co, Santa Barbara and San Diego.
nce. I told him I had been at the Akron Beacon Journal for the final 26 of my 43 years on newspapers when I retired in 1996. “I worked there, too,” he said. “I was city editor with about 20 reporters when I left the Beacon” in 1967. Bruce began at the BJ in 1958. He was on the ferry with a friend. Like us, they set out to enjoy a day on Kelleys Island on a Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend. We talked of people we both knew at the BJ: John S. Knight, Ben Maidenburg, Bob Giles, Al Fitzpatrick, Ben James, Hal Fry, Dan Warner, Polly Paffilas, Betty Jaycox and legendary reporter Helen Waterhouse, a features reporter who enthralled readers but kept copy editors busy cleaning up her copy. Bruce moved on to Michigan to add to his journalism career. I Googled Bruce and found out that he is retired president and publisher of The Daily Oakland Press in Pontiac, MI, in his multiple-newspaper career and is a former president of the Michigan Press Association. Bruce and Natalie, who died in 2008, lived in upscale Orchard Lake –- with only a few thousand people -- since 1983, where Bruce has been mayor (2000-2004), councilman and planning commissioner. Bruce is a member of two bank boards and a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. Bruce still keeps his hand in journalism as editor of the Orchard Lake Chronicle. Among the residents of Orchard Lake, southwest of Pontiac and northwest of Detroit, is singer/songwriter Bob Seger. The four of us got off the ferry, which carries cars and people to Kelleys Island, and went our separate ways. As usual, Paula and I did a lot of walking for our sightseeing, probably three miles on the four-by-two-miles island. It helps my 15-month-old bionic knee. If any BJ old-timers want to contact Bruce, his email address is: bhmcintyre@comcast.net
Newsroom bargaining unit members at The Plain Dealer last Friday, May 15, approved a contract amendment that provides job security in exchange for wage concessions, according to the Northeast Ohio Chapter of The Newspaper Guild.
The agreement guarantees job security for at least a year in exchange for an 8.1% wage cut and 11 days of unpaid furlough, with total wage concessions of about 12%, beginning June 1.
The pressmen and the three largest Teamsters units at the newspaper rejected the tentative agreement in voting Sunday, according to the Guild. Two smaller Teamsters units approved the agreement.
The Unity Council of Plain Dealer unions, which includes the Guild, Teamsters and pressmen, recommended their members approve the contract amendment, according to the Guild. Teamsters units representing the mailroom, circulation and paper handlers turned it down.
According to previous news reports, unionized Plain Dealer workers were told that they must make $5 million in concessions by June 1 or face the layoff of more than 60 members, including 22 newsroom jobs.
Plain Dealer president and publisher Terrance C. Z. Egger announced March 23 that full-time, nonunion employees must take 10 days of unpaid leave between April 20 and Oct. 4. Full-time and part-time nonunion employees will see the first $50,000 of their pay cut by 8% and any additional pay reduced by 10% as of June 1.
[Source: Crain's Biusiness Review]
to bump against it loan covenants within the next year as it’s squeezed by declining revenue from its U.S. newspapers and a weakened Canadian dollar, Moody’s Investors Service said Wednesday.
d Indians, Yesterday and Today was released this month by Publications International. It is the first book by Phil Trexler who has been at the BJ for 10 years as a court and police reporter. 
, and am not sure I gave him a particularly coherent answer. His question did give me great pause, however, and after careful reflection I have come up with a more succinct answer than I was able to offer up at the time.WOOSTER -- Ernest "Ernie" Schooler Infield, 89, venerated columnist, decorated Marine, and campaign strategist, passed away peacefully in Wooster, Ohio on March 28, 2009.
Born in Frazeysburg, Ohio, on May 11, 1919, to Fern Schooler Infield and Charles Irwin Infield, Ernie matriculated from Fredericksburg High School in 1937, graduated in 1939 from the Wooster Business College and joined International Harvester as a manager.
Ernie tracked sports, especially baseball, recording statistics of legend Bob Feller and other Ohio-based athletes. Ernie is listed on IMDB.com for his interview by ESPN Classic regarding Bevo Francis' basketball career.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Ernie volunteered for the 4th Marine Division which undertook beach landings in the South Pacific theater. Ernie saw the flag raised twice on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan. Between campaigns, Ernie formed a regimental baseball league, organized games/teams, kept statistics and published results/commentary for the Division.
Directly after his honorable discharge, Ernie became the personnel director for the Fredericksburg Art Pottery and joined the United Steel Fabricators as a sales executive the next year.
Ernie married Emily Louise Kuhles on Flag Day, June 14, 1947. Together, they operated the Kuhles Fruit Farm for more than 20 years. Emily predeceased him in November of 2005.
In 1951, Ernie joined the Wooster Brush Company eventually leading the sales division for 20 years. Ernie then became information director at the College of Wooster (COW) garnering national recognition. He was instrumental in forming a COW basketball booster club - the Downtown Rebounders -in 1969. Ernie was elected to the Wayne County Sports Hall of Fame in 1980. In 1985, Ernie named the newly formed North Coast Athletic Conference for Division III Colleges.
In 1964, Ernie had an initial bypass surgery at the Cleveland Clinic followed by a second double-bypass in 1974. Surviving only on the original bypass, Ernie underwent a quadruple bypass in 1996. At his death, Ernie was believed to be the longest living mammary artery bypass patient; he was one of the few to have received three very successful open-heart surgeries crediting the Cleveland Clinic researchers/surgeons and his Marine Corps training for his ability to survive those, and 30 other various, serious operations.
Recognized for his 60-year Wooster Daily Record (Ohio) and syndicated column, "Ramblin' Round the Infield," Ernie was also active in Lions Club which honored him with: Lion of the Year in 1984, Lion's Highest award - The Melvin Jones Fellowship Award in 1992, and the Milestone Monarch award in January, 2009. Campaign manager for Wooster's first female mayor, Margaret Demorest, Ernie led 20 other successful campaigns for Republicans. For his comprehensive public service, the Wooster, Ohio community honored Ernie with a special day in1994.
Ernie is survived by daughter, Linda Wakefield; son-in-law, Mark Wakefield; and grandsons, Jared Steven and Spencer William of Canton, Michigan. Dear surviving cousins include, Bessie Stewart Infield and Larry Grey Infield of Coshocton, Ohio, Heather Schooler of San Francisco, Calif., Dean Schooler of Colorado, David Schooler, Kristy and Blake Schooler of the Columbus, Ohio area, Eleanor Kuhles of Florida, Ginny and Everett Tompkins of South Carolina, Martha and Harold McMahon, Grace Tompkins Cox, Gary, Nancy, and Wayne Cox, and their respective families of Cleveland, Ohio, and the Meier cousins, including Barbee and Don of San Diego and Tennessee.
The immediate and extended family of E. S. Infield invites all of his colleagues and friends to a memorial service near the time of what would have been Ernie's 90th birthday. The service will be held at the United Methodist Church of Wooster, Ohio on May 17, from 2:30 to 4:30 pm.; military honors and a reception following. For Lion's Club, used eyeglasses, reading glasses, sunglasses and their cases will be collected at the memorial service/reception.
Ernie dedicated his body to science; the family asks for donations, in lieu of flowers, in Ernie's name to The United Methodist Church of Wooster, 243 N. Market St., Wooster 44691 or The Heart Innovation Fund, The Cleveland Clinic, P.O. Box 931517, Cleveland 44193-1655.
If you can't read phone book type, you are getting
old and need to click on the photos
Judge Kevin Carey authorized the payments came after Tribune chief financial officer Chandler Bigelow III testified that the bonuses are critical to keeping key managers motivated as Tribune tries to adjust to a tough economic climate for media companies.
"We need to motivate and incentivize the key people who will implement change," Bigelow said. "These are really good people we're talking about. They're the best and the brightest of the company."
The judge was to hear arguments later Tuesday on Tribune's request to make $2.6 million in severance payments to 68 employees, all but two of whom were fired before Tribune filed for bankruptcy protection.
Bigelow noted that proposed bonus payments of $12.2 million to about 670 employees under the company's management incentive program, or MIP, do not include the top 10 executives and represent an average payment of only 38 percent of the target for 2008. He also said total proposed payments for last year are significantly lower than those in the two preceding years.
Tribune also received authorization to pay an additional $1.1 million in incentives to 23 individuals who do not participate in the MIP.
