m. until service time. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the family in care of Redmon Funeral Home. (RED MON, STOW, 330-688-6631.)
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Sunday, May 8, 2005 ]

Phila News podcast makes debut

PHILADELPHIA, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Philadelphia Daily News announced the creation of a continuing series of podcasts to debut on Friday, May 6.

"If you ever wondered what the Philadelphia Daily News would sound like, what it would be like if it was an audio show, this is your chance," said Frank Burgos, Editorial Page Editor of the Daily News.

The paper announced the debut of PhillyFeed, a program of news, on-the-street interviews, original music, sports talk and other material that can be found every Friday at http://www.phillyfeed.com. "This is stuff we could NEVER print in the paper," said Burgos.

A podcast is a self-created audio program made available to the public through the Internet as MP3 music files. Those files can be played on portable MP3 players such as iPods and on desktop computers. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, about 22 million U.S. adults now own an iPod or other type of MP3 player and 29 percent of them have downloaded a podcast program.

"Millions of people are turning to podcasts as an alternative to radio and other traditional media sources," said Burgos. "We see this as an exciting opportunity to present news, commentary and music you won't hear on other podcasts or radio programs."

PhillyFeed will be hosted by Burgos and Eric Mayberry, Daily News advertising executive. Various Daily News staff members will discuss stories they've worked on, and newsmakers, sports figures and others found in the paper every day will be interviewed. There will also be comments by experts on various subjects.

PhillyFeed can be downloaded at http://www.phillyfeed.com and will be
updated every Friday.

Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc, is a division of Knight Ridder (NYSE: KRI) the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with products in print and online. The company publishes 31 daily newspapers in 28 U.S. markets, with a readership of 9.0 million daily and 12.7 million Sunday. Knight Ridder also has investments in a variety of Internet and technology companies and two newsprint companies. The company's Internet operation, Knight Ridder Digital, develops and manages the company's online properties. It is the founder and operator of Real Cities (http://www.RealCities.com), the largest national network of city and regional Web sites in more than 105 U.S. markets. Knight Ridder and Knight Ridder Digital are headquartered in San Jose, Calif.
SOURCE Philadelphia Daily News
Web Site: http://www.phillyfeed.com http://www.philly.com

Knight Ridder Watch is new web site

A new substance abuse policy is being introduced at the Beacon Journal. You can get the details and download the policy at a great new web site called Knight Ridder Watch.

Knight Ridder Watch is a project of the Knight Ridder Council, a coalition of union locals representing employees at Knight Ridder newspapers. Council members welcome the participation of Knight Ridder employees who are not represented by unions to participate in the Council or to become part of the Council's e-mail list. Contact:: knightriddercouncil@knightridderwatch.org

You can click on the headline above to go to the site, but you also might want to save the url as a bookmark or favorite.

http://www.knightridderwatch.org/

Here is a notice from Paula Schleis to Akron Guild members:

May 4, 2005

Guild members,
We have concluded negotiations on a new drug and alcohol policy the company plans to submit. This policy is not a contractual provision, but because it does involve a change in working conditions the company is required to give us the chance to offer input.
The guild's negotiating team of Mark Davis, Kathy Antoniotti, Jim Mackinnon, Paula Schleis and Rollie Dreussi met with the company on four occasions, and we're pleased to report that the company agreed we had much to offer.

Nearly all of the guild's suggested changes were accepted. For instance, the company dropped language that would discipline an employee for merely possessing alcohol on company property, beefed up language on what constitutes the kind of "reasonable suspicion" that would prompt drug testing, and eliminated language that treated over-the-counter medication the same as prescription or illegal substances.

This policy is NOT IN EFFECT until the company gives you a copy. What is posted here is where the policy stood when guild negotiations concluded. Because the company intends the policy to be implemented building wide, they were also seeking input from other representatives.

Also note, and this is very important, that where the policy conflicts with our contract,
OUR CONTRACT TAKES PRECEDENCE.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Paula

Newspaper circulation drops 1.9 percent

Circulation fell 1.9 percent at major U.S. newspapers in the six-month period ending in March, an industry group reported Monday, May 2, 2005, marking one of the worst declines in recent years.

Newspaper circulation reached a recent peak in 1984 but has been declining steadily over the past decade as other forms of media compete for the attention of readers, including cable television and the Internet.

The Newspaper Association of America, a Vienna, Va.-based industry group, reported that average daily paid circulation declined 1.9 percent in the most recent reporting period for the 814 newspapers reporting comparable data to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Average Sunday circulation for the 643 newspapers reporting those figures fell 2.5 percent.

Both were wider than the declines of 0.9 percent in daily circulation and 1.5 percent in Sunday sales in the previous six months reported by the Audit Bureau, a circulation reporting group based in Schaumburg, Ill.

Gannett Co.'s USA Today remained the top-selling paper in the nation, according to the Audit Bureau, with total paid circulation edging up 0.05 percent to 2,281,831. The Wall Street Journal fell 0.8 percent to 2,070,498. The New York Times rose 0.24 percent to 1,136,433, and Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times's daily circulation, including Saturdays, fell 6.5 percent to 907,997.

Other major papers posting significant declines included the Chicago Tribune, the flagship paper of Tribune Co., whose daily circulation fell 6.6 percent to 573,744. Hearst Corp.'s San Francisco Chronicle fell 6.1 percent to 468,739.

Despite the long-term erosion in paid circulation, major newspaper companies have continued to produce profit gains, largely thanks to advertising rate increases, and newspaper stocks have held up relatively well.

Over the past five years shares of major publishers like Gannett, Tribune and Knight Ridder Inc. have outperformed the S&P 500 index, with the exception of Dow Jones & Co., which has been dragged down by a prolonged drought of financial and technology advertising at The Wall Street Journal.

Click on the headline to read the full story in Business Week.

Or search on:"newspaper ciirculation" with your browser for stories from many publ;ications.

Giffen's adult league hits grand slam

Former Beacon Journal Sports Editor Tom Giffen has turned an avocation for pickup baseball games into a lucrative profession. Giffen, 57, is in his 13th year as the owner of Roy Hobbs Baseball, a national organization that provides formal competition for adult men and women in the sport. In 2005, its membership will consist of about 400 teams spread across virtually every state.

BJ sports writer Tom Gaffney tells the story in a Community Extra story titled “Adult League hits grand slam” in the Beacon Journal on Sunday, May 1, 2005.

in 1990, Giffen spearheaded what was to become a four-team league of adult men playing out of Akron. The following year, the league grew to 11 teams and joined Roy Hobbs Baseball, which was then owned by Ron Monks of California.

Then on New Year's Eve in 1992 Monk sold Roy Hobbs Baseball to Giffen and his wife, Ellen, for an undisclosed amount.

For several years, Giffen ran Roy Hobbs Baseball out of his basement and continued to work at the Beacon Journal. In the mid-1990s, the organization began to bring in more and more teams and the scope truly took on a national feel. That was when he resigned from the newspaper to work full time at his business

Roy Hobbs, by the way, is the fictional hero of Bernard Malamud's novel, “The Natural.” Robert Redford played the lead role in the movie of the same name.

To read Gaffney’s piece, click on the headline above.

For more information on Roy Hobbs, call 330-923-3400 or go to the Web site at
www.royhobbs.com

Here's BJ's new freebie 77 South

The new BJ tabloid first edition

Here’'s the first issue (April 28, 2995) of the BJ freebie weekly tabloid 77 South, serving Lakemore, New Franklin, Springfield, Coventry, Green and Manchester. The BJ announced the publication when the Leader which has long served the area said it would cease publication. Later the publisher decided to continue, so there is now a little competition there.

77 South got off to a rousing start with a front cover column by Steve Love and a story by BJ staffer Stephanie Warsmith on the Green Schools levy on the May ballot. There also was a color ad spread across the bottom for Beiler’'s Dutch Penn Market in Uniontown. Inside was a welcome letter by managing editor Mike Burdich and an impressive staff box listing Charlene Nevada, news; Bill Lilley, sports; and Kimberly Barth, photography. Ralph Paulk and David Lee Morgan each had a byline and George Davis, BJ retiree, had three. There was a double-truck color ad from Bedrooms Today and two full-page ads by Fred Martin Chevrolet plus three pages of classified.and 16 or so other ads and a couple of promotion ads in the 24 pages. There were 15 news stories

The South Side News Leader, sitting on the same store shelf, had six news stories and four photos on its front page and 24 items inside its 20 pages. There were more than 50 small ads and three pages of classified , but no full-page or double-trucks. There was one ad seeking freelance reporters for the Leader.

As profit rises, Pulitzer wins decrease

There is an interesting Q&A with Davis “Buzz” Merritt in the CJR Daily, web counterpart of the Columbia Journalism Review. Merritt contrasts winning of Pulitzer prizes vs. profit margins which indicates when profit goes up, the number of Pulitzers won decreases. Merritt retired in 1999 after 43 years working for Knight Ridder, including 23 years as editor of the Wichita Eagle. Over those years, he watched as the news business generally, and Knight Ridder specifically, became increasingly driven by the bottom line. Earlier this month, his book about this change, Knightfall: Knight Ridder and How the Erosion of Newspaper Journalism is Putting Democracy at Risk was published by AMACOM.

The Q&A below was by CJR Daily staff writer Susan Q. Stranahan who worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer, a Knight Ridder paper, from 1972 until 2001.

SQS: In the book, you compare the number of Pulitzer Prizes won by Knight Ridder papers with profit margins recorded. As profits went up, prizes went down.

BM: First of all, we know that politics sometimes influences who wins a Pulitzer. That said, here are the numbers: In the decade of the 80s, what I call the Big Five -- the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and AP won 26 percent of the 136 Pulitzers awarded. Knight Ridder newspapers won 23 percent, and all other newspapers won 51 percent. Between 2000 and 2004 [with 70 Pulitzers], the Big Five won 60 percent, Knight Ridder 6 percent and all others 34 percent. During the 80s, the operating return at Knight Ridder averaged 11 percent. Between 2000 and 2004, the operating return averaged 19 percent.

As soon as Knight Ridder began to reach into 18-20 percent [profit margins], they virtually stopped winning. This is ominous, and not just for Knight Ridder. The Big Five are relatively protected from market forces, except for AP, which is a different category. The numbers aren't just the decline in Knight Ridder's performance. The scary thing is that all other newspapers also are being hurt [by profit pressures]. It doesn't prove anything, but it is interesting to look at.

To read the complete interview, click on the headline above.

Medical coverage

I've gotten an email that some folks are having trouble with their KR medical coverage. Has anyone gotten different, worse coverage in 2005 compared to previous years? I know that some of us who retired after 1996 are more susceptible to coverage changes than others. But if something serious is going on, we'll need to get to the Guild folks in Cleveland to see what can be done about it. I have only had prescription refills and there are no changes in that ($2 co-pay) once the January flurry of errors was straightened out. But I haven't had anything, fortunately, involving doctors except what Medicare covered.

Debbie Van Tassel named Assistant ME

Debbie Van Tassel has been appointed assistant managing editor/administration for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. She has been business editor since 1999.

Before going to the The Plain Dealer, Van Tassel was business editor, special-projects editor and Sunday magazine editor at the Akron Beacon Journal. She also was business editor at the Seattle Times. Three projects she worked on won Pulitzer prizes.

A New Jersey native, she graduated from Seton Hall University and began her journalism career at the now-defunct Woodbridge, N.J., News Tribune. She and her husband, Stuart Warner, a Plain Dealer editor, live in Hudson.

Paul O'Donnell has been named the new business editor, Managing Editor Tom O'Hara announced..

O'Donnell previously was deputy metro editor. He is a 24-year veteran of the news business and has worked at The Plain Dealer since 1990. He begins his new job Monday.

"Debbie and Paul did great work in their previous jobs, and they'll continue to excel in their new assignments," O'Hara said. "Both of them are pros."

O'Donnell takes over a talented staff who thrived under Van Tassel and her assistant editors, O'Hara said.

Debbie replaces Ted Diadiun, the paper's new reader representative.

BJ to launch weekly 77/South

On Thursday, April 28, the first issue of 77 South, the Akron Beacon Journal’s foray into weekly publications, will reach more than 26,000 households in Green, Coventry, Lakemore, Manchester, New Franklinand Springfield. The name, 77 South, refers to the interstate highway that passes through the weekly publication’s circulation area and plays off the fact that Summit County is No. 77 of Ohio’s 88 counties. 77 South will compete head to head with the Suburbanite, which is owned by La Jolla, Calif.-based Copley Press Inc., the parent company of the Canton Repository. Suburbanite officials announced April 4 that the weekly newspaper would cease publishing with its April 25 issue. By April 9, Copley officials had reversed that decision, announcing that the
Suburbanite would continue publishing on a paid-subscription basis or under new ownership. Within two days of the April 4 announcement that the Suburbanite would close, key managers at the Akron Beacon Journal decided to launch 77 South, a weekly publication that would serve the same area as the Suburbanite. The Beacon Journal will move forward with that decision, said Publisher Jim Crutchfield, despite the April 9 announcement of the Copley Press.In a related development, Leader Publications, parent company of the Green Leader, announced plans to expand its coverage into southern Summit County May 6. “77 South will strengthen our competitive advantage in that segment of the community,ö said Editor Debra Adams Simmons. The Beacon Journal newsroom will coordinate news for 77 South with help from correspondents. Beacon Journal advertising representatives will handle advertising sales.”7 South will bring accuracy, fairness and credibility to coverage,” said John Kovatch, vice president/finance and administration, “qualities that some readers say are missing in other weeklies.” Staff members in advertising and marketing have been preparing sales materials and advertising contracts and calling on potential advertisers. Staff members in other areas are pounding out the plans for news and information on a cross divisional task force headed by Kovatch and Andrea Mathewson, production director. ”We expect the newspaper to have the voice of the southern Summit County communities,” said Crutchfield. 77 South will be distributed free to homes, schools, libraries and other community locations.
[Reprinted from Hot Type]

Three win Dotson scholarships

Three students won John and Peggy Dotson Scholarships for school year 2005-2006. They are: Anna Springer, daughter of Bob Springer, newsroom editorial; Monica Taylor, daughter of Jeffrey Taylor, production; and Rebecca Vicars, daughter of John Vicars, information technology. Anna Springer is a senior at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, where she has pursued a college preparatory advanced placement education. Monica Taylor is a senior at Central-Hower High School, where she has studied a wide range of college preparatory classes, including honors, advanced placement and post-secondary courses.Rebecca Vicars is a senior at Wadsworth High School, where she has pursued a college preparatory and gifted student program, including advanced placement courses in history, local government and economics. Rebecca is considering a career in social work. She will attend the University of Akron in the fall.
[Reprinted from Hot Type]

Bloom's art quilts on display till May 1

Connie Bloom, BJ newsroom features, is the guest artist in a one-person show at Weathervane Community Playhouse, 1301 Weathervane Lane in Akron. Twenty of Bloom's art quilts will be on display now through May 1 in the Banc One Gallery. The theater is open during regular business hours Monday through Friday and during performances of The Allergist's Wife, which opened Wednesday, April 13.
[Reprinted from Hot Type]

The post-journalism age

The age of big media may be over for good
(A George Will Column in the BJ Tuesday, April 26, 2005)
The circulation of daily U. S. newspapers is 55.2 million, down from 62.3 million in 1990. The percentages of adults who say they read a paper “yesterday” are ominous: 65 and older, 60 per cent; 50-64, 52 per cent; 30-49, 29 per cent; 18-29, 23 per cent; Americans 8 to 18 spend an average of six hours and 21 minutes a day with all media of all sorts, but just 43 minutes with print, The combine viewership of the network evening newscasts is 28.8 million, down from 52.1 million in 1980. Hence the sponsorship of Metamucil and Fixodent. Perhaps we are entering what David T. Z. Mindich, formerly of CNN, calls a post-journalism age.”

Newsroom ranks keep dwindling
(News Round-up in the Guild Reporter, April 15,2005)
As go newspaper circulation numbers, so go the numbers in the newsroom, according go the latest census of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the number of full-time journalists declined 4 per cent over the past four years, to 54,134 from 56,383 in 2001.

How profit became king. Books on KR

New books on Knight Ridder

Two new books by Knight Ridder veterans examine how the company -- and the industry -- demoted journalism from first to second among their priorities.

The here-and-now hot topic in newspapers these days is, as Richard Reeves has put it, "the future of journalism -- if any."

Read an excerpt from "Knightfall" by Davis Merritt:
After the book (about public journalism) was published and I returned to the Eagle in 1995, my world was totally changed. Jim Batten, who had been the rock behind KR's support for public journalism as well as a great friend, was dying.

Read an excerpt from "The Vanishing Newspaper" by Phil Meyer:
In (Knight Rider CEO's Alvah) Chapman's view, Wall Street's preoccupation with quarterly earnings growth was not all bad. "There's some discipline there that a well-managed business needs to be aware of at least to protect itself....
Worthy questions all. But the companion story of how newspapers may have weakened themselves by weakening their commitment to news and public service remains highly relevant. It was not so very long ago -- the 1970s and 1980s -- that a high-minded commitment to quality and business success seemed entirely compatible. The Knight-Ridder chain was exemplary back then, a coast-to-coast enterprise that grew and prospered and consistently produced first-rate journalism.

What has gone wrong since is chronicled in Phil Meyer's "The Vanishing Newspaper" and Buzz Merritt's "Knightfall." The excerpts here go straight to the time the troubles began, the recession of 1990-91 and the prosperous, but oddly pressured, balance of that decade.

The perspectives are quite different. Meyer, who left the business for scholarly pursuits 20-plus years ago, stylishly weaves personal memoir and a perspective on industry history into a series of empirical studies of news quality and business results. Merritt, who has a hand in academia too as a practitioner and theorist of public journalism, is first of all an impassioned in-the-trenches editor. While seeking to avoid nostalgia or score-settling, he can't conceal being frankly teed off at what happened to the company and the newspaper (The Wichita Eagle) where he spent his career.

There is overlap in the accounts. Meyer quotes Merritt on the jolt to Knight Ridder editorial culture when the beloved Jim Batten died and was succeeded by the comparatively frosty Tony Ridder. They don't paint Ridder as a callous villain but argue that he has been unable to articulate an engaged commitment to journalism in the language of the editorial side.

Merritt's account of his final wrenching round of budget cuts at Wichita ends with a decision to discontinue service to 10,000 subscribers in outlying rural areas. That made business sense since advertisers didn't particularly value this readership, but it was a giveaway of the statewide influence The Eagle had built through the years. That matches a favorite Meyer theory -- that the true product of newspapers is influence, and they fritter it away at their peril.

* * *
It should be noted that both books cover a broader turf than these excerpts might suggest.

Meyer's, in particular, is a rich collection of studies that suggest how quality and commitment of resources have eroded over the years, leaving newspapers with plenty of profit but a straight downward trend in circulation and trust.

His studies show a clear correlation between measures of quality and capacity and business success. The trouble is that the relationship appears to be a reinforcing loop in which causation is hard to nail down. It may be, in many cases, as executives and publishers will say privately, that successful papers, especially in growing markets, can simply "afford" a somewhat higher level of journalism.

Further, the evidence suggests that small differences in journalistic quality and news-editorial investment don't make a quick or meaningful difference to the bottom line. It is big departures from the norm, especially in competitive situations -- like those Knight-Ridder approved for The Fort Worth Star Telegram when it was directly challenged by The Dallas Morning News -- that pay off in territorial control and increased revenue.

So the temptation for newspapers companies is to pinch and whittle on news staff and news space. Understandable, maybe, but Meyer doesn't give the executive fraternity a free ride for a collective strategy that is destructive of the core of the newspaper -- its daily report and the influence a good one exerts in a community and confers on advertisers.

The chapter, "How Newspapers Were Captured by Wall Street," points to the element of voluntary surrender as companies chose to go public, either as a device to preserve family control with two classes of stock or to raise a pool of cash for acquisitions. Crusty patriarch Jack Knight told analysts at his first meeting with them in 1981 that "we did not intend to be regulated or directed by them in any respect." But as analysts often point out, you voluntarily join the Wall Street game, you're exposed to the rules of the game, and you're competing for capital with all the other players.

Perhaps the business had been too easy for too long. As Meyer's capsule account of Alvah Chapman's tenure as Knight-Ridder CEO suggests, smooth sailing continued on well into the public ownership era. But when times got tougher newspaper companies went right on "harvesting" available profits; to this day only a minority have been gutsy enough to reinvest in the core franchise or nimble enough to create substantive new media spin-offs.

Merritt tells a version of the same story with a bit less shading and a minimum of theory. He holds up Knight-Ridder as the industry in microcosm, ending up in an unhappy present and future, where places like Wichita get little by way of public service and newspapers are in partial default on their traditional role in informing the democratic process. (Ridder conceded as much at an industry conference a year ago. Asked how he would grade his company's newspapers on public service, he replied, "Some of our larger papers have the resources to do a lot more, but I would say it wouldn't be any higher than a C").

The big point is valid, timely and troubling -- who will do the tough stories and complicated reporting if newspapers don't? Still, many of Merritt's readers, including the legions of Knight-Ridder alumni, will find the spicy particulars of the company history especially engaging. Merritt's research uncovered the disorderly collection of "duchies" that was the Ridder empire pre-merger and the reasons the Knight brothers failed to build a controlling class of family shares into their public offering.

The books end in a very similar place -- the authors expressing a confidence that there will somehow be a continuing market for journalism in electronic formats supported by business models to be determined. The languid pace of book publishing leaves both authors trailing events. The story has ripened in the year since these manuscripts headed into the editing pipeline, and the threat to a traditional newspaper business model and hold on readership is all the more apparent with a host of identifiable non-newspaper protagonists. To my mind, though, that only makes the question Meyer and Merritt pose all the more urgent: doesn't the industry have a more compelling story to tell and invest in than continued profit-taking?

Connie Schultz wins Pulitzer prize

Connie Schulz

When the Beacon Journal reported on April 5 that Connie Schultz won the Pulitzer prize there was no mention of the fact that her prize-winning work was edited by Stuart Warner, a former BJ managing editor who now coaches writers at the PD.

Here is Connie's Pulitzer biography:

Connie Schultz, 47, is a columnist at The Plain Dealer. She was a freelance writer for 15 years before joining The Plain Dealer in 1993. Schultz grew up in the working-class town of Ashtabula, Ohio, near Cleveland. She was the first in her family to go to college, and graduated with a journalism degree from Kent State University in 1979.

She was a 2003 Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing for her series, "The Burden of Innocence," which chronicled the ordeal of Michael Green, who was imprisoned for 13 years for a rape he did not commit. The week after her series ran, the real rapist turned himself in after reading her stories. He is currently service a five-year prison sentence.

Schultz's series won numerous honors, including the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Social Justice Reporting, the National Headliner Award's Best of Show and journalism awards from both Harvard and Columbia universities.

She previously won a National Headliner Award (third place) for commentary and was an American Society of Newspaper Editors finalist for commentary, which resulted in the publication of one of her essays, about a girl's coming to terms with her homosexuality, in the book "2002 Best Newspaper Writing."

Last year, Schultz won the Batten Medal, which honors "a body of journalistic work that reflects compassion, courage, humanity and a deep concern for the underdog."

Schultz is married to Sherrod Brown and is the mother of two children and two stepdaughters.

BJ to limit sick days

Beginning Jan. 1, 2006, Knight Ridder will be implementing a new policy stating that staff members may use only the vacation and sick days they have accrued. The current policy at the Akron Beacon Journal allows staff members to ôborrow ô up to two weeks of vacation with the approval of management. KR is making the change to accommodate a new payroll time-keeping process that will be administered by Fidelity, KRAs payroll vendor, at all Knight Ridder newspapers. To the extent a collective bargaining agreement is contrary to the new practice, the policy will have no
application to the employees covered by that contract. To prepare for the conversion, Beacon Journal staff members must show positive balances in their vacation and sick-time ôbankö by Dec. 31, 2005. Employees who need assistance calculating their vacation and sicktime balances should contact Aaron Burr, human resources.
[Info from Hot Type]

Edna G. Morgan dies at 86

Edna G. Morgan

Edna G. Morgan (Unkie), 86, passed away in her sleep at the Arbors of Fairlawn.

Born in Pennsylvania, Edna lived most of her life in the Akron area. Edna served as a WAC during World War II. She retired from the Akron Beacon Journal in 1984, after many years of dedicated service. She was known as "Miss Carr" in the Automobile Classified Department.

Edna was preceded in death by her parents, Frank L. and Esther M. Morgan; her sisters and brothers, Lois Mallison, Jean, Frank Jr., and Jim Morgan. She is survived by niece, Deborah (Daniel) Ellebuch; nephews, Jeffery (Karen) Mallison, Timothy Mallison, Floyd Mallison, and Jay (Kelly) Mallison. She also leaves several great-and great-great-nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Monday, April 25, 2005 at Adams-Mason Funeral Home, 791 E. Market St., Akron, at 11 A.M. The family will receive friends on Sunday, April 24th from 4 to 6 p.m. at the funeral home. Interment will be at Rose Hill Burial Park. Donations may be made in her name to the charity of your choice. (ADAMS- MASON, 330-535-9186.)

[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Wednesday, April 20, 2005, page B7, col. 1]

Charlotte Earll dies

Charlotte Earll

Charlotte M. Earll

Charlotte Maxine Earll, 77, died April 11, 2005, in the loving hands of Hospice Care.

Born July 24, 1927, she lived her first 28 years in Washington, Iowa; 10 of those years were spent employed as a linotype operator at the Washington Evening Journal. In 1955, Charlotte relocated to Akron, where she spent 34 1/2 years working at the Beacon Journal. Before retiring in 1990, she was a linotype operator, proofreader, and compositor.

An active member of High Street Christian Church for 49 years, she became a faithful participant of the sanctuary choir, the church board, Francis Allen Circle, and Harry E. Smith Sunday School class. She also was an H.A. Valentine Library volunteer for 14 years.

Charlotte was a lifetime member of the Akron YWCA and enjoyed her 6:30 a.m. swim class, where she made many dear friends. She also sang with the Mogadore Village Belles Sweet Adelines for 10 years.

She was preceded in death by an infant brother, Robert, and parents, Gladys and Virgil Earll. Survivors include two brothers, Duane (Jean Ann) of Gold Canyon, Ariz., and Donald (Beverly) of Hiawatha, Iowa; half-sister, Janet Jennings (Ray) of Jamestown, Colo.; long-time dear friend and housemate, Joan Kennedy; plus six nieces and nephews.

Cremation has taken place. A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 16, 2005, at the High Street Christian Church, with special atten tion to personal remembrances by Rev. Dorothy France and Mrs. Jamie Gump; Dr. Tom Madden will be officiating. Calling will be one hour prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, dona tions may be made to VNS Hospice and Palliative Care Services or High Street Chris tian Church Sanctuary Choir.
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH Thursday, April 14, 2005, page B7, col.5]

l

Only dozen attend Retirees Lunch

There were only a dozen BJ retirees at the monthly luncheon on Wednesday, April 13, 2005. Among the stalwarts were Sandy Levenson, Tom Moore and Tim Hayes.

John paying homage at a temple

Here is John at the foot of steps to main temple in Tulum

John's escape from nasty Ohio weather

John at the edge of a cliff...

John on formal night on the ship

Here are John's pictures of his recent cruise to Cozumel and the western Caribbean.

Caribbean cruise

I went on a Western Caribbean cruise March 27-April 3.

The Star Princess took me to Princess Cays, the cruise line’s private island in the Bahamas, for beaching, swimming and snorkeling.

At Montego Bay, Jamaica, I took a 2-hour air-conditioned bus ride to Dunns River Falls, where I climbed over rocks through the center of cascading water. The Falls is more than 900 feet above sea level, and a human-chain ascent reduced the chances of bashing my head against the rocks.

At Grand Cayman, which hasn’t recovered fully from the hurricane that staggered it last September, I walked on a sandbar in ocean water to touch and inter-act with stingrays. Because I was directed to the wrong boat, I had to carry my belongings atop my head in chest-deep water to traverse the 120 feet from the wrong boat, and across the sandbar, to the right boat. The hurricane shoved treetop-high water onto Grand Cayman, unceremoniously plunking yachts in the midst of forests.

At Cozumel, Mexico, I tendered ashore to the mainland of the Yucatan peninsula to visit the Mayan ruins at Tulum, and learn how the Mayans came up with the binary code used in today’s computers, by creating the numeral zero. And how the Mayan calendar, eighteen 20-day months followed by a five-day festival, is off by two seconds per year. Our calendar, of course, is off by nearly six hours per year, which is why we had to invent leap year.

I met folks from England and Nigeria and a woman whose next stop will be to visit her friend Father McCann at Immaculate Heart Church in Cuyahoga Falls, a teen girl from Green, and an immigration security officer who is a Copley High graduate. And endured hundreds of teens from Ohio and Michigan who were on spring break from school.

And I ate and ate and ate on the Star Princess. Which probably explains why I went from using Hole No. 3 on my belt to Hole No. 2 and, at the end, somewhere between Hole No. 1 and Hole No. 2. Give me another four days and I would have had to buy a larger belt.

-- John Olesky, 1968-96 Beacon Journal newsroom, the final 16 as TV Editor

Start of Akron Newspaper Guild

In the From The Morgue section on page 8 of the Guild Reporter of March 11, 2005:

Seventy years ago this month:

John S. Knight signals that he's willing to sign a first contract with the Guild unit at the Akron Beacon Journal

BJ retiree Ted Milligan dies

MILLIGAN THEODORE G. MILLIGAN "TED", age 74. Beloved husband of 52 years to Carole (nee Larner); loving father of Mark (Kathy), Kathleen Mihocik (Norm), Kelley Milligan and Stacey Walton (Tom); devoted grandfather of Nicholas, Bethany, Kieran, Jennifer, Elizabeth, Matthew, Timothy and Kaitlyn; great grandfather of Rachel and Lucas. Korean War, U.S. Army Veteran. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Cleveland Metropark System. Services at the funeral home, Wednesday, March 23 at 5 p.m. Friends received at RIPEPI FUNERAL HOME, 5762 PEARL RD. (AT SNOW), WEDNESDAY 2-5 P.M. 440-888-0800 www.cleveland.com/obits
[Published in The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH, Wednesday, March 23, 2005]

Ted worked in the national advertising department of the Beacon Jourmal as an account executive mainly with major food accounts until his retirement sometime in the 1990s. He died Monday. He lived in Brook Park.

A happy Mountaineer

I was in Cleveland State's arena for alma mater West Virginia's NCAA victories over Creighton (of Omaha) and Wake Forest (of North Carolina). WF was a double overtime, and I almost wore out my nearly new walking shoes by pacing a 3 x 6 concrete area during the final 15 minutes of the game. I think I paced for about 7 miles. My heartbeat has come down to almost normal, finally. I think my companion was looking for some defib paddles in case the Wake Forest game went into a third overtime.

I'm proud of my alma mater despite the Elite Eight loss to Louisville in Albuquerque.

Winges moving from newsroom to IT

Bruce Winges

Bruce Winges, night managing editor, will leave the newsroom in April to help run the day-to-day operations in the information technology department. A 23-year newsroom veteran, Winges has held a number of key roles since joining the newspaper in 1982. In addition to night managing editor, he has been assistant managing editor, executive news editor, metro editor and assistant news editor.

“Bruce commands respect in the newsroom and throughout the building,” said Editor Debra Adams Simmons. “His commitment to journalistic excellence night in and night out will be missed. But we’re happy he’ll be down the hall.” Winges’ responsibilities as night managing editor will be divided between Mark Turner, Susan Kirkman and Mike Burbach.

Jim Kavanagh returns to copy editing
Jim Kavanagh is returning to the role of copy editor, having served five and a half years as copy desk chief.As he puts it, he wants to return to his “first love, to the pure practice of journalism, free of the burdens and distractions of supervising a department.”

[Source: Hot Type]

Knight Ridder readership survey

Trust: Down from previous survey.

Timely: Down from previous survey.

Useful: Down from previous survey.

Handling of area interests: Down from previous survey.

Holds community & state leaders accountable: Down from previous survey.

Easy to use: Up from previous survey.

Daily circulation: Down 1,990 from previous year.

Sunday circulation: Down 4,412 from previous year.

Advertising: Up 4.3 percent from previous year.

Trust, timeliness, usefulness, area coverage and investigative skills and daily and Sunday circulation are down. Think there's a connection?

Knight Ridder agrees to sell Miami land

SAN JOSE, March 7, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Knight Ridder (NYSE: KRI), parent company of The Miami Herald Publishing Co., confirmed today a contract for the sale of approximately 10 acres surrounding The Herald's bayfront building to Terra Group, headed by Pedro Martin, for a purchase price of $190 million.

"Closing on the agreement is contingent upon the completion of a successful due diligence process," said Larry Marbert, Knight Ridder VP/production and facilities. "It could take a few weeks and it could take some months."

Closing on the 10 acres will "probably be in a few months," said Pedro Martin.

The land, which is now occupied by a low-rise garage, surface parking lots and one, relatively small, two-story building on Biscayne, Ave., was put up for sale in November. Edie Laquer, the broker for Knight Ridder, assisted in securing several offers before Terra emerged as the winner.

Plans for the parcel are preliminary, but could include residential, office, hotel and retail components, said David Martin, Terra's chief operating officer. Terra plans to audition architects from around the world to develop a master plan.

Under the deal's terms, Terra must provide some 740 parking spaces for Herald employees and not interfere with the newspaper's delivery trucks.

In making the announcement Friday, both Knight Ridder and The Herald scotched earlier rumors that the Herald's building, at 1 Herald Plaza, was a part of the deal. "It is not for sale," Marbert stressed. Should Knight Ridder ever want to sell it, Terra would have the right of first refusal, he said.

Knight Ridder is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with products in print and online. The company publishes 31 daily newspapers in 28 U.S. markets, with a readership of 9.0 million daily and 12.7 million Sunday. Knight Ridder also has investments in a variety of Internet and technology companies and two newsprint companies. The company's Internet operation, Knight Ridder Digital, develops and manages the company's online properties. It is the founder and operator of Real Cities (www.RealCities.com), the largest national network of city and regional Web sites in more than 105 U.S. markets. Knight Ridder and Knight Ridder Digital are headquartered in San Jose, Calif. FR

Certain statements contained in this report are forward-looking. They are based on management's current knowledge of factors affecting Knight Ridder's business. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated, depending upon -- but not limited to -- the effects of interest rates, of national and local economies on revenue, of the evolution of the Internet, of unforeseen changes in the price of newsprint and of negotiations and relations with labor unions.

SOURCE Knight Ridder

Kirksey dismissed from hospital

Ron Kirksey has been dismissed from the hospital and is now recuperating at home:
3995 Falconsway Ct.
Stow, OH 44224

Photos from Pam McCarthy

Giving Us The Eye

These two photos are from Pam McCarthy, a former Beacon Journal reporter who now teaches journalism and newspaper production at Hoover High School in North Canton. The top photo was published in the Beacon Journal Community Extra section on page F14 on Sunday, March 13, 2005 with the headline “"Giving Us the Eye." ” Pam photographed her daughter, Kate Pakenham, with the school newspaper'’s Nikon D-70 digital camera.

Pam also sent the bottom photo of twins Michael and Kate Pakenham, 16, on either side of her oldest daughter, Bethany Marvin, 26. (Those of you who worked with Tom Marvin will note the resemblance, Pam points out.) Beth is a second-year law student at UCLA. The twins are sophomores at Hoover High School in North Canton. Their father is Ken Pakenham, a professor at the University of Akron. Pam is two years away from retirement. She did not send us a self-portrait but you can find her in the February posts, one on Feb 9 is at a wake for the old State Desk and the other is Feb 12 at a picnic at the Bud Morris home in Copley.

Ron Kirksey recovering from surgery

Ron Kirksey, director of media relations at Kent State University and former editorial writer for the Beacon Journal, is recovering from surgery Wednesday at Akron General Medical Center for bladder cancer and is doing well, his wife Susan reports. He shoud be dismissed in seven to 10 days. He is in Room 5266 tel: 330-344-2646.

It is probably best to send cards to his home: 3995 Falconswalk Ct., Stow, OH 44224

BJ clock tower to come down for fix

Don't fret when you see the clock tower disappear from above the Akron Beacon Journal building. It will return.

The rotating landmark at East Exchange and South High streets sits on a steel frame that is corroded beyond repair.

A crane will be used to lift the structure onto the Beacon's roof while a new frame is built, said Terry Whitney, vice president of circulation and production.

The clock should be returned to its nest in six to eight weeks.

[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH Saturday, March 12, 2005, page A1, col. 1]

Great news for Polly Paffilas

This is nothing but great news.

Retiree Polly Paffilas’ doctor took her off dialysis and she is scheduled to have the catheter removed on Monday. Dialysis usually involves three trips a week to the lab for a treatment lasting about three hours. Polly has been in and out of the hospital since November and was at The Ledges at Rockynol for a while.

Want to cheer her up a bit more? Call or write:

Polly Paffilas
900 W. Market St. #503
Akron, OH 44313
Tel: 330-864-1130

Beacon Journal artists honored

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Two Akron Beacon Journal entries took prizes in the 71st annual National Headliner Awards.

Artists Dennis Balogh, Dennis Earlenbaugh, Kathy Hagedorn and Rick Steinhauser were awarded second place for a portfolio of work in the illustrative graphics category. Their submissions included illustrations of real people and situations -- LeBron James (Steinhauser), Usher (Hagedorn) and the Cleveland Jazz Fest (Balogh) -- as well as the imaginative -- an Arts & Living centerpiece on fear (Earlenbaugh) and a Health centerpiece on fats that are good for you (Steinhauser).

Chip Bok placed third in the Editorial Cartoon category for a portfolio of his work.

The Headliner Awards, sponsored by the Press Club of Atlantic City, honor journalism in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Awards will be presented at a May 14 banquet. The winners were announced Wednesday.

[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH Friday, March 11, 2005, page B6, col. 2]

Joe Pulitzer IV and former KR veep

“Pultizer Pain,” a two-part series in the Riverfront Times, tells of the banishment of Joseph Pulitzer IV over a decade ago, and the sale of the St. Louis Post Dispatch to Lee Enterprises Inc. Pulitzer now lives in self-imposed exile in Wyoming.

Lee will now have 44 dailies in 19 states with a 1.7 million daily and 2 million Sunday circulation.

Post-Dispatch publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger holds roughly $9.3 million in Pulitzer stock and Pulitzer Inc. president and CEO Robert Woodworth, most recently a Knight Ridder vice president, an estimated $25 million.

The Riverfront Times, which published the first of the two-parter on March 2, 2005, describes itself on its web site, RivertfrontTimes.com, as St Louis’ alternative newsweekly and claims an audited weekly circulation of 100,000.

Click on the headline to go to the first of the series and then click on
http://www.riverfronttimes.com/issues/2005-03-09/news/feature.html
for the second part.

Woodward reported on the progress of the sale in a letter to employees on March 8, 2005.

See the letter at http://www.lee.net/pulitzer/ptz-lee_ltr_3-8-05.pdf

Robert Hollister dies in Tampa

Robert Hollister

Robert T. Hollister, 88, of John Knox Village in Tampa, Fla., went home to be with the Lord on Sun day, March 6, 2005.

He is survived by Doris, his loving and devoted wife of 57 years; sons, Terry and wife, Janie, Phil and wife, Karen; daughter, Jill and hus band, Tony Wait. Robert was preceded in death by his parents, Ralph M. and Laura, and his son, Jeff. He is also survived by nine grandchildren, Amy, Lisa, Tim, Deann, David, Darlene, Brian, Lloyd, and Peta, and five great-grandchildren, Andrew, Claire, Jaxon, Gabriel, and Kaelyn.

Robert was a World War II veteran, serving in Europe and the Pacific. He was honorably discharged from the Army as a captain. Robert had a lifelong career in journalism and advertising/PR. He founded his own advertising agency in Akron, Ohio, and held positions with the Akron Beacon Journal, Santa Fe New Mexican, and Orlando Sentinel. Robert retired from the Tampa Tribune, having served as the director of research and promotion. Robert was past president and a life time member of Ohio Jaycees.

A family graveside service will take place at Stow Cemetery in Stow, Ohio. Donations may be made to LifePath Hospice, 3010 W. Azeele St., Tampa, Fla. 33609.
Please sign the guest book at www.ohio.com/obituaries
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH Thursday, March 10, 2005, page B6, col.4]

What's next? Dancing girls!

Guess what? The DVD promotion did not work. Tom Moore promised to give a free DVD of Fran Murphey's retirement party to everyone who attended the March 9 BJ Retirees Lunch at Papa Joe's. So attendance may have hit an all-time low. Only 9 retirees attended even though Norm Hanzel brought along wife Norma to swell the total to 10. It certainly was not Fran's fault, but the weather may have contributed. No new promotions are planned. Attending, in alphabeticaly order, were Art Cullison, Calvin Deshong, Dick Gresock, Ed and Norma Hanzel, Harry Liggett, Tom Moore, Russ Musarra, John Olesky and Carl Nelson. Five editorial types and four printers with one wife. Another attendance tie.

KR corrects form with faulty address

Knight Ridder corrects claim form
for flexible spending accounts
Original claim forms had incorrect address. Knight Ridder has forwarded new claim forms for flexible spending accounts to its newspapers. The original claim forms have an incorrect address. The corrected forms, which feature an El Paso, Texas, address, are available now in the human resources department. To avoid confusion, staff members who already have taken a supply or made copies of the incorrect forms should discard them. Knight Ridder is working with United Healthcare and the U.S. Postal Service to put a forwarding order in place. However, at this time, the forms are being returned to employees as undeliverable. Knight Ridder apologizes for the inconvenience.
[Reprinted from Hot Topics]

Get a free DVD just for attending lunch

CD of Fran Murphey's retirement and Retirees' lunches

Everyone who attends the BJ Retirees Lunch at 1 p.m. Wedesday at Papa Joe's will receive a free DVD of Fran Murphey's retirement in 1996 and also of Retiree lunches that year. Tom Moore who has videotaped many such events is now converting the videotapes to DVD which will last longer. Moore promised to give one free to everyone who attends the lunch. Normally he must ask $3 to cover the costs of the DVD, a case and mailing.