Changing of the Guard

It’s been a while but I thought I'd write a few words to my friends in Shepherdstown. As many of you have read the Chronicle is under new management. Tricia Fulks is the new editor and the Editorial assistant is another capable person Jennifer Wabnitz. Dan friend who I worked with for a couple of years has moved on to teaching. We still email each other from time to time. I can’t help but feel that the newspaper business is just a little poorer with Dan’s departure. On the flip side I am now working with Ms. Fulks who in a lot of ways the future of the newspaper business. I know this might seem like an over simplified observation but there is a lot of truth in it. One of the first reasons I look at it is that she is a young woman just starting out in her field. Second, Fulks is one of the brightest people I’ve seen come down the pike lately. She seems to have a grasp on what the newspaper is and how to produce a first class product. Watching her in the last few weeks I get the impression that if people like her are getting into the newspaper business then there is hope that the newspaper will survive and prosper in this new century. A lot of people believe that the newspapers are going to move into the computer age. Some people think I’m ahead of my time because of my blog. I grew up around news papers in Washington Dc. I delivered at one time or another three papers that were around when I was a kid. I started writing for a small paper in Rockville and over the years even though I did other things I kept my hand in in writing an article here and there over the years. I love newspapers. I love to read them, get ink from the print on my hands and doing the cross word puzzles. When I first met the new editor I must admit she made me feel uneasy. It was not her as much as it was me. She is 44 years my junior. I did not know if I could work with her or more importantly if she could work with me. She has put all those fears to rest. The new Editor of the Chronicle, Tricia Fulks, will be a great editor with a bright future in the newspaper business. For this I will be forever grateful.