In July 2005 I reached out to Tim Marren, editor of
the Lockport Union Sun and Journal at the time, and asked him if he needed a columnist.
Lockport native and WNY media icon Clip Smith passed away 11 months earlier and
without his contributions there were no local columnists. I told Tim I would
follow in Clip’s shoes and write the column for free.
So, here I am 15 years – and over 750 columns – later,
still writing for the Lockport paper and its sister publication, the Niagara
Gazette. A few years ago, then-editor of the Daily News John Anderson invited
me to share my contributions with the readers in Batavia, too.
Did I ever think I’d make it this far?
I’d like to think so.
It was always my goal to write as long as
newspapers existed. Yes, there may have been a few times where I wondered if
the well would go dry and I would have nothing to opine upon, but that never
happened and never will: We live and work in New York…Albany will always serve
up something for me.
And, you never know what will happen in this world.
When I signed on did anyone think I’d be writing about something called the Great
Recession and, then, not too many years later a global pandemic?
The world is a fluid place. It’s always changing.
We’re always changing.
The newspaper industry is changing, too.
Over the past 15 years, the online presence of
newspapers has in many communities across the country grown to be their
bread-and-butter. That has become an economic model difficult to manage and
sustain as consumers who abandoned subscriptions to print editions think they
should have unfettered access to online content, never mind what it takes to
keep the reporters covering everything from local sports to municipal
corruption to neighborhood business to the accomplishments of high schoolers.
Because of those trends, two newspapers the column
ran in -- the Medina Journal-Register and Tonawanda News – both folded.
Heartbreaking.
Communities need newspapers.
Our constitutional republic – or as some people
call it our “democracy” – needs newspapers.
I can attest to their value in that regard. Not every
one of my columns has been a victory (some actually stunk), but there have been
enough to have a measurable impact and reinforce the importance of the press. For
example…
In 2011, a column about the Obama Administration’s
plan to exclude almost all minors from most agricultural work and
all animal husbandry -- which would have destroyed farming’s future as well as
4-H and the FFA – went absolutely viral and became a critical cog in the
machine that brought down the rules in the public comment period.
That same year, the federal government proposed
that all farm workers get a commercial driver’s license (CDL) in order to drive
farm equipment. This column brought that to light and we managed to beat that,
too.
Last year, the state legislature passed
a bill that would have prevented Boy Scouts from using the shooting ranges at
summer camps. The sponsor of the bill admitted to the New York Times that my
column changed her mind. She brought an amendment to the floor that passed.
Then, during this COVID event I’ve scored two wins –
the first being the suspension of unemployment’s waiting week during the crisis
and the second being the development of COVID-19 Administrators for public schools.
Mixed among those columns and more were less traceable
wins – those you can’t see in the legislative chambers but those that hopefully
encouraged people to rethink the way they view the world and the people in it.
Through the years, this column has
received responses and exposure from all over the world, and it’s exciting to
wonder whose attention I might attract next. Rebuttals from Charles Schumer and
Louise Slaughter have appeared in the paper. Staffers from the Reagan
Administration spoke out about a column. I’ve appeared on radio shows across
the country. Supermodel-turned-super-businesswoman Kathy Ireland and I shared a
nice dialogue after she read one of my articles. The largest newspapers in
Germany and China have quoted me. And, what really makes me proud, schools,
colleges, and departments of education across the US and Canada have included
my essays or quotes in their textbooks and curriculum.
I thank you, the reader, for being
there, week in and week out. Over the years I’ve heard from hundreds, maybe
thousands, of you. Some write me in agreement. Others respectfully disagree.
And, a few have disrespectfully disagreed to the point of anonymously mailing
me my column with expletives written all over it. Be it to the positive or
negative, I love your feedback.
I’d also like to thank all the editors
and publishers of these newspapers for allowing me to pursue my dream and share
my ideas. Your support – and the weekly designation of space on the opinion
page -- means a lot to me.
15 years is a long time.
But, it’s not the end.
I’ll be here as long as you can all put
up with me.
From
the 27 July 2020 Greater Niagara Newspapers and Batavia Daily News
No comments:
Post a Comment