That’s Rich!

I was in between newspaper gigs, playing at being a farmer-rancher at my parents’ place in Jacksonville when I was asked to step in as your interim editor. Now I’ll tell you that French guy, Manuel Labor, and I don’t get along real well so I pulled the travel trailer down here and got busy back behind a desk where my ever-expanding behind belongs.

A little about me … I’m from Baytown, but Jacksonville is now home base where my parents retired to some acreage. I’ve worked in daily newsrooms as a sports reporter, news reporter and various editor positions in Baytown, Jacksonville, Tyler and Orange. I was also publisher at the Fort Stockton Pioneer in West Texas. In the last decade or so I have worked for about two years some place and then move on. I guess I just haven’t found exactly what I am looking for. Of course, I really don’t know what that is …

I didn’t know a lot about Diboll before I took this position, except that for years I’ve driven through here (careful to pay attention to the speed limits here and in Corrigan) and loved the smell of freshcut wood. I’ve asked a few locals about it and they say they don’t even notice it. If I end up staying I hope I never take that clean, fresh smell for granted.

I’ve enjoyed my time here, and that’s saying a lot considering everything that’s happened:

* Leaks in the travel trailer. It rains; there’s a leak; it quits raining; I repair the roof where the leak was; it rains; the leak moves to another spot … and so on and so on and so on…

* A limb torpedoed its way through the skylight above the shower … just as I was stepping in!

* One of the leaks somehow flooded my TV.

* Since I had no television and didn’t have anything to read I decided to come up to the office late on Monday night before our Tuesday deadline. About midnight I figured I was sleepy enough to go home and fall asleep. About halfway to Burke, the drive shaft fell off my truck. So, I had to walk, in the rain of course, back to the office where I stayed the night. Thanks to Tracy Thompson, husband of sales rep Rhonda Thompson, for putting my truck together while I put the paper together the next day.

* And, last week, I locked my office keys in the office and was headed to sports editor Andy Scott’s place to get his keys when my truck caught on fire. Some very nice people stopped and helped me put it out before there was any real damage … except to the woman’s sweater, which she soaked in water from the ditch and used to tamp out the flames. Adrenaline was running a bit high and I didn’t think to offer to pay for it. So, if she happens to read this, give me a call or an e-mail.

Yes, I know I need a new vehicle and a new house, but I like living cheaply these days.

Anyway, personal “tragedies” aside, we’re getting things on track here at the Free Press. One of the problems with being short-handed at a community paper is submitted items fall through the cracks. People turn in items and they don’t find their way into the paper, and then people quit submitting those items. We’re working to alleviate that issue. Hopefully we’ll earn back your trust.

On that note, I love all the help the paper gets from our columnists. Community newspapers thrive on names, and our columnists, I believe, are what have kept this paper vital.

I believe in methodically improving any paper I am at. If you jump in and make a bunch of promises and then renege on them, you’ve shot your credibility. So, the only promise I’ll make is that we’ll make constant and steady strides to give you what you want.

So, if there is something you want to see more of in the Free Press, don’t hesitate to call or e-mail any of us.

We like “atta-boys,” too. Thanks to Bob Bowman for his: “I really like what you’ve done to improve the Free Press! Keep up the good work.”

Bob, I don’t know that I’ve done that much, but thanks!