It is impossible to do justice to the number of
andquot;thank you’sandquot; one owes after 30 years of publishing a
news-paper.
I have this vision of a sweaty Academy Award
winner plodding through a list of andquot;I love
youandapos;s,andquot; that has me running to the fridge for relief
already. On the other hand, what is one to do?
We are never alone.
We are a team.
It takes extraordinary teamwork to retail words
every three days to more than 100,000 readers who live in this
massive municipality that has more crooked streets than any other
city in Ontario.
Our challenge is to write the words, sell the
ads, design the pages, insert the flyers, bundle the papers, build
the websites, load the trucks, and walk down the street to your
house with more than 700 carriers making sure it doesn’t get wet
without bit by a dog.
The first law of publishing is andquot;Nothing
works if one of our links lets us down.andquot;
The second law of publishing is andquot;we are
never better than our last issue.andquot;
This is often the cause of high drama.
All newspapers go through cycles.
Good cycles, bad cycles, wild cycles, sober ones,
risky ones, kooky ones, reflective ones.
I think back to the early years and my great
friend Edith Katulka who did the books before we knew or cared
about things like administration. She pulled her hair out trying to
get us to learn (on my part it was willful negligence) to write up
a purchase order.
It is a miracle we have the same accountant (Ron
Heale) today that we had 30 years ago. Back then he did the books
by day and on Wednesday nights delivered newspapers in his station
wagon. He moved to Espanola for sanity.
I think of Mary Gordon who saved our bacon and
became our first general manager. She brought order but only just.
She guided us through those first chaotic years with a finesse and
class that belied her, shall we say, unconventional sense of
humour.
There was Mick Lowe and Dorothy Wigmore who
edited us through the first years. Michael Doxtator, our first
sports guy, has gone on to make films and trouble ever since.
There have been fantastic columnists (Jim Tester
at the head of the pack) and cartoonist’s (beginning with Bernard
Poulin’s Mig so many years ago).
I think of Bob Stevens, my first circulation
manager, inherited from the previous owners, who gave up and moved
a bed into the office.
I will not forget Norm Tollinsky who was our
editor for many years before he helped found Northern Ontario
Business newspaper. He wrote one of the best community columns I’ve
been privileged to read.
Carol Mulligan did an outstanding job for many
years as editor. She was followed by Vicki Gilhula, who carries on
a fine tradition. Vicki has been with us for 13 years.
On the management side there was David Gillespie,
who suffered in the early years as I slowly pulled myself away from
the paper for other projects, and John Thompson who followed him
and was well loved by many in our company and in the
community.
We would probably not be in business today were
it not for my old friend Earl Brown and his beloved sidekick Chris
Mongeon who took over the circulation department and brought us
into the modern era. Earl sold Bucatti motorcycle parts on the side
and drank me under the table once a year.
Julio Mirabelli was the inspired chief of the
creative department for many years. And of course, there is Marlene
Moore who organized my life for so many years. There are still
files sitting here I don’t dare open or tamper with. She’s been
gone for 11 years.
The truth is that when you work at a newspaper
you become a part of it. It is a living-breathing organism. You
can’t ignore where you work because the minute the word is out you
are labeled. It is a gold fish bowl. You either believe or move
on.
We have a lot of people who have been with us for
many years. In sales there are Ginette Ayotte (22 years) Derek Eyre
(17 years), Anthony Petrone (16 years), and Dave Fontaine (12
years). Wayne Ginson retired a few years ago with 20 years of
service. In our creative resources department Tom Colton (24
years), Val St. Louis (19 years), Vivian Scinto (15 years), Elaine
MacDonald (14 years) and our manager Lena Brunet (13 years). In
classifieds, Sue Quenville has been with us 14 years, and on the
front desk Jeanette Joly (13 years). In circulation, our assistant
manager Bonnie Norquist has been with us 16 years, Donna Stanley 15
years, and our manager, Giselle Perrin, 14 years. At the warehouse
Paula Hamilton (19 years), Rosario Coccimiglio (11 years) and our
manager Lise Cayer (10 years). In administration chief accountant
Deb Sizer has worked for us for 14 years. Reporter Keith Lacey has
been at Northern Life for 15 years. Our systems administrator Glen
Dahl has worked at 158 Elgin St. for more than 15 years. His wife,
Elaine, was our classified manager for 10 years.
My apologies to the rest of our staff who haven’t
yet made the 10-year cut where we are still getting’ to know
ya.
At the top of our chart the dynamic dual of Abbas
Homayed, publisher, and Kas Johansen, associate publisher and
director of sales have been with us a combined 26 years. They are
the best in the business and it is a delight to work with
them.
Our team as you can see is not commitment
phobic.
None of this happens without our readers and our
advertisers. We are only here at your pleasure. We thank you from
the bottom of our hearts for your continued support. We try to earn
it with each issue.
We compete for your media attention with billion
dollar companies that own radio stations, television stations, and
newspapers across this province and country. We are honoured to be
one of the last independent suburban newspapers in the
country.
A newspaper is a public trust.
We thought one of the best ways to celebrate our
30th anniversary would be to look to the future of Sudbury with 30
people in their 30s, and to celebrate the past with some of our
friends and supporters who have been with us a very long
time.
We hope you enjoy this issue.
