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Remember when they used to say “"Don'’t trust anyone over 30"? The Beacon Journal, to show it was cool, printed this ad I found in an old file folder. I do not know the date it ran, but I can identify a few of the youngsters (standing from right) Bill Hershey, Art Krummel, the late Ron Clark, Tom Suchan, unknown person, Bruce Larrick, another unknown, Lary Bloom and Kathy Lally. Behind Larrick is Chuck Ayers. Ted Schneider is second from left. 
Guild contract covering July 23, 1993 to July 22, 1996.
Article 25 Insurance and Pension Provisions:
Section 3. Retired employees of the Beacon Journal newsroom will be
provided with group hospitalization-medical and life insurance to the
extent in existence on December 31, 1989. This provision shall apply to
any employees who retired during the life of this contract.
----------------------------------------------------
From Gina White:
I don't know if you all are experiencing the insurance changes proposed by Tony Ridder or not. But Dave is. Anyway, we've talked to an attorney who says anyone who retired with that "coverage shall remain the same for your life" clause in their insurance contract stands a good chance of prevailing against these changes if we all ban together. We've talked to several retirees without much luck. If we don't take a stand now, the next change will probably be no insurance or paying premiums! I was interviewed by a reporter for AARP who feels these changes could be very drastic.
Anyway, this attorney suggests that we write Tony Ridder and Christy Smith (head of KR BRC) a letter stating that we aren't going to accept these changes before January 1, 2005. There address is Knight-Ridder, 50 W. San Fernando St., San Jose, CA 95113-2413.
I've attached the letters that we sent. The attorney asks that we forward copies of our letters to him as the more of us that get together on this the better.
His name is Allen Anderson and he is with Smith & Johnson, Attorneys, P.O.Box 705, Traverse City, MI 49685. The attorney that owns this firm is a friend of Dave's and said he would do this for us.
It's just very upsetting to think about losing the benefits he worked and paid for all those years at the BJ. If any retirees would like to get in touch with Dave his e-mail address is djwhite05@msn.com.
Thanks for your help!
Dave & Gina
djwhite05@msn.com
=======
Send this letter certified mail:
December 18, 2004
Ms. Christy Smith, PHR
Benefits Vendor Manager
Knight-Ridder
50 W. San Fernando St.
San Jose, CA 95113-2413
Dear Ms. Smith:
Please be advised that I have received Tony Ridder’s letter dated September 29, 2004. I have also received and reviewed the proposed changes to my insurance which are to be effective January 1, 2005.
I will not accept any changes to my retirement benefits! I expect the status quo to be maintained and no changes to put into effect on my insurance January 1, 2005.
If you have any questions concerning this matter, please call me at (YOUR PHONE #).
(YOUR NAME
ADDRESS
CITY, STATE ZIP)
Cc: Tony Ridder, CEO
Knight-Ridder
Allen Anderson, Attorney
Smith & Johnson, Attorneys
603 Bay Street
Traverse City, MI 49685
========
December 18, 2004
Mr. Tony Ridder, CEO
Knight-Ridder
50 W. San Fernando St.
San Jose, CA 95113-2413
Dear Mr. Ridder:
Please be advised that I have received your letter dated September 29, 2004. I have also received and reviewed the proposed changes to my insurance which are to be effective January 1, 2005.
I will not accept any changes to my retirement benefits! I expect the status quo to be maintained and no changes to put into effect on my insurance January 1, 2005.
If you have any questions concerning this matter, please call me at (YOUR PHONE NUMBER).
(YOUR NAME
ADDRESS
CITY, STATE ZIP)
Cc: Christy A. Smith, PHR
Benefits Vendor Manager
Knight-Ridder
Allen Anderson, Attorney
Smith & Johnson, Attorneys
603 Bay Street
Traverse City, MI 49685
Here’'s an update on Robert W. Kotzbauer, former BJ Columbus Bureau chief and editorial writer for four years after that.
Here’'s the report from him:
At the BJ, I was Columbus bureau "chief" 1962-66. I came back to write edits for four years, then shook off Maidenburg's clutches for the Philadelphia Bulletin editorial board, focusing on criminal justice until 1980 when, feeling the titanic sinking, jumped ship to a PR post with the Citizens Crime Commission and starting my own small newsletter publishing business. In 1988 wife Donna
and I pulled up stakes for the Outer Banks where I went on writing and publishing in semi-retirement. We returned to Pennsylvania in 2002, barely escaping native terrorists (tourists).
Of course, I remember Hal Fry, who took over for me on the editorial staff. Also Kenny Cole, Ben James, Al Fitzpatrick, Murray Powers, and Bruce McIntyre among others.
Since leaving the North Carolina shore in 2002, Donna and I are leading the cultured ? life in a retirement community in Cornwall, near Lancaster, PA. amidst the Amish and Quakers. Quiet. Peaceful. Expensive. Enjoy good health at 79. Doing some writing, for the fun of it. (Nothing new there.) Would enjoy hearing from somebody on the pre-1970 staff. Kotz
Blogger Notes: The photo of Kotz is from the back cover a book her wrote called “Elias: Ersatz Prinz..Union Patriot.” It'’s about Union Army Col. Elias Peissner who was born in Bavaria in 1825, married in 1856 in Schenectady, NY and died May 2, 1863 at Chancellorsville, VA. His parents were Jakob Peissner and Katharina Barbara Kotzbauer.
The back cover of the book also has a short biography of Bob:
Robert "Bob" Kotzbauer is a native Pennsylvanian, born in 1925 and raised in DuBois, Clearfield County, by parents of German ancestry on both sides. His paternal grandparents, immigrants of the 1890s, initially resided in and later frequented Buffalo, NY, where several of their own children, relatives and friends were part of a large German-American community. So, it was not unusual in the family to think of New York State almost as the "homeland." Little talk was ever made of Bavaria, and of course, no one even dreamed of a "Colonel Elias Peissner" of the Civil War.
After serving in the Navy and gaining a degree in Journalism from Penn State, Kotzbauer worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for 30 years in Ohio and Pennsylvania before starting a small publishing business, as a backstop to retirement on the North Carolina Outer Banks. He and his wife Donna now reside in Cornwall, Pa., closer to children and grandchildren in southeastern Pennsylvania.
His discovery of contemporary German cousins, not to mention the redoubtable Elias, has in his own words "opened a new world to explore via travel and internet. It is like being reborn."
==
Address of Bob and Donna is:
205 Bradley, PO Box 125
Cornwall, PA 17016-0125
RKotzbauer@aol.com
John Olesky of Cuyahoga Falls was in Key West, Florida, just before Christmas and turned this photo of a visit to Jimmy Buffett’'s Margaritaville into a Happy New Year card.
Dave Boerner sent me the url for a site showing outstanding photos of our soldiers entitled “Until Then.” It is a video worth watching by Todd Clegg and has many photos from Reuters, AP and others I do not recall seeing. Click on the headline to go to the site. It is slow loading but worth the wait.
“The presentation was originally created for and dedicated to a wonderful young lady who lost her husband in Afghanistan who we got to know over the internet, “ Clegg writes. “I posted this one for her but also as a reminder to those who live near families whose husbands have given their lives for their country and those who are currently serving. We must not forget the families of those who serve and sacrifice for the rest of us.”
Music for the video is “Homeward Bound" from The Road Home by The Choirs of Brigham Young University - 2003 Tantara Records
Todd's Website is http://www.gcsdistributing.com
Note: This video requires the Macromedia Shockwave add in for your Browser..
Harry and Helen Liggett of Akron, OH, on our
47th wedding anniversary September 7. 2004
I never got around to putting our wedding photos in an album, so this year to surprise Helen I scanned the few old black and white photos that were taken along with mementos such as wedding announcements and honeymoon souvenirs and put them all on a DVD slide show.
We did not keep any notes on our honeymoon, but Helen did keep a list of some of the honeymoon expenses. A due bill from my old hometown newspaper where I worked in 1957 was used to pay our hotel bill. Advertising in the newspaper was swapped for credit by the Continental Hotel, a hotel next to the Capitrol that no longer exists. Our most expensive meal at the swank DC restaurants was $6 for two or us and a visit to Luray Caverns was $3.60 for both. The most expensive gas tank fillup was $3.80 and we got two cups of coffee for 10 cents.
Our luckiest weekend began on a Friday the 13th in 1965 when we drove to Columbus to pick up our oldest son, Tom, for adoption. On Saturday we moved into our home in 544 N. Firestone Blvd. in Akron, and on Monday I started a rewrite position at the Beacon Journal. I made A1 that first day with a story about eight merchants arrested for selling on Sunday.
We adopted another son, Robert, a couple of years later in Akron.
Our worst weekend was last October when Tom was admitted to the hospital with complete kidney failure. He has been going to dialysis three days a week for about four hours. A surgeon has now implanted a catheter in his stomach so he can do the dialysis at home. He cannot hold a full-time job any longer, but luckily he is a realtor and loan officer. Tom and wife Susan have two daughters–-- our only grandchildren--–Erin in Grade 4 and Anna in kindergarten. Erin incidentally took the photo above.
Our other son, Bob, is not married at age 38, He finally quit a tax accounting job which took up too much time and joined Network Polymers in Akron as senior accountant.
I retired in March, 1995 and keep busy now running a family history web site for the Summit County Genealogical Society. I also send out a monthly updated e-mail address list to 150-plus Beacon Journal types and, of course, run this web log for retirees.
Harry Liggett in Akron, OH hliggett@ald.net
[I have been coaxing other BJ types to send me someting about themselves to put on the blog.
Now that you have read mine. Where is yours?]
Could this be Stuart Warner, the deputy features editor/writing coach at the PD who shows others how it is done? Or is this a just a new, uncomfortable, out of practice grandpa? Naw. It’'s just Grandpa Stuart whose daughter Mandy and son-in-law Caleb Poynter had a baby boy about six weeks ago in Pasadena, CA. The little guy in the photo is Lucas Haden Poynter. Hopefully, he will stay out of the news biz.
Hello family and friends!
Greetings for a Merry Christmas, a happy (belated) Hanukkah and a joyous 2005! We hope this letter finds you well! .
Our big news for the year was, of course, David's bypass surgery, and we are thrilled to report that he is doing much better! For those of you who don't know, we decided late in the summer that David's disease (Takayasu arteritis) had taken such a toll on his lower aorta and the iliac arteries in both legs that it was time to take action. He was in near constant pain due to the fact that the disease had reduced the blood flow in these arteries to a near trickle. After much preoperative testing and consultation, the surgery was performed Oct. 11 at The Cleveland Clinic. The surgeon used a synthetic artery to bypass the damaged arteries and restore blood flow to David's legs. The surgery was a great success. David's feet again have normal pulses and have returned to a healthier color. The recovery from the surgery, though, has been slow and difficult. He was in the hospital for a week and home recuperating until Dec. 1, when he started working half days. He's slowly increasing the length of his work days, but still struggles with pain in the main incision (13 inches, cut diagonally across his abdomen) and fatigue, but is getting stronger every week and is enjoying being free of the vascular pain for a change.
We couldn't have made it through his long "down time" without all the help of our family and friends! We can't tell you how much we appreciate all the help and emotional support we received! The generosity we experienced was truly overwhelming.
The kids are both doing great, and are enjoying having Daddy back in their lives. Alyssa is LOVING kindergarten and can't wait to go every day. She'll be 6 in February. Joshua, 19 months, is learning new words daily and can climb on just about anything he sets his mind to (the couch, the bed, the kitchen counter). He adores his sister and she feels pretty much the same about him. Watching their relationship develop is the best!
Beth continues to work part-time in the Communications Department at The Cleveland Clinic and do freelance writing and editing on the side.
Take care and drop us a line sometime!
Love,
David, Beth, Alyssa and Joshua Hertz
Address:
906 Bridlewood Drive
Copley, OH 44321
Blog guy added namelines to snowmen on letterhead
Haas Thanksgiving: Lois, Dennis and his folks Wayne and Verna
A report from Dennis and Lois Haas in St. Pete
After retiring from Knight-Ridder with 30 years, we moved to Saint Petersburg, FL. and I got a job with the St. Petersburg Times in their IT department. The Times has been a great place to work and I've enjoyed every moment of it.
We really love St. Pete, which has been experiencing a renewed renovation of the downtown area. Lots of new condos, restaurants, and shops. Every Saturday morning they close off a street downtown for a farmers'’ market and then the first Friday night of each month they have a block party downtown.
As for us, the warmer the better. Lois and I bought a home that's 10 minutes from work (located downtown) or the beach. This past year's experience with three hurricanes is something we hope doesn't become the norm. We managed to escape with only minor damage and was only without power for 3 days.
Happy holidays!
~Dennis
Dennis & Lois Haas
4729 12th Ave. North
St. Petersburg, FL 33713
Sharon Surface, in better days, punching tape via keyboard
Retired printer Bob Pell provides this sad report on a former BJ employe who is now gravely ill in a West Virginia nursing home. Here is Bob’'s report:
Sharon Surface came to the BJ when we changed from the Linotype keyboard to a typewriter keyboard. She came about the same time as Regina White, Rita Stapleton and Ruth West, along with a couple others and I think she left in the late '70's or early '80's. She is now in a nursing home in West Virginia. I am not sure which one, but it is unlikely she would be aware of anyone trying to communicate with her. Following is an e-mail I received from her sister, Shelva Pettit.
Hi Bob,
Sharon is in bad shape. She can't walk or feed herself or care for herself in any way.. Our sister Hallie and I don't think she knows us every time we see her, but there are times she seems to know me . She doesn't talk...other than to answer a question with "yes" or "no ". She started having small strokes and then a massive one. This all started happening around 1990, beginning with uterine cancer. She is cancer free. It's the stroke that is the cause of her condition. The doctors told us about 5 years ago that she would not improve but get steadily worse which has been the case. It's hard on us to see her as she is and remember the way she was. I'm going to see her on Sunday and I shall mention your name to her and look for a reaction. Maybe she remembers you.
Take care, Shelva
Shelva Pettit
Phone: 1-304-765-7931
Blogger Plea: Say a prayer for Sharon– please. We also suggest it might cheer her up in this special Christmas season if all of us sent her a card. Please let us shower her with both. Send cards to:
Sharon Surface
c/o Shelva Pettit
625 Appalachian Corridor
Sutton, WV 26601
Ad for A Christmas Carol
The Largerly Literary Theater Company’'s A Christmas Carol grabbed the headlines of Kerry Clawson’'s “Theater Notes” in the Beacon Journal on Thursday, Dec. 16 (page E2). Mark Dawidziak, former critic for the BJ, and wife Sara Showman along with Stow teacher Tom Stephan are in the photo used for the ad above which appeared in the Beacon and Falls News. Clawson said the show was "as intimate an experience as ever" in the grand two-story theater at Greystone Hall, formerly the Masonic Temple,.
Click on the headline above to link to Clawson’'s piece.
Send any kudos to Mark via e-mail to HLGrouch@megsinet.net.
Harry Liggett Note: I was about to sue for copyright infrigement on Mark'’s user name HLGrouch since my initials are HL and I was known as an old grouch at the Beacon. Mark says the HL is for Mencken and the Grouch for Groucho --– two cigar smoking heroes.
Asked whether he remembers any favorite story he or Kathy Goforth wrote while they were at the Beacon Journal, our New York City correspondent Charlie Buffum came up with this irreverent gem for the blog:
I forwarded your question on stories to Kathy. I know she won a Penney-Missouri award one year for a feature she wrote about battered women [I think].
The funniest story I recall well about Kathy's writing is how she was a new hire, an Akron University English major stuck writing obits and wondering how to make the move to real newspapering. Goforth thought she finally had gotten her big break when an obit came in for a guy who had died of a heart attack while deer hunting. "Aha!" she thinks. "When they see the intricate, ironic American gothic, heart-rending literary gem I develop this into, they'll rush out into the newsroom and say, 'Who is this Goforth? Why isn't she on page one?'" So Kathy calls the guy's widow, his hunting partner who recalled that the deceased had trouble turning off the gas lanterns the night before, the sherriff's office, etc., labors mightily, and whips out a four or five-take masterpiece. Then she sits back smugly, waiting only for the technicality of being discovered. Finally, Loren Tibbals stands up, copy in hand, and slowly walks to Kathy's desk. Here it is, the moment! No doubt a moment to be enshrined in her biography when published in "Great Ohio Journalists, Vol. 1" She looks up, smiling modestly as Tibbals peers though those thick glasses and asks, "Did you write this?" "Why yes, Loren, I did." Tibbals tosses it on her desk, turns to walk away, and snaps back over his shoulder: "Jesus Christ, Goforth, you got a quote in here from everybody but the Goddamn deer. Cut this to three graphs." Ah fame. More fleeting than a whitetail on the first day of hunting season. Anyway, it's not a story she wrote, but its a story ABOUT a story she wrote that remains one of my personal favorites, right up there with "Stick This Slug Up Your Ass," Ron Kuhne's "God Willing" addition to the front page weather, and watching Bill Schlemmer put out his innumerable wastebasket fires. Damn, those were fun times, weren't they? As for me, the only story I ever won a prize for (state AP award) was for writing about the sun coming up in Medina [big news], one of Perry Morgan's brainstorms.
Blog Guy’s Notes: The “slug” quote actually was a line of type set by a Linotype operator back in the days of hot type when each line of a story was a lead slug. The printer who set this line of type sneaked it into the middle of a story and it was actually printed in the newspaper. The other tale is about Ron Kuhne who was responsible for writing a one paragraph weather summary for page 1. Kuhne thought he would have fun with the copy desk so he wrote a graph which ended up with something like “sunrise tomorrow at 4:59 a.m., God willing” That bit was missed by the copy desk and it too was printed in the newspaper. If anyone has a copy of either and knows the date of publication, please send it to us. Oh, and Schlemmer was a pipe-smoking managing editor.
Beacon Journal types are off to warmer climes for the holidays.
Coleen Murphy and Bob Tigelman are off to warmer Phoenix for the holidays. Coleen writes in an e-mail: “We're off to Phoenix for a week's visit with my dad and one of my sisters. It's mid '70s and sunny there. After decades of the cold of Minn. and the gray of Ohio, I'll settle for this -- even if it's not in keeping with the season.”
Coleen Murphy
CMurphy777@aol.com
And Don Bandy left this week for Florida for two months.There are no more Bandy’s in his hometown of Washington Court House but he has two brothers and a sister in Florida, so Don is exploring the possibily of getting a condo near Bradenton and selling the old homestead (with all the leaves) on Acqueduct St. “Too much snow and cold here,” Don writes. If you need to get in touch with him send e-mail to hliggett@ald.net for the phone number of his niece Ruth Burton in Sarasota.
Incidentally, if you would like to send cards to any BJ retiree, there is now a link at the left on this blog which is titled “Retirees.”
Don't know if anyone will remember me -- my byline at the BJ was Susan Z. Miller, 1973-75, on the old State Desk.
I live in Cleveland now - address & phone below. I'm a freelance writer, teaching one journalism course at Kent State and doing a newsletter project for the Baldwin-Wallace College Business Division. I was the fulltime Reuters correspondent in Cleveland from 1994-97; was with Fairchild Publications Cleveland bureau 1979-88; otherwise have been freelancing.
I'm not married -- no kids, just two dogs and two cats.
I always appreciate getting your e-mail list -- have gotten in touch with a couple of people through it. So thanks for your good work!
Susan Zimmerman
2094 West Blvd.
Cleveland OH 44102
216-281-8527
fax 216-651-3513
e-mail zimwrite1
Dear Friends and Family:
Thank you so very much for all of your prayers, kind words, floral arrangements, Mass intentions, and expressions of sympathy you sent to our family. They were most consoling in our time of sorrow. I know Don would have been embarrassed by all of the accolades sent his way via the internet.
The Funeral Mass was beautiful, with many members of his family taking an active part in it. A long line of cars was escorted by four Officers of the San Antonio Police Motorcycle Division to his final resting place in the peaceful and serene military cemetery at Fort Sam Houston.
May our Lord bless all of you during this Christmas season. Thank you again.
Patricia Gresock Brunner
Houston, Texas
Joseph B. Locke
Joseph B. Locke, 80, passed away Dec. 12, 2004.
He was born Sept. 16, 1924, in Altoona, Pa. Joseph served in the 1st Division of the U.S. Marine Corps in the South Pacific during World War II, retired from the Akron Beacon Journal, was a member of St. Francis De Sales Church and Coventry AARP, and volunteered at St. Bernard's, serving meals.
Joseph was preceded in death by his son, William; parents, Blair and Genieve; brothers, James and William. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Dolores; sons, John (Connie), Robert (Janie), Richard (Mari lyn), Joseph (Karla), and Thomas; daughters, Kathleen (Larry) Hollingsworth and Carole (Robert) Mills; 19 grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, many nieces and nephews.
Friends may call at the Bacher Funeral Home, 3326 Man chester Rd., TODAY from 4 to 8 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m at St. Francis De Sales Church. Interment at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, dona tions may be made to St. Fran cis De Sales School, 4009 Manchester Rd., Akron, Ohio 44319, in memory of Joseph. Funeral home map, directions, and the Locke Family condolence book are available at www.bacherfuneralhome.com
(Bacher, 330-644-0024.)
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio, Tuesday, December 14, 2004, page B6, col. 6]
Harry Liggett Notes: Locke started working at the Beacon in 1952 and retired from the composing rooom in 1983. The home address for those who might like to mail cards is:
Locke Family
896 Pearlman Road
Akron, OH 44319
Former Beacon Journal TV critic Mark Dawidziak, his wife, Sara Showman, and retired Stow High School teacher Tom Stephan celebrated the opening night of “A Christmas Carol” on Friday, December 10, at the Greystone Theatre in the former Masonic building in downtown Akron. It was the first of several presenations planned by Mark and Sara’s Most Literary Theatre Company. Mark wrote the adaptation of the Charles Dickens' classic, is the narrator and plays several roles. Sara plays more than a dozen roles. Check the October archives for a Beacon Journal story on this creative effort.
Incidentallly, former BJ types Cindy Bach and Carol Eubanks are involved in events at the Greystone building
Retired BJ printer Terry Dray and wife, Cecily, who live in Avon Park, FL, not far from Kiissimmee Lake, suffered through three of the four Florida hurricanes that blew through Avon Park. They lost only one orange tree although another was damaged, but they were up to seven days without power.
There can be problems other than hurricanes, though, Cecily writes in an e-mail from Avon Park:
We just finished remodeling the kitchen and carpeting the whole house. We spent 8 weeks with the stove and refrigerator in the living room. It was like living thru another hurricane...only with air conditioning.
Terry continues to play golf 7 days a week and I "play at it" 3 days a week. We are well and hope you have a wonderful Christmas season.
Best wishes, Terry & Cecily
